The Barn at Lee Welcomes Ankita Sharma as Fall Artist in Residence

The Barn at Lee has announced Ankita Sharma as the next resident of their fall 2024 residency program. Ankita is a performance artist whose work is invested in world-making where content dictates genre and defies expectations. Their creations unpack systems and symptoms of power through a queer, punk solidarity-based lens, rehearsing freedom in both body and mind. Known for their grungy, confrontational, and cheeky aesthetic-a blend of dance-horror and contemporary dance-theater with South Asian and African diasporic forms-Ankita's work has been showcased at notable venues across the U.S., including the Denver Art Museum, Dixon Place, JACK, and Abrons Arts Center.

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During their residency at The Barn, Ankita will be developing a new project. Their time at The Barn will allow them to experiment and push the limits of their art form in a space that prioritizes creative freedom.

ABOUT THE RESIDENCY

The Barn at Lee's Residency, established in 2021, is a fluid program designed to support artists like Ankita by providing time, space, a stipend, and educational resources. The core of the program is a ten-day residency, currently held twice a year, for emerging theater artists experimenting with disciplines such as dance, stand-up comedy, music, and playwriting. Residents receive all meals, lodging, and uninterrupted time to ideate and experiment without the pressure of producing a specific outcome. The program provides residencies at no cost to the artists, recognizing that young, emerging creators often face significant financial challenges. By replacing lost wages, The Barn enables artists to develop their work without economic limitations. Artists are housed in a two-bedroom cottage on the property, along with their collaborators, and a portion of the residency is open to the public to foster a meaningful exchange between the artists and the community.

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Since its inception, The Barn has supported 15 talented residents. Each artist has reaffirmed the value of the uninterrupted days devoted to the creative process. Spring 2023 resident Gus Laughlin reflected on his experience, saying: "One of the most rejuvenating, inspiring experiences that I've had. It reminded me how important, albeit rare, it is to find the time and space to make work I'm actually excited about. I was allowed to fully set the conditions of what I needed in order to create that work and you guys were the first people to offer me that freedom."

ABOUT ANKITA

Ankita Sharma is a performance artist invested in world-making where content dictates genre and betrays expectation. Their creations unpack systems and symptoms of power from a queer, punk solidarity-based lens that rehearses freedom in body and mind. In aesthetic, their work is grungy, confrontational, and cheeky, a dance-horror, with physicality rooted in contemporary dance-theater and South Asian and African diasporic forms. Ankita's work has been shown at venues across the US, including Denver Art Museum, Dixon Place, JACK, Abrons Arts Center, Ormao, The Basement, The Tank, University Settlement, and LaGuardia Performing Arts. They hold a Bachelor's in Dance and Anthropology, and are a past resident with BASE and GALLIM, MNE ECS Recipient, Performance Project Fellow, Crown Goodman Resident, and LEIMAY Incubator.

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