CUNY Dance Initiative Announces 2018-19 Resident Artists

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), a residency program that welcomes NYC choreographers and dance companies to CUNY campuses across the five boroughs, announces its 2018-19 awarded artists.

From July 2018 to June 2019, thirteen CUNY colleges will host 23 artists representing a range of dance styles and genres (complete list below), selected from a pool of 192 applicants. CDI taps underutilized studios and theaters on CUNY campuses to offer rehearsal and performance space to local artists, while providing a framework for cultivating new dance audiences at CUNY performing arts centers. CDI residencies include public events such as work-in-progress showings and performances, plus master classes and open rehearsals specifically for CUNY students and faculty.

CDI provides a stipend for the artist, and the generous amount of rehearsal time - and the sizes of the available spaces - sets CDI apart from other residency programs in the city. "It is a luxury to have such a lengthy amount of time in the theater to develop my work; the CUNY Dance Initiative helps make it possible for me and my dancers to transition from the studio to the stage and create a full-scale theatrical production," says Pascal Rioult, Artistic Director of RIOULT Dance NY, whose residency at Onstage at Kingsborough in Brooklyn will culminate in a performance this fall.

Approximately half of CDI residencies are for rehearsal only: "I will be able to create a new interdisciplinary work that wouldn't be possible without the support of CDI and CUNY," says independent choreographer Loni Landon, who will be working in the studio at Queensborough Community College. "CDI gives the greatest gifts to any artist; time and space, which are a real necessity in this city. I am extremely thankful to receive this grant for the second time around, as it will give me a home to experiment and create, which is so instrumental in the process for making new work."

This upcoming residency cycle will be CDI's fifth, and incorporates a new partnership with Snug Harbor Cultural Center that will provide expanded opportunities for artists to create work and connect with audiences in Staten Island.

Details on fall 2018 performances and public events will be announced this summer.

2018-19 CUNY Dance Initiative Resident Artists

Baruch College: Baruch Performing Arts Center

Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre

BMCC: Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Company SSB // Stefanie Batten Bland

Brooklyn College: Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Kizuna Dance

Matheta Dance

The City College of New York: City College Center for the Arts

Heidi Latsky Dance

Marielis Garcia

College of Staten Island: Department of Performing and Creative Arts, in partnership with

Snug Harbor Cultural Center

Adrienne Westwood

Hostos Community College: Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture

Carlos dos Santos

Javier Padilla & The Movement Playground

John Jay College: Gerald W. Lynch Theater

Fadi J Khoury Dance

Jenny Rocha / Rocha Dance Theater

Kingsborough Community College: On Stage at Kingsborough

Breton Tyner-Bryan

RIOULT Dance NY

LaGuardia Community College: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

Patrick O'Brian

Rohan Bhargava / Rovaco Dance Company

Lehman College: Department of Dance and Theatre

Parijat Desai

Gierre J. Godley / PROJECT 44

Queensborough Community College: Department of Health, Physical Education, and Dance

Jennifer Archibald / Arch Dance Company

Loni Landon / Loni Landon Dance Project

Queens College: Kupferberg Center for the Arts & Department of Drama, Theatre, and Dance

Jillian Peña

Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez Flamenco Company

York College: Milton G. Bassin Performing Arts Center

Mari Meade Dance Collective / MMDC

Matthew Westerby Company

ABOUT THE CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) is an unprecedented model for collaboration between the City University of New York (CUNY) - the nation's largest public urban university system - and the NYC dance field. A residency program that opens the doors of CUNY campuses to professional choreographers and dance companies, CDI supports local artists, enhances the cultural life and education of college students, and builds new dance audiences at CUNY performing arts centers.

CDI was developed in response to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's 2010 report, "We Make Do," which cited how destabilizing the shortage of affordable rehearsal space in New York City is to the dance community. A successful pilot project underwritten by the New York Community Trust, supporting residencies and performances on four CUNY campuses in 2013, prompted CDI to expand its scope. Since its official launch in 2014, CDI has subsidized and facilitated a total of 91 residencies-from emerging choreographers to established dance companies-at 13 CUNY colleges in all five boroughs.

The CUNY Dance Initiative receives major support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the SHS Foundation, the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. CDI is spearheaded and administered by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College.

More information about the CUNY Dance Initiative is available via www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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