CUNY Dance Initiative Sets 2016 Residencies

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), a university-wide residency program heading into its third season, is awarding 23 dance companies/choreographers residencies at 12 CUNY colleges in 2016. CDI, led by New York City's public university system, is a new model for collaboration. By facilitating residencies for New York City choreographers and dance companies on CUNY campuses, CDI aims to support dance artists, enhance college students' cultural life and education, and build new audiences for dance at CUNY performing arts centers.

Between January and December 2016, 12 CUNY colleges in all five boroughs will host a total of 23 residencies. The residency artists and their projects represent a wide range of ideas and styles that reflect the diversity of the CUNY communities. In addition to providing space for artists to create work and rehearse, all of the CDI projects include programs for students and faculty (master classes and open rehearsals), along with public events such as work-in-progress showings and performances. CDI directly assists colleges with artist fees, rehearsal expenses, and marketing efforts. Artists are selected through an open application process, and each campus chooses its residency companies.

"We are very pleased to offer residencies to 23 dance companies and choreographers throughout CUNY. The previous residencies added an important dimension to the cultural life of our campuses with performances and opportunities for our students and faculty to follow the creation of an art form through open rehearsals and master classes," said James B. Milliken, Chancellor of The City University of New York.

CDI supports both established and emerging choreographers, and most of the artists choose to develop new work during their residencies. Held in studios and on stage, these residencies can take the form of early exploratory rehearsals or a refining of a nearly finished work for performance.

Chloe Arnold, Director of the Syncopated Ladies, stated, "In 2014 the CUNY Dance Initiative gave us a history-making platform to present our first full-length, all-female tap show in New York City. We are thrilled to be returning to CUNY through a CDI residency at City College Center for the Arts in 2016 and are excited to be creating and presenting new work."

John Heginbotham, another returning choreographer, commented, "Dance Heginbotham had such a wonderful, productive experience during our residency at On Stage at Kingsborough last year, and we are honored to have been chosen to participate in a residency in 2016 at Brooklyn College. One of the major hurdles to the creation of new dance work in New York City is finding affordable rehearsal space. We are so grateful to the CDI and the presenter partners for this invaluable resource."

List of 2016 Residencies:

Baruch College: Baruch Performing Arts Center

Gyre and Gimble/Gabrielle Lamb

Urban Bush Women

Brooklyn College: Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Dance Heginbotham

Makeda Thomas

The City College of New York: Center for the Arts

The Black Iris Project

Syncopated Ladies

College of Staten Island: Department of Performing and Creative Arts

luciana achugar

Melissa West

Hostos Community College: Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture

Bennyroyce Dance

MAWU

John Jay College: Gerald W. Lynch Theater

Dzul Dance

Melissa Riker/Kinesis Project Dance Theatre

Kingsborough Community College: On Stage at Kingsborough

Carlos dos Santos

Ja'Malik

LaGuardia Community College: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

Humans Collective

Miki Orihara

Lehman College: Department of Dance and Theatre

jill sigman/thinkdance

Khaled Barghouthi and Zoe Rabinowitz

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

Marjani Forte & Works

Sydnie L. Mosley Dances

Queens College: Kupferberg Center for the Arts

Caleb Teicher & Company

Vim Vigor Dance Company

Tribeca Performing Arts Center at BMCC

Azul Dance Theatre

The CUNY Dance Initiative is a residency program providing rehearsal and performance space to New York City choreographers and dance companies. CDI was developed in response to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's 2010 report "We Make Do," which cited the critical need for affordable dance rehearsal space in New York City, and mentioned underutilized performing arts centers and other spaces on CUNY campuses. A successful pilot project in 2013 supporting choreographic residencies and performances on four CUNY campuses prompted CDI to expand its scope, with 10 colleges hosting 19 residencies in 2014, and 11 colleges with 26 residencies in 2015.

The Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College is the administrator of CDI. The CUNY Dance Initiative is supported by The New York Community Trust, with additional funding from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and The Harkness Foundation for Dance.

For more information about the CUNY Dance Initiative, visit www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative or follow CDI on Facebook.

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