Christian Warner to be Featured in Gaudanse's APAP Works in Progress Pitch Session

New York City and New Orleans-based nonprofit dance organization gaudanse has revealed that collaborating artist, Christian Warner, was selected for the APAP Works in Progress Pitch Session that will be held on January 11, 2025 from 2-3:30pm at the Hilton Hotel, 1335 6th Ave, New York, NY 10019.

Christian Warner will present a contemporary dance theatre piece titled, WHITE HOT ROOM. Drawing inspiration from Plato's Allegory of the Cave, WHITE HOT ROOM explores the dissociative effects of long-held traumas within a body. Originally conceived in 2019 utilizing Warner's personal experiences with addiction, loss, and mental wellness as source material, WHITE HOT ROOM belongs to a larger collection of movement-based work entitled "Letters To Bunney." Utilizing themes recognizable in the themes of afrofuturism, the room serves as a cocoon in which he reconciles with the traumatic binds of his past to move into an audacious unknown future. Most recently, this work has garnered creative development support from the Heinz Endowment. christianawarner.com. Pitch sessions are open for all APAP members and conference attendees. For more information visit, https://apap365.org/meet-the-apapnyc-2025-works-in-progress-pitch-session-artists/

GAUDANSE APAP SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

GAUDANSE BOOTH # 315 [EXPO 2ND FLOOR - HILTON MIDTOWN]

Date/Time: Jan 10, 2025 - 12:00-2:00PM

Event: Pepatian Dancing Futures

Location: Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture

Artist Showcase: Imani Gaudin, nanibu

Date/Time: Jan 10, 2025 - 12:00-2:00PM

Event: Pepatian Dancing Futures

Location: Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture

Artist Showcase: Christian Warner, White Hot Room

Date/Time: Jan 12, 2025 - 3:00-3:40pm

Event: Tribe Marks of RED Studio Showing

Location: Hilton Midtown, NY

Artist Participant: Christian Warner, White Hot Room

Artist Participant: Imani Gaudin as Performer with Shamel Pitts | TRIBE

As Artistic Director of gaudanse, Imani Gaudin creates a collaborative space for artists while exploring how new ideas translate into dance and movement. This work forms part of DANCING FUTURES, a residency celebrating its 10th anniversary. Presented by Pepatián in partnership with BAAD!, Dancing Futures provides emerging Bronx-based and/or dance artists of color with valuable resources, performance opportunities, mentorship, and professional documentation to help foster and showcase new dance and performance work. Major support is provided by the Jerome Foundation.

Imani Gaudin studied dance at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts where she was awarded a Certificate of Artistry in dance. She then graduated with honors from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY where she studied abroad at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, Academie Voor Theater en Dans. She was awarded the Bert Terborgh Dance Award for Leadership and Excellence in Dance and was a recipient of the Adopt-A-Dancer Scholarship Award. She received training at The Ailey School, The Juilliard School, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, where she received the Homer Avila Award, Orsolina, with Jacob Jonas, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Point Park University. In 2023 she was honored as a National Performance Network Take Notice Fund Awardee. She was recently commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts with support from Hudson Yards Hell's Kitchen Alliance to premiere a live durational visual and performance art work with visual artist Jakob Vitale at Bella Abzug Park in New York. Imani has had the pleasure of performing works by Ohad Naharin, Netta Yerushalmy, Roderick George, and Akira Yoshida when she trained at b12. She has also worked with, performed, and collaborated with Alethea Pace, Kayla Farrish, and Micheal Rice. Currently, Imani is a movement artist with TRIBE under the direction of Shamel Pitts. She has been a resident artist at Kaastsbaan Cultural Park, and a Baryshnikov Arts 2024 AIR, Pepatián Dancing Futures 2024 AIR and has been selected for a 2025 New Dance Alliance Liftoff Residency. She has sat on the curatorial panel for Battery Dance Young Voices in Dance and she is a teaching artist through Battery Dance's education program for New York public school students and has served as a Choreography Mentor in partnership with T2 Dance's ChoreoFest. As the Artistic Director/Founder of GAUDANSE, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Imani has created a collaborative space for all artists to provide access and education to dance and the arts. @imani.angele