VIDEO: Uncharted Territory: Dancers in Isolation Preview Film Launches from Eric Taylor Dance

Eryc Taylor Dance (ETD) presents a new short film project entitled Uncharted Territory: Dancers in Isolation, available now. The piece is a preview trailer for a larger project of the same name, which will be developed further at the end of March as in-person performances and a long-form film.

Conceived and developed over Zoom, Uncharted Territory: Dancers in Isolationfeatures dancers Nicole Baker, Chris Bell, Taylor Ennen, AJ Guevara, Eryc Taylor, and Alex Tenreiro Theis.

On March 21, 2021, the first anniversary of the project's conception, six live performances will take place at six Manhattan sites over six days. On March 28, the film will have in-person premiere screenings and will be streamed online to international audiences, with an additional interactive Q&A with artists.

Uncharted Territory is for everyone affected by the chain-reactions caused in 2020, especially New Yorkers. The dance film is a cathartic reenactment and time capsule for the period of tension and uncertainty when the global pandemic forced us to connect in different ways. ETD is particularly interested in involving those who felt the sting of stress, fears, restrictions, and isolation, more specifically essential workers, youth, elderly, people with disabilities, and others who did not receive the support they needed. ETD intends to offer a sense of understanding with inspiration and upliftment.

Uncharted Territory was born from the need to connect when circumstances have forced dancers apart. Artistic Director Eryc Taylor's intricate Movement and Expression Chart - upon which the performances and film will be based - randomizes movements, dynamics, and emotions to generate choreography sequence through chance.

In addition, the dancers will host five master classes from March 21-28, utilizing Eryc Taylor's Movement and Expression Chart. Two will be open to the general public and three will be dedicated to youths, seniors, and differently abled persons. These workshops will be priced on a sliding scale to ensure accessibility and are a part of the company's ETD Outreach Program.

This project is made possible in part by a Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund grant from Dance/NYC and the generous support of the Marta Heflin Foundation.

Artist Bios

Eryc Taylor is the Artistic Director of internationally recognized nonprofit dance company Eryc Taylor Dance, and its social impact division, ETD Outreach. He is a performer, speaker, writer, choreographer, director, producer, inventor, board member, and curator. Taylor holds an MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch. He has been invited to instruct, perform, or speak at Google, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Cadwalader Wickersham Taft, Supportive Housing Network of NY, Gibney Dance Center more. Tayor curates 20+ therapeutic movement workshops throughout NYC weekly for ETD Outreach. He has received grants, awards, city, and state funding from NYSCA, The Office of Governor Cuomo, and Dance/NYC Coronavirus Relief Fund. Among achievements for ETD was the invitation to perform at the 16th International Avant-Garde Festival in Merida, Mexico. ETD returned to Merida in 2016 for the 17th Festival and received praise from El Universal about ETD's performances and workshops with the local youth of Mayan descent and language. Taylor's 2019 project EARTH involves past recipients of ETD's New Choreographer's Grant and was featured on PBS ALL ARTS in a series titled "Climate Artists." Taylor is the Founder and Inventor of BurnBarre, LLC, the world's first truly portable ballet barre.

Daniel Tobias is Eryc Taylor Dance's composer-in-residence. He was educated at The University of California, Berkeley, The Juilliard School of Music, and The Bay Area Acting Studio. Tobias currently trains with Country World Champion Richard McMurrich and lives just two blocks west of Times Square, the heart of New York City. He was a Lammy Finalist for his debut novel "The Next" under the pen name Rafe Haz.

Shannel Resto is an internationally based artist, currently residing in New York City as a dance and fashion photographer, photo editor, choreographer, dancer, and artist-activist. She is the lead photographer/documentarian of Eryc Taylor Dance's Uncharted Territory and is a regular collaborator with ETD. Resto graduated with her BFA in dance at Rutgers University from Mason Gross School of the Arts. She is currently the rehearsal director and dancer for Nyane Khosi Dance Company. When not dancing, Resto is running her photography company SJR Photography, founded in 2013. The message she communicates through her art is the freedom to explore the impossible possibilities through her lens and body.

Nicole Baker received her BFA in dance performance from Adelphi University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. At AU, she performed the works of Martha Graham, Orion Duckstein, Takehiro Ueyama, Paul Taylor, and Jiří Kylián. Currently, Nicole serves as the Rehearsal Director and Company Manager for Eryc Taylor Dance. Her most recent commercial credits include starring in Louis van Amstel's La Blast for DailyBurn, Amazon's The Marvelous Ms. Maisel, and performing background for popstar Meredith O'Connor at multiple events including New York Fashion Week.

Chris Bell is originally from San Antonio, Texas but lives in NYC. (MFA)Contemporary Dance (BS)Dance (BS)Geology. He dances for dendy/donovan projects, Gaspard&Dancers, Eryc Taylor Dance and teaches for TADA! Youth Theaters and Marquis Studios. He also teaches and presents work as @chrisbelldances at DeSales University, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, The Tank, The Luminaria Arts, Queensboro and Ohio Dance Festivals. And, has served as choreographer for Marble Collegiate Church and The American Theater of Harlem. This is his second season dancing with ETD.

Taylor Ennen earned a BFA summa cum laude and an Honors Medallion from Florida State University's School of Dance. She also trained in California with the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and in Paris, France with the Academié American de Danse de Paris. Ennen has worked closely with the organization Movement Exchange as a dance diplomat to Panama, with the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, and with the Gibney Dance Center Programs Department. She has had the privilege of performing works by Robert Moses, Ohad Naharin, Alex Ketley, Christian Burns, Larry Keigwin, Doug Varone, Gerri Houlihan, and Gwen Welliver, among others. Ennen is also currently working with Vencl Dance and SagaDanceCompany in New York City. This is her first season with ETD.

Alex Tenreiro Theis is a dancer, singer and choreographer from Colorado. She earned her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has performed works in New York, Massachusetts, Utah, Colorado and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Pamela Pietro, Gregory Dolbashian, Netta Yerushalmy, and Erica Randall among others. Alex is also a member of Yoshito Sakuraba | Abarukas and Angie Moon Dance Theatre. This is her first season with ETD.

About Eryc Taylor Dance

Eryc Taylor Dance (ETD), established in 2006, is a New York-based non-profit dance company that performs and tours globally. The Company has performed at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Joyce Soho, Joe's Pub at The Public Theater (NYC), New York Live Arts, Teatro Armando Manzanero, and Teatro José Peón Contreras (Merida, Mexico), Martha Graham Studio Theater, Bryant Park Theater, Guild Hall (East Hampton, NY), Busan Cultural Center (Busan, South Korea), and Provincetown Amphitheater (Cape Cod, MA). ETD is a recipient of funding from LMCC, NYSCA, and funding from the NYS Office of Governor Cuomo. ETD is the recipient of the Dance/NYC's Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund and funded by The Marta Heflin Foundation.

For more information, visit https://etd.nyc/.

To post a comment, you must register and login.