Works & Process Announces November Programs at Gibney Center, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, and New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Third Bird by Isaac Mizrahi, Nico Muhly, and John Heginbotham, commissioned by Works & Process and featuring Lindsey Jones, Norton Owen, Derrick Arthur, Brian Lawson, Marjorie Folkman, and Christine Flores, June 2022. Photo: David Andrako

Premieres by Les Ballet Afrik, Ephrat Asherie Dance, and Masterz at Work Dance Family

Performances by Ladies of Hip-Hop and LayeRhythm

Dance Conversation with New York City Club Legends

Additional LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” Residencies across New York State

“But praise and gratitude also must go to Works & Process and Jacob’s Pillow. These organizations have not only been providing lifelines to artists during the pandemic, they have also been directing attention and resources to dance communities often neglected by the institutions of concert dance.” – The New York Times

This November, Works & Process continues to amplify its support for performing artists and their creative process, producing residencies across New York State and presenting a robust series of programs at the Guggenheim Museum and expanding offerings to Gibney Center, Lincoln Center, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in partnership with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. All tickets are available now at www.worksandprocess.org.

As a process-focused performing arts organization, Works & Process continued to provide opportunities and fees for artists throughout the pandemic, and pioneered the bubble residency model to support their work safely. This November, Works & Process programs continue to highlight works created by New York artists—many representing historically marginalized performing art cultures—incubated longitudinally through Works & Process’ residency programs, and through iterative presentation of performances. To illuminate creative process, Works & Process will present alongside these commissions, performance excerpts and artist discussions of new works ahead of their premieres. All programs uniquely blend performance highlights with insightful artist conversations and are designed to invite audiences to embrace artistic process.

To support studio-to-stage creative process and artist recovery, collectively with a network of twelve residency partners in six New York counties, Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residencies continue to provide made-to-measure artist support, including living wage fees of $1,050 per artist per week, transportation, health insurance enrollment, 24/7 studio access, and on-site housing. These residencies culminate in public programs that share the creative process with local communities. Residency partners include Bethany Arts Community, Ossining, NY; Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill, NY; Catskill Mountain Foundation, Hunter, NY; Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY; The Church, Sag Harbor, NY; Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY; Millay Arts, Austerlitz, NY; Modern Accord Depot, Accord, NY; Petronio Residency Center, Round Top, NY; The Pocantico Center, Tarrytown, NY; and Watermill Center, Water Mill, NY.

Works & Process will also grow audience engagement by presenting a continuum of concert and social dance. Expanding the Guggenheim’s Member Mondays, Works & Process performances will host a Ball in the museum’s rotunda on November 21 (The Masterz Ball with commentating by Snookie Juicy West and music DJ Byrell). On the third Thursday of the month, Works & Process and 92NY Harkness Dance Center with Hi-ARTS will present LayeRhythm (On The Move) at the Gibney Center. LayeRhythm founder Mai Lê Hô weaves a singular mix of freestyle dance, live music, and audience interaction, celebrating the vibrancy of street and club dance cultures. These events will feature choreographed work from guest companies alongside improvisations by musicians, dancers, and emcees, captivating audiences young and old, from theater to club goers.

In-Process Choreopoem Commission

Ladies of Hip-Hop: The Black Dancing Bodies Project

Thursday, November 3, 7:30 pm

Works & Process at Lincoln Center, Clark Studio Theater

Ticket Link – $35, Choose-What-You-Pay

An ongoing performance and documentary effort to represent Black women in street and club dance culture, this session highlights the choreopoem, first coined in 1975 by writer Ntozake Shange (For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf). Led by Michele Byrd-McPhee, new writing, poetry by Ursula Rucker, and music and dance of street, club and African culture come together in this show-and-tell, culminating the Ladies of Hip-Hop’s Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at the Catskill Mountain Foundation.

Works & Process Commission

Les Ballet Afrik: New York Is Burning by Omari Wiles – World Premiere

Saturday and Sunday, November 5 and 6, 7:30 pm

Works & Process at the Guggenheim, Peter B. Lewis Theater

Ticket Link – $35, Choose-What-You- Pay

House of Oricci founding father and ballroom community legend Omari Wiles brings ballroom to the Guggenheim in the long-awaited premiere of New York Is Burning, commissioned by Works & Process, featuring Wiles’s AfrikFusion, which combines traditional African dances and Afrobeat with house dance and vogue.

The 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning received critical acclaim for its depiction of the New York drag ball scene and of voguing as a powerful expression of personal pride in the face of racism, homophobia, and the stigma of the AIDS crisis. Just as Paris Is Burning did for New York in the 1980s, New York Is Burning reflects the aspirations, desires, and yearnings of a diverse group of dancers in a city beset by health, racial, and financial crises.

Commissioned by Works & Process in 2019, prior to the pandemic, as an homage to Paris Is Burning on the documentary’s thirtieth anniversary, Wiles’s new work centers on the artists for whom his dance company serves as a surrogate family, including Kya Azeen, Eva Bust A’ Move, Algin Ford-Sterling, Alora Martinez, Shireen Rahimi, Milerka Rodriguez, Karma Stylz, Yuki Sukezane, and Yuhee Yang.

Wiles developed the Works & Process commission for his company, Les Ballet Afrik, in a summer 2020 Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, a spring 2021 Works & Process bubble residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation, and a January 2022 Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at The Church, Sag Harbor in partnership with Guild Hall. Throughout this time, in some of New York State’s first permitted performances during the pandemic, Works & Process coproduced Les Ballet Afrik’s outdoor, filmed, and preview performances at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Guggenheim Museum rotunda. The company has performed previews at Jacob’s Pillow, New Victory Theater, and SummerStage.

Dance Conversations

Intergenerational Memories of New York City Club Dancers with Ephrat Asherie

Monday, November 7, 7 pm

Works & Process at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium

Ticket Link – Free with RSVP

In conjunction with the November 13 and 14 premiere of UNDERSCORED, choreographer Ephrat Asherie is working with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division to collect and archive oral histories from elders who helped create and usher in NYC’s underground dance scene in the 1970s and 1980s. In this program, legendary elders from the underground dance community will share their stories in conversation with Asherie. 

Works & Process Commission

“UNDERSCORED” by Ephrat Asherie Dance and NYC Club Legends

Sunday and Monday, November 13 and 14, 7:30 pm

Works & Process at the Guggenheim, Peter B. Lewis Theater

Ticket Link – $35, Choose-What-You-Pay

Commissioned by Works & Process, UNDERSCORED is a multi-faceted project that acts as a living archive of five generations of NYC club dancers. Rooted in the intergenerational stories and memories of NYC underground club heads, UNDERSCORED was created in collaboration with legendary elders from the underground dance community such as Archie Burnett, Michele Saunders, and Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune and Ephrat Asherie Dance company members Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, Manon Bal, Ron “Stealth-1” Chunn Jr., Teena Marie Custer, Val “Ms. Vee” Ho, and Matthew “Megawatt” West. The performers, ranging in age from 27 to 79, share lived experiences, stories, and vibes from seminal underground parties, including David Mancuso’s the Loft, Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage and Timmy Regisford’s Shelter. Featuring costumes by David Dalrymple and building on the intergenerational transference of knowledge and culturally reflective movement that happens night after night on dance floors across the city, UNDERSCORED explores the ever-changing physical and musical landscape of New York City’s underground dance community.

Commissioned by Works & Process in 2018, UNDERSCORED makes its long-awaited world premiere in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim following a summer 2019 residency at LUMBERYARD, summer 2020 Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, a spring 2021 Works & Process bubble residency at Bridge Street Theatre with the support of the Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and May 2022 Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation. Throughout this time, in some of New York State’s first permitted performances during the pandemic, Works & Process coproduced outdoor, filmed, and preview performances of UNDERSCORED at Harlem Stage, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and in the Guggenheim Museum rotunda. During summer of 2022, in-process performances of UNDERSCORED were presented at the Vail Dance Festival and The Yard.

LayeRhythm (On The Move) with The Hood Lockers

In collaboration with 92NY and Hi-ARTS

Thursday, November 17, 7:30 pm

Works & Process at Gibney, Gibney Center 280, The Theater (Studio H)

Ticket Link – $35, Choose-What-You-Pay

Embodying the continuum of concert and social dance, LayeRhythm led by Mai Lê Hô weaves a singular mix of freestyle dance, live music, and audience interaction, celebrating the vibrancy of street and club dance cultures. Spotlighting The Hood Lockers, the evening will feature choreographed work from the company alongside improvisations by musicians, dancers and emcees, captivating young and old, theater and club goers.

LayeRhythm founder Mai Lê Hô weaves a singular mix of freestyle dance, live music, and audience interaction, celebrating the vibrancy of street and club dance cultures. Events feature choreographed work from guest companies alongside improvisations by musicians, dancers and emcees, captivating young and old, theater and club goers.

Third Thursdays this fall, Works & Process and 92NY, with community partner Hi-ARTS present “LayeRhythm (On The Move)” at the Guggenheim (9/15), The New York Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division (10/20), Gibney Center (11/17), and Lincoln Center (12/15).

Works & Process Commission

Masterz at Work Dance Family: ALL INCLUSIVE AND MORE by Courtney Washington Balenciaga, with The Masterz Ball in the rotunda

Presented with Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective

Monday, November 21 at 7:30 pm

Works & Process at the Guggenheim, Peter B. Lewis Theater and Rotunda

Ticket Link – $35, Choose-What-You-Pay

A legend within the ballroom community, founder of the Kiki House of Juicy Couture, leader of The House of Balenciaga, and this year’s Latex Ball Avis Penda’vis Angel Award winner, Black trans femme choreographer Courtney Washington Balenciaga creates dances that are a representation of resiliency, and which foster community in under-resourced areas of Brooklyn. Her new Works & Process commission, ALL INCLUSIVE AND MORE fuses street dance, street jazz, ballroom, vogue, and hip-hop. Informed by her own experience as a queer teenager who found refuge from teasing in dance, the work conveys how her gender transition spurred transformative emotional, creative, and physical liberation. An expansion of ALL INCLUSIVE, which was commissioned in 2020 and performed in the Guggenheim’s rotunda as performances were reopening in New York on March 31, 2021, this latest work furthers her ambitions toward shaping a more inclusive, fair, representative, and colorful world. Mya Donyale Bonilla, Producer and Programs Manager at Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective, will moderate the discussion with Courtney Washington Balenciaga.

In conjunction with the Guggenheim’s Member Mondays, this performance in the theater will continue into the rotunda with The Masterz Ball featuring commentating by Snookie Juicy West and music by DJ Byrell. All audience members are encouraged to participate in the ball, with categories including All Inclusive, Best Dressed, and Creative Expression.

Commissioned by Works & Process in 2020, this work was developed in a Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in March 2021. This work will also receive a two-week Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at Bethany Arts Community in November 2022, which will provide creative time and commissioning resources for Masterz at Work Dance Family and its uplifting and inspiring dancers Luis, Lamell “Jay Parel” Clemons, Jai’Quin Coleman, DeAndre Cousley, Mehki Cuffee, Rasheed “NewBorn” Lucas Jr., Guya Marie, Armani Moore, Dashaun “DayDay” Peals, and Brian Starke.

Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” Residencies

Bethany Arts Community, Ossining, NY

Masterz at Work Dance Family with Courtney Washington Balenciaga

November 7–19

Catskill Mountain Foundation, Hunter, NY

Ladies of Hip-Hop

October 21–November 3

Indian Letters by Amar Ramasar and Preeti Vasudevan

November 6–14

Modern Accord Depot, Accord, NY

Jack Ferver, Lloyd Knight, and Jeremy Jacob

November 28–December 3

ABOUT WORKS & PROCESS

An independent process-focused non-profit performing arts organization, Works & Process illuminates the artistic process of creators from the world’s largest organizations and simultaneously champions artists representing historically underrecognized performing arts cultures by providing rare longitudinal studio-to-stage fully-funded creative residency, commissioning, and iterative presenting support.

Works & Process provides audiences with unprecedented access to creative process with programs that blend artist discussions and performance highlights, with the goal of fostering greater understanding and appreciation and broadening representation.

This season Works & Process celebrates New York artists, street and social dance, and after four decades at the Guggenheim expands beyond the museum to also present at Gibney Center, Lincoln Center, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Our ongoing LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency program knits together a constellation of 12 residency centers across New York state to support creative process.

“An exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process” – The New York Times

VENUES

Gibney Center

280 Broadway, New York, NY 10007

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Clark Studio Theater, Samuel B. and David Rose Building

165 West 65th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10023

Jerome Robbins Dance Division

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128