CUNY Dance Initiative Announces 2017-18 Residency Artists

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an unprecedented model for collaboration between the City University of New York (CUNY) and the New York City dance field, announces its 2017-18 resident artists.

From July 2017 to June 2018, thirteen CUNY colleges in all five boroughs will host 24 residencies, offering studio and stage time to New York City-based choreographers and companies working in all dance genres (complete list below).

"Every dance artist needs space, time, and resources?that's no secret," said choreographer Caleb Teicher, who benefited from a CDI residency at Queens College in 2016. "Thanks to CDI, there's more dance work being created and presented in New York City. I'm excited to return to my creative process at Baruch College in 2018."

As CDI heads into its fourth year, it is becoming an integral part of the New York City dance ecosystem. "The CUNY Dance Initiative has addressed the fierce challenge of accessing affordable space head-on, and is helping to ensure local artists are able to practice their artistry and to grow," commented DanceNYC Executive Director Lane Harwell.

While CDI's primary focus is providing space for artists to create and rehearse their work, residencies include programs for students and faculty (master classes and open rehearsals), along with public events such as work-in-progress showings and performances. Taken together, these additional activities are helping to build audiences for dance throughout the city, and are contributing to the cultural vitality of CDI's partner CUNY campuses.

Ted Altschuler, Director of the Baruch Performing Arts Center, stated: "Hosting artists who are making work of contemporary relevance over the course of several weeks, and opening the doors of the creative process for students and audiences, is a way to show them that dance is not a rarefied art form, but can be about them. This is of tremendous value to the Baruch community."

Details on fall 2017 performances and public events will be announced this summer.

2017-18 Resident Artists

Baruch College: Baruch Performing Arts Center

Caleb Teicher & Company

Heidi Latsky Dance

BMCC: Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Andrew Nemr

Brooklyn College: Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Jinah Parker Project

Odylle Beder

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

MorDance/Morgan McEwen

Urban Bush Women

College of Staten Island: Department of Performing and Creative Arts

Fana Fraser

Hadar Ahuvia

Hostos Community College: Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture

Sekou McMiller Dance Company

RudduRDance

John Jay College: Gerald W. Lynch Theater

Dusan Tynek Dance Theater

Melissa Riker/Kinesis Project dance theatre

Kingsborough Community College: On Stage at Kingsborough

Ja'Malik/Ballet Boy Productions

LaGuardia Community College: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

kris seto + shoey sun |vessels|

Rovaco Dance Company/Rohan Bhargava

Lehman College: Department of Dance and Theatre

House of Ninja

Nadine Bommer Dance Company

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

Jenni Hong Dance

Sydney L. Mosley Dances

Queens College: Kupferberg Center for the Arts

Jiva Dance

Svea Schneider/Kinematic Dance Theater

York College: Milton G. Bassin Performing Arts Center

Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC

Matthew Westerby

ABOUT THE CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE

The CUNY Dance Initiative 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 82 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 and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. Past supporters have included the New York Community Trust and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. CDI is spearheaded and administered by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College.

For more information about the CUNY Dance Initiative, visit its newly expanded website: www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative or follow CDI on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

(Photo Credit: Ian Douglas)