About Performance Mix Festival
The first Performance Mix Festival (1986) was groundbreaking in that it was the only festival at that time exclusively dedicated to performance art in lower Manhattan. Its continuing success is testimony to its vital necessity in New York’s cultural community.
New Dance Alliance views the function of supporting experimental performance works as carrying forward a distinct heritage of art in America. From Isadora Duncan and her shoeless dances to John Cage and his amplified toasters to Jennifer Monson and her migration projects, American artists have been privileged in their Constitutional right to defy conventions. NDA continues this American legacy by making an explicit commitment to equity and inclusion and creating programs that center the work of artists from historically marginalized communities of color, LGBTQ artists, and artists with disabilities. As testimony to its efforts, NDA claims a roster of over 1,000 artists who have pioneered new methods in artistic creation. These artists have distinct voices within shared genres and have often gone on to become award-winning leaders in the field. Among our artists are post-modernist Douglas Dunn; hip-hop-influenced Doug Elkins. J. Bouley, and Nicholas Leichter; the poignant and funny David Parker and Lena Englestein; emotion-driven movement experimenters Keely Garfield and Stacy Grossfield; improvisation mavericks Jennifer Monson, Yvonne Meier and Sally Silvers; collaborative movement/music artists Cherylyn Lavagnino/Andy Teirstein and Nina Winthrop/Jon Gibson; culturally influenced artists Kayla Hamilton, Christopher Nunez, Merian Soto, Trajal Harrell, Marlies Yearby, Leslie Cuyjet, and Koosil-ja Hwang; multimedia dance theater artists Jane Comfort and Troika Ranch; international performance artists Dana Michel, Frederic Gravel, Marie Brassard, Martin Belanger, Ginette Laurin and Louise Bedard (Montreal), Ivo Dimchev (Bulgaria), La Zampa (France); and from around the world David Zambrano’s 50 CollectiVe.
The festival has grown to include artists from around the globe, including South Africa, Canada, Europe, and South America. Founder and Executive Director Karen Bernard has been invited to many festivals across Canada and Europe, forming relationships that have broadened her curatorial process and widened the festival’s scope. By bringing her expansive awareness of culture into an intimate setting, Bernard cultivates an important sharing of creativity nationally, and internationally.
In addition to offering a fully-produced performance opportunity to artists, NDA offers a range of support services to Mix participants. Some of these are coordinated during the Mix, while others happen throughout the year. The main goal of these services is to provide artists with structures that reinforce their practice and support the development of their work. This includes:
- Marketing/Publicity: Mix artists are promoted on the NDA website (photos, bios, videos and interviews.) The website displays the festival schedule and is linked to the venue, ticketing, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Closer to the Festival, artists are promoted through online and traditional post mailings to press, stakeholders, and presenters. Festival rack cards are mailed to donors and distributed by artists and NDA staff to dance studios, service organizations, theaters and colleges. Publicity is professionally generated by Janet Stapleton, who works in tandem with our marketing team.
- Rehearsal Space: Beginning in January, Performance Mix artists can book up to 8 hours of rehearsal space (subject to availability) at no charge at NDA’s rehearsal studio, 182 Duane Street in Tribeca. The studio is 23’ x 30’ with 10-1/2’ wall height to ceiling and a sprung wood floor. The studio has two large windows, mirrors with curtain stereo system, amp, trapeze point, scrim, rest room and kitchen facilities, and old fashion DVD/VHS source. The studio also acts as a hub for Mix artists to meet and conduct business.
- Video and photographic documentation: Artists receive free professional documentation of their work.
- Complimentary tickets: Complimentary tickets are provided to the press, benefactors, and the industry. Lead Mix artists receive one free ticket to each performance.
Learn more about this year’s festival >