Martita Abril (Pichu) is from the border city of Tijuana, México. She has collaborated with dance artists and companies including AUNTS, Lux Boreal, Kim Brandt, Yanira Castro, Yoshiko Chuma, Milka Djordevich, Tess Dworman, Daria Fain and Robert Kocik, Allyson Green, Abigail Levine, Mina Nishimura, Cori Olinghouse, Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, Will Rawls, David Thompson, Larissa Velez-Jackson, Cathy Weis, and Andros Zins-Browne. Martita was a performer in Simone Forti’s Dance Constructions, the Handles exhibition by Haegue Yang, and the Mirrors I & II piece by Joan Jonas at the Museum of Modern Art. She was part of the Fresh Tracks Residency, the Dance and Process (DAP) artist in residency program at The Kitchen in partnership with Arts and Letters, and the Movement Research (MR) Artist-in-Residence Program, funded, in part, by Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Martita has been a recipient of international residencies in Ecuador, Mexico, Latvia, and most recently Budapest, and Prague which were supported by the GPS/Global Practice Sharing Program of Movement Research with funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding. She currently guides workshops in gardens for Spanish speaking families who recently arrived in NYC, through the iLAND (Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art Nature and Dance) program in collaboration with El Puente. She is currently the Director of MR at the Judson Church Monday night series, she continues to mentor Immigrant artists as part of the NYFA Coaching program and is a member of NYFA’s Artist Advisory Committee. Martita was a co-curator for Sundays On Broadway with Cathy Weis Projects in 2025 for their Spring and Fall season and currently she is co-curator in residency at La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival.
“My creative history with New Dance Alliance goes a way long. Since my friend, Chivas Sandage brought me to New Dance Alliance to rehearse in early 90’s, the place has become a part of my creative life. The long time existence of the studio and Performance Mix Festival are vital to the artists who seek and explore deep into their process. Whenever I step into the studio, it’s a new space with a lot of memories. I lie down on the floor, listen to my body, and I dance. It is valuable. The time in the space nurtures my practice and artistic vision. Karen’s vision of Lift-Off residency, feedback sessions, providing peer to peer connections are more significant than ever. It has been helping us to get through 2020 and we are going into 2021.”
– Nami Yamamoto
New Dance Alliance
182 Duane Street
New York, NY 10013
All venues are wheelchair accessible.
