Marion Spencer
We are: Anna, Kimi, Ogemdi, S., Symara, Tara, Taylor & Marion.
‘to love the rise/ pt.2’ ^deconstructed^
live streamed film- Wednesday May 6th @ 12pm, 4pm & 8pm EST
‘to love the rise/pt.2’ ^deconstructed^ from Marion Spencer on Vimeo.
‘virtual zine launch- Wednesday May 6th @ 12pm
Featuring collaborating artists
- Symara Johnson
- S. Lumbert
- Tara Sheena
- Slowdanger
- Kimiko Tanabe
- Ogemdi Ude
‘to love the rise/ pt. 2’ ^deconstructed^ are sharings of our virtual process- of what being in practice looks like, feels like, IS right now, within the container of developing project ‘to love the rise/ pt. 2’ – a dance exploring conscious femininity, growth mania, liminal space and transformation. Emerging on a different imaginative plane- an apocalyptic world where only we remain- a new utopia and all her elements are rebuilt by our collective. We offer an anti-capitalist mindset and alternative order, posing that our world is made by us, by us all- through protest, imagining and action. We cannot wait to be back together in process with this dance- in the meantime, we are excited to share how our research continues right now with you.
Marion Spencer is a dancer, choreographer and educator currently based in New York City. Her work has been presented by Danspace Project (DraftWork), Gibney (Work Up), Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Green Space, Triskelion Arts, Center for Performance Research (Fall Movement), Movement Research at Judson Church, DanceNow NYC, Dance HOLO and the Domestic Performance Agency. Marion is a 2019-2020 season artist at The Chocolate Factory Theater (creative residency, December 2019) and Gibney (Solo for Solo, Spring 2020). She has held residencies at MANA Contemporary, Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Turkeyland Cove Foundation and the Peaceable Barn, among others. Marion’s dances call for transformation through an undoing of ourselves, inviting us to feel, ask questions, and consider what else, both imaginatively and constructively. She currently dances for BAND|portier and Laura Peterson Choreography. Since moving to NYC, Marion has worked with Yackez/Larissa Velez-Jackson, Michelle Boulé, Athena Kokoronis, Shandoah Goldman, Melissa Riker, Annie Kloppenberg, and Shaun Irons & Lauren Petty, among others. She teaches at Freeskewl, Gibney, Dancewave and Greenwich Country Day Middle and High School. Marion has toured her choreographic work and teaching practice nationally to New Orleans, Seattle, and Amherst. She graduated with honors from Vassar College in 2009 with a BA in Geography-Anthropology.
Symara Johnson, a Portland Oregon native, has immersed herself in choreographic studies globally. Her work varies due to the different influences she’s embraced throughout her life. She has studied on the island of Trinidad and Tobago indulging in Caribbean folk dance, traditional Indian dance, and more. She spent two years gaining a diploma in modern choreography at the renowned Beijing Dance Academy in Beijing, China. Symara is a graduate of SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Dance program. She has served as a resident artist at Bearnstow and has presented work at the Bates Dance Festival, Smush Gallery, The Craft, BAAD, CreateArtXGallim, WIM Salon, Mount Vernon Community Theatre, ACMA, The Forum Art Space, the Beijing Dance Academy Theatre and DIY venues throughout NYC. She has danced works most notably by & for Kevin Wynn, Alexandra Beller, Rena butler, Jasmine Hearn, Hannah Garner, Nattie Trogdon+Hollis Bartlett, Netta Yerushalmy and more.
S. lumbert is a genderqueer/trans-masculine humxn dancer and aspiring novice rock climber. s. is committed to a continual practice of working to renavigate how to be in zis body and in the world as a trans* person who experiences chronic illness. ze often finds solace and healing in nature. s. is currently working with and performing for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.
Tara Sheena is a dancer and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. As a performer, she has collaborated on recent projects with Catherine Galasso, Ivy Baldwin. Gillian Walsh, Leyya Tawil, Nadia Tykulsker, Ursula Eagly, Lindsey Dietz Marchant, stormy budwig, and Faye Driscoll for the forthcoming film, Shirley. Her latest writing, Capital-D Dance, is a zine collaboration with artist Katie Dean and will debut as a part of Living Gallery(curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa) at Gibney on December 6. She was born in Detroit and graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Dance and BA in English in 2011.
anna thompson and taylor knight, are co-founders of performance entity, slowdanger. They fuse sound and movement through improvised contemporary and postmodern dance frameworks, using found material, vocalization, and ontological examination to engage in collaborative work. Performers manifest as a non-binary entity that is one body amassed of multiple bodies in space. slowdanger has been featured in Dance Magazine’s ‘ 25 to Watch’, The MoMA, The Andy Warhol Museum, Usine C, Dance Place and more. They were Creatives in Residence at the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at CMU and Performers in Residence at the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Kimiko Tanabe is from the great state of Colorado and currently resides in Brooklyn as a freelance performer and dancer. She trained as a competitive gymnast before slowly making her way to the contemporary dance world. Kimiko holds a degree in English – Creative Writing and Dance from Colorado College. Aries by day, Scorpio by night, she is a lover of literature and finds herself making important life decisions under the eyes and influences of fiction. Drawing inspiration from the novel as form, she understands the body as a vessel to tell stories.
Ogemdi Ude is a Nigerian-American dance artist, educator, and doula based in Harlem. Her work has been presented at Danspace Project, Gibney, Center for Performance Research, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, Lewis Center for the Arts, and for BAM’s DanceAfrica festival. She is a 2019-2020 Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU Resident Fellow and 2019 BAX Space Grantee. She currently serves as Head of Movement for Drama at Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in English, Dance, and Theater from Princeton University.
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