Jill Rousseau is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Brooklyn, whose movement-based work is funny, feminist, and unpredictable. Her solo The Best Time I Broke My Arm, created soon after she really did break her arm, was called one of the highlights of the 2014 Performance Mix Festival at HERE Arts Center by the NY Theatre Wire. In 2017, the play she directed, The Big No was named Best Play of the Week at the Players’ Theatre Short Play Festival. Jill’s artistic home is the Tank, where as the dance curator she created the unique series xyz nyc, presented evening-length work by a wide range of emerging artists, performs her own work, and is a member of the Board of Directors. Jill has danced, choreographed, and/or created costumes for many independent artists and productions in NYC, including Reverend Billy, Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance, Emmy-award winner Moira Demos, Leyya Tawil/Dance Elixer, The Whitest Kids U’Know, Bond St Theatre, Deb Silver, and The Move Shop. She earned a BA in Theater and Dance from Trinity College and attended the Trinity/La MaMa program.
My currently untitled piece explores the very real intersection between multi-level marketing schemes and the mothers they ensnare by asking the absurd question, “What if motherhood itself were an MLM?” Through this preposterous high-pressure sales pitch, I will explore the alienating experience of modern motherhood and how it relates to capitalism and community.
Thank you thank you and thank you to everyone who made this residency (Black Artist Space to Create) possible. These past two weeks have been a blessing! Not only have I been able to deepen my own personal/artistic practices, I was given the space to connect with people that I love! I was given space to reflect on love, and to prepare for what this next year (2021) will bring! Shout out to New Dance Alliance, Modern Accord Depot and Angie Pittman for the time, the space, and opportunity! I am forever grateful! It felt like a good meal, with dessert!
– Johnnie Cruise Mercer
New Dance Alliance
182 Duane Street
New York, NY 10013