LayeRhythm

LayeRhythm Productions, Inc. (LPI) highlights freestyle dance and music voices under-recognized in the traditional performing arts landscape while providing entertainment, building community through play, educating audiences in cultural history, preserving the legacy of street & club dance forms, transforming individuals’ relationship to music & dance and supporting emotional & social well-being. LayeRhythm is dedicated to risk-taking improvisation and interactive audience engagement through performances and educational events.

“[LayeRhythm is a] brew of partying and performing that unfolds as a series of interactive sessions in which suggestions from the crowd beget songs and steps. Imagine an improv comedy show where dancing, not laughs, is the currency. Then imagine a musicians’ jam session where the band is compelled to keep the dancers’ pace instead of the other way around. […] [W]hat’s distinct about LayeRhythm is the way it bridges the two groups with crowd participation” (The New York Times).

Since 2015, LayeRhythm (LR), led by Founder/Artistic Director Mai Lê Hô, has offered NYC monthly interactive, improvisational street/club music and dance jam sessions at Meridian 23 and Nublu, as well as performances at venues/festivals such as Jacob’s Pillow, the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, Bridge Street Theater, 92NY Harkness Dance Center, NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, Gibney, The Church (Sag Harbor), Movement Research at Judson Church. LayeRhythm was selected by CUNY Dance Initiative for residencies at Brooklyn College for the Performing Arts (2021-2022) and Baruch College (2022-2023). LR has partnered w/ Works & Process at the Guggenheim, 92NY, Hi-Arts, Hook Arts Media, Rolling Stone, Teatro Yerbabruja, Queens County Farm Museum, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, PotaY. LPI incorporated as a nonprofit in 2020, and has since received the support of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New Music USA, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Dance/NYC, Club Culture Foundation.

The LR experimental platform layers extemporaneous collaborations of live musicians and freestyle dancers, working from a diverse cultural palette: hip hop, funk, soul, house music, and popping, locking, waacking, Detroit jit, Chicago footwork, krump, flexN, breaking, voguing, litefeet, house dance styles.

LR has given the spotlight to 300+ local and international street/club dancers and musicians (ages 21-60). Artists include African American, Latinx, Asian, LGBTQ+, and immigrant communities. In 50+ presentations, LR has served a diverse audience of 20,000+: patrons of clubs, theaters, parks, festivals, and online communities.

LayeRhythm, the acclaimed freestyle street/club dance and live music performance design, joins Performance Mix Festival for the first time. Improvised sets based on ideas from the audience, typical of an evening with LayeRhythm, will take the audience on a journey through interactive creativity, community-building, and artistic play.

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