Alison Kopit, photo by Alison Kopit Image description : Alison, a white femme with wire-rimmed glasses and blue eyes and brown hair, lays on the ground. Her face is partially obstructed by blades of grass, and leafy trees in mid-summer rustle behind her. She rests the side of her face on her hand and looks past the camera.
Alison Kopit is a queer and disabled multi-disciplinary artist and access worker creating at the intersection of movement improvisation and conceptual art. She is interested in the unquantifiable and undocumentable imprints that care leaves on our bodyminds. For her LiftOff residency, she will be working on a series called Reverberations that explores the potentialities of care through the lens of ephemerality and dynamic interpersonal connection. She invites the community to loosen their grip on time and space and dream expansively about the ways that we can reach toward each other.
Kopit holds an MS and PhD in Disability Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was a 2021-2022 resident of Dance/NYC’s Disability. Dance. Artistry residency program and a participating artist in UCLA’s 2022 Dancing Disability Lab. As an access worker, she embraces anti-oppressive approaches to cultural work, working with artists, collectives, and organizations to build commitment to intersectional, sustainable access practice. The depth of her experience comes from relationship and engagement with queer and disability communities. Mutual aid practice, arts organizing, access practice, direct care, and collaborative art-making are central to her art practice and life.
“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