Fall and Winter 2020-2021 Artist Residencies
Sandbox Percussion, November 2020
Sandbox Percussion devoted its residency to preparing Andy Akiho’s Seven Pillars for recording at PS21, assisted by the composer and producer/engineer Sean Dixon. The 80-minute work, a genre-defying audio and video collaboration (11 video artists created short films) commissioned by the quartet, was released in September 2021. The residency thus culminated its multi-year journey from commission through composition, mastery, and recording of this ambitious piece, consisting of seven ensemble movements, each one flowing into the next, and a solo for each of the musicians.
In a livestreamed Zoom session, Sandbox Percussion took viewers behind the scenes of their recording and post-production methodologies, played still-unreleased excerpts from their sessions, and shared the experience of engaging a new work during a Q&A with the audience. Reflecting on the challenge of nurturing Seven Pillars from concept to concert-ready, Akiho said, “I’ve never taken on a project this ambitious—it’s nearly 80 minutes of music—but I was inspired by the collaborative relationship I have with Sandbox.” Zachary Woolfe in the New York Times noted that thanks to the collective nature of Seven Pillars’ creation, Akiho “casts a new kind of spell, a trance experienced by four players at once.”
Camille Brown Dance Company, February 14—March 22, 2021
Camille A. Brown, a choreographer, twelve dancers, and two musicians, accompanied by their manager and a chef, spent February in a Covid-bubble residency at PS21, where they developed Queens, Brown’s new solo work, and reimagined Matchstick (2008), a work inspired by the Great Migration that interweaves poetry and earthbound movement and is newly relevant in our present moment.
Brown’s artistic vision and commitment to community outreach through her Every Body Move program dovetail perfectly with PS21’s community service initiatives and conception of the essential role of the arts to everyday life.
Last year Camille received the Antonyo Award for Best Choreography for Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have committed suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and the 2020 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Choreography. Last fall she was also feted with the 2020 Dance Magazine Award and honored with International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) 2021 Distinguished Artist Award. Camille was named to Variety’s Broadway to Watch for 2020 and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and two Lucille Lortel Awards for her work on for colored girls and Toni Stone.
American Ballet Theater, October 2020 and January 2021
Dancers from American Ballet Theatre devoted their monthlong bubble residency in October 2020 to developing, rehearsing, and filming Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Indestructible Light, the choreographer’s first work for the company. Set to songs by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Neal Hefti, and Billy Strayhorn, the work celebrates the enduring contributions of these American jazz masters. Moultrie was joined by Director of Repertoire Carlos Lopez and ABT members Anabel Katsnelson, Betsy McBride, Erica Lall, Jacob Clerico, Melvin Lawovi, and Duncan McIlwaine.
“I’m always excited about finding ways to use great music and the dancers’ bodies to bring inspiration to people,” Moultrie said. “No matter what’s happening around us, we must always remember there’s a light within that can never be shut off.” — Darrell Grand Moultrie
In January of 2021, ABT’s dancers returned for a second residency at PS21, this time led by Jose Sebastian, the director of ABT Incubator, an annual choreography workshop designed to inspire the creation of new dances. The group created and filmed several new works during their stay before leaving at the end of the first week of February.
About PS21’s Residencies
PS21’s residencies provide artists with the opportunity to develop ideas, projects, and collaborations while residing with us in our spacious 11-bed guesthouse on PS21’s peaceful, rambling grounds. Support for these artists can include the use of PS21’s spaces, such as our Theater, Dance Barn, and landscape, as well as artist honoraria, technical and administrative services, and the ability to present work-in-progress showings. These resident artists are integral to helping us imagine PS21’s future and connecting us with the broader national and international arts landscape.
