Danspace Project

04/24/2025

In February 2025, Danspace Project partnered with the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division to present an excerpt of “Chicken Soup (re-imagined)” at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica as part of an event titled “Uplifting Black Legacy”.

On Blondell Cummings’ work, Marjani Forté-Saunders has said, “I brought her with me, and we danced together, for a moment. ‘Chicken Soup’ shows a Black woman in her own kitchen, scrubbing her own floors, snapping her own peas, wielding her own frying pan. By evoking this work, we get to examine those kitchen tools as portals—bending time to further the narrative of space, character, and rite.”

Performances at Danspace Project as part of our 50th anniversary season will run from May 29–31. 🪑

📷: Photos of Marjani Forté-Saunders courtesy of City of Santa Monica, Cultural Affairs by Asha Moné of HRDWRKER

04/22/2025

04/21/2025

🔊 We’re excited to honor Kevin Beasley, Linda Brumbach, and Meredith Monk at Danspace Project’s 2025 Gala on Tuesday, May 13! https://givebutter.com/DanspaceGala2025

Kevin Beasley is an acclaimed and visionary multidisciplinary artist whose profound work spans sculpture, photography, sound, and performance, reviving and retelling shared histories to examine power and race in America.

📷: Photo of Kevin Beasley by David Schulze
📷: Photo of Linda Brumbach by WEF
📷: Photo of Meredith Monk by LNDW Studio

04/17/2025

Congratulations to interdisciplinary artists Niall Jones and Tamara Santibañez on being named Princeton University Arts Fellows for 2025-2027.
Learn more: https://bit.ly/43D4Z17

04/17/2025

04/17/2025

Tickets are available for Marjani Forté-Saunders performing Blondell Cummings’ “Chicken Soup” at Danspace Project from May 29–31! 🍳 https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/ws2025-forte-saunders-cummings/

Blondell Cummings’ most well-known work, “Chicken Soup” (1981), is a solo based on her childhood memories of her grandmother in the kitchen, performed in 1982 as part of the Parallels series curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones at Danspace Project.

Joan Acocella of The New Yorker wrote, “What made ‘Chicken Soup’ so compelling—wild, funny, frightening—was the alternation between realism and surrealism.” The National Endowment for the Arts designated ‘Chicken Soup’ an American Masterpiece in 2006, and in 2007, the work was reconstructed and restaged at the Joyce Theater in 2007 by Urban Bush Women. A deep and direct artistic transmission, Marjani Forté-Saunders was the first and among very few artists to ever learn “Chicken Soup” from Cummings and the only one other than Cummings to ever perform the solo.

📷: Photo (left) of Blondell Cummings by Kei Orihara. Courtesy The Estate of Blondell Cummings.
📷: Photo (right) of Marjani Forté-Saunders courtesy of City of Santa Monica, Cultural Affairs by Asha Moné of HRDWRKER

04/16/2025

"On April 26, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery will screen GROUNDS THAT SHOUT!...and others merely shaking, a documentary involving Philadelphia-based choreographers responding to the layered histories of race and religion in three of the city’s historic churches. Sparked by similar historical research he did at St. Mark’s in 2018, the documentary was curated by Wilson. The showing will feature a conversation with Wilson...it will surely be rewarding to hear Wilson speak about the underpinnings of his always-deeply-researched work." -Lisa Jo Sagolla, DancEnthusiast

"According to program notes, the 60-minute ensemble piece for seven dancers is inspired by Wilson’s desire to re-claim foundational ideas from his early work and discover how, or if, they continue to resonate today." - Lisa Jo Sagolla, New York

04/16/2025

💜 Danspace Project’s Gala 2025 honoring Kevin Beasley, Linda Brumbach, and Meredith Monk is coming up on May 13! This event is made possible by many different teams coming together to pull off all the little detaills—volunteers are crucial to the success of the evening.

Sign up to volunteer: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQv5GTTWt4xE93l1_pvfL1CQsASeV53NjN8NK_pepaLneFRg/viewform

In exchange for your help, you will receive a complimentary ticket to the Gala performance & afterparty. If you are assigned to work during this time, you will receive a complimentary ticket to the reception as well as 2 complimentary tickets to any Danspace performance.

Please contact Miranda Brown, Development Manager, at [email protected] if you have any questions about volunteering!

📷: Photo by Elyssa Goodman

04/14/2025

🙏 Read Karen Hildebrand’s review of Bebe Miller Company’s “Vespers, Reimagined” (2025) in Fjord Review! https://fjordreview.com/blogs/all/vespers-reimagined

📷: Photos by Rachel Keane

04/13/2025

📝 Read Claudia La Rocco’s essay “Now and Then, Again” in the Danspace Project Journal! https://danspaceproject.org/2025/04/10/now-and-then-again-an-essay-by-claudia-la-rocco/

Danspace Project’s Platform 2015: Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets, curated by writer and critic Claudia La Rocco, explored the poet-as-critic tradition; the overlapping dance lineages of George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, and Judson Dance Theater; and their continued and complicated influence on choreographic practice today.

Please read La Rocco’s reflection on the 2015 Platform, written first in 2020, and edited and published today in anticipation of the Platform 2015 reunion program, as a part of Danspace @ 50: The Work is Never Done. Sanctuary Always Needed.

📷: Photo of Claudia La Rocco and Judy Hussie-Taylor by Ian Douglas

04/12/2025

04/12/2025

Swing by Danspace Project in New York City this evening to catch performances of Trisha Brown's "Watermotor" (1978), danced by Marc Crousillat, and "Glacial Decoy" (1979), danced by Jennifer Payán and Cecily Campbell!

Saturday, April 12
3:45-8pm
More info at DanspaceProject.org.

TBDC is performing these works as part of the "Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets Reunion," curated by writer and critic Claudia La Rocco. This special reunion program will be co-facilitated by Claudia La Rocco and Judy Hussie-Taylor and will include reflections and conversations with many of the original artists, including Kaitlyn Gilliland, Silas Riener, Rashaun Mitchell, Jodi Melnick, Jillian Peña, Troy Schumacher, Emily Coates, Yve Laris Cohen, and Pam Tanowitz. The day will feature excerpts from documentary footage by filmmaker Howard Silver and performances of the work of:

George Balanchine, performed by Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle
Trisha Brown Company, performed by Marc Crousillat, Cecily Campbell, and Jennifer Payán
Merce Cunningham, performed by Sienna Blaw and Morgan Amirah Burns
Pam Tanowitz, performed by Miriam Miller
Marc Crousillat performing "Watermotor" at Judson Memorial Church as a part of the Joyce Virtual Spring Season 2021. Film Director: Daniel Madoff

04/11/2025

"...Vespers, Reimagined (2025)” Miller expands the original work into a 40-minute dance-essay for five sensitive, daring dancers: Bria Bacon, Jasmine Hearn, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Chloe London, and Stacy Matthew Spence. They move in constant conversation with Miller, whose presence lingers in overlap...

04/10/2025

St. Mark’s Church, located in the East Village of NYC, was founded in 1799 with Alexander Hamilton helping incorporate it as the first Episcopalian parish in […]

04/10/2025

Saturday! TBDC has the honor of performing multiple works as part of Danspace Project's reunion of their 2015 Platform: Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets, curated by writer and critic Claudia La Rocco.

The platform explored the poet-as-critic tradition; the overlapping dance lineages of George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, and Judson Dance Theater; and their continued and complicated influence on choreographic practice today.

Stop through for performances of Trisha Brown's "Watermotor" (1978) & "Glacial Decoy" (1979), danced by Cecily Campbell, Marc Crousillat and Jennifer Payán, among other talks, performances and screenings throughout the evening.

More info at DanspaceProject.org.
Photo 1: Jennifer Payán and Cecily Campbell performing "Glacial Decoy"; © Maria Baranova.
Photo 2: Marc Crousillat performing "Watermotor"; © Daniel Madoff.

04/08/2025

🏙️ Performance tickets have been released for “Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets” Reunion this Saturday, April 12!

Advanced tickets for the panels and films are sold out, but tickets for the performances (starting at 7PM) are available!

Performance tickets do not apply to the afternoon panels and films in the Parish Hall starting at 3:45PM. We will take a waitlist for the Parish Hall at 3:30PM. Please visit our website for a full schedule of the event: https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/ws2025-dancers-buildings-people-in-the-streets-reunion/

📷: Photos by Ian Douglas

04/07/2025

04/07/2025

⛪️ Join us on Saturday, April 26 for a film screening and conversation with Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group: “Some Reflections on Prayerful Platforms”! https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/ws2025-wilson/

Danspace Project’s Platform 2018: Dancing Grounds curated by Reggie Wilson inspired an extensive Philadelphia project which featured eight Philly choreographers at three historic churches in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia project resulted in a documentary film entitled “GROUNDS THAT SHOUT!… and others merely shaking” produced by Deborah Thomas, directed by Gordon Divine Asaan, and curated by Reggie Wilson.

This program will include a screening of the documentary of the 2019 Philadelphia series and reflections on the 2018 Danspace Platform. 🎞️

📷: Photo by Ian Douglas