Laboratory | August 11 - 24, 2024
MANCC Forward Dialogues 3
With generous renewed support from the National Endowment for the Arts, MANCC looks forward to hosting the third iteration of its artist laboratory, MANCC Forward Dialogues (MFD), originally postponed because of COVID, to now take place August 11th - 24th, 2024. This year’s MFD will be designed and led by Yanira Castro, Makini and a third professional (tbc), also working in the dance and performance field (bios are included below).
Piloted in 2017 and held again in 2019, this program is designed to support and catalyze the ideas of emergent movement-based artists by providing access to a stimulating environment that encourages experimentation and exploration in a facilitated, process-oriented laboratory setting. Unlike more typical MANCC residencies that encourage artists to work independently, the MFD program is devised for collaborative exchange and dialogue among participants. The program also aids MANCC in developing relationships with the next generation of dance makers by learning about and supporting their evolving artistic practices.
Movement-based makers, nominated in consultation with national peers working in dance and performance and prior MFD participants, have been invited to apply. Seven artists, each an early maker, will be selected by the program facilitators to attend. Selection will be based on:
- a demonstrated commitment to artistic practice and experimentation
- a vision for the future of one’s creative practice
- an openness to discourse and collaborative inquiry, and
- a strong desire to be part of a working lab with peers that prioritizes the generative exchange of ideas.
Additionally, each applicant is asked to propose one peer to bring with them, in cohort, to MANCC. This creative collaborator can be any artistic and/or intellectual collaborator with whom the applicant wishes to develop ideas at and beyond MANCC. The proposed peer may be a performer, composer/musician, designer, writer, dramaturg, or other creative partner, and can represent a fresh collaboration, a well-established relationship, or anything in between.
MFD 2024 is currently being designed by this year’s facilitators to foster critical thinking and may include such activities as peer-showings, facilitated dialogue, reflective writing, and explorations in and outside of the studio.
Facilitator bios
Yanira Castro (she/her/ella)
IG @acanarytorsi, acanarytorsi.org
Yanira Castro is a Puerto Rican interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of communal practices, performance, installation, and interactive technology. She forms iterative, multimodal projects that center collective action in works activated and performed by the public. Since 2009, she’s created and performed with a team of collaborators as a canary torsi. Their recent work includes a performance manual for reckoning; a participatory podcast to rehearse for a collective future; and I came here to weep, a collective exorcism for americans to perform. She has been commissioned and presented nationally and her work has recently been supported by Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, The Alpert Award, MANCC, LMCC, MacDowell, and Yaddo. She has received two NY Dance & Performance (aka Bessie) Awards for Outstanding Production.
Makini
IG @makinimakes, makinimakes.com
I am a choreographer, performer, and video artist, based in traditional lands of Tutelo-Saponi speaking peoples, who grew up dancing around the living room and at parties with my family. My work continues to be influenced by my foundations in those living rooms and parties, early technical training in contemporary African dance, continued study of contemporary dance/performance — especially African and Africanist forms, anatomical trainings with dancer and anatomist Irene Dowd, sociological research of and technical training in J-sette performance with Jermone Donte Beacham. Through my work, I dialogue with Black queer artist folx, create lovingly agitating performances that recognize History as only one option for contextualization of the present, and encourage artists to understand ourselves as part of a larger community of workers imagining pathways toward economic ecosystems that prioritize care, interdependence, and delight.