THIS IS THE BEGINNING, THIS IS THE END to Premiere at Live Arts

New York Live Arts' (Live Arts) Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Program (RCA) will present the world premiere of Joanna Kotze's this is the beginning, this is the end, a rigorous interdisciplinary dance that interrogates the phenomenon of history repeating itself, scrutinizing leadership, agency, and the thresholds we encounter individually and collectively. this is the beginning, this is the end will premiere at New York Live Arts Theater (219 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011) from Friday, November 6th through Saturday, November 14th. There will be a Stay Late conversation on November 12th moderated by Kay Takeda, Executive Director of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. 

Performed by an ensemble of six dancers and two musicians, Kotze examines how individual bodies carry the residue of political and social systems, and how the act of tearing down and rebuilding becomes both an artistic and human imperative. Cascading waves of intricate, rigorous, layered movement and sound reflect on two divergent forces: the need for collectivism to accomplish change and, its most dangerous manifestation, unthinking conformity.

Kotze's interest in cycles started with a solo residency in Sweden in the summer of 2022 at Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, where for over five weeks and with support from Milvus Artistic Research Center, she developed a 45-minute solo exploring different spatial containers and ways of inhabiting space together; physicalizing questions around permanence/impermanence, seeing/being seen; and reflecting on the cycle of life and death in nature. Shortly thereafter, Kotze revisited unused material that had been created prior to the 2016 Presidential election, which reflected the vulnerability, anger, frustration, and energy she felt during that charged political moment. The solo explored power dynamics, physical and architectural boundaries, and the spectrum from humor to violence within her own body.

“I became fascinated with the phenomenon of history repeating itself, or historical recurrence, and how context and time inherently create change. We are living in a time of many political and social challenges - white supremacy, autocracy, failing health systems, war, and more - none of which are exactly new, but the time and the context has changed,” said Kotze. “This is our time, our time to listen to what is happening and decide what we want to do about it, how we want to learn from history, and make decisions about how we move forward.”

At the same time that she began this research, Kotze was premiering and touring her previous piece 'lectric Eye, and wanted to continue working with the same collaborators she had engaged in 2019. Having been through a pandemic together, the group developed into a family of sorts. In the lead-up to the 2024 general election, she began teaching the 2016 material to this group. The collective remains interested in recurrences, repetitions, and cycles that can manifest in bodies in different ways—short, long, simple, complex, quiet, loud—and where they can lead. this is the beginning, this is the end is created in collaboration with dancers Lena Engelstein, Wendell Gray II, Molly Heller, Symara Sarai, and Hsiao-Jou Tang; musicians Maralie Armstrong-Rial and Ryan Seaton; and lighting designer Kathy Kaufmann. Costume Design is by Christian Joy and Set Design by 212box.

“We have been privileged to witness Joanna's distinctive new work emerge with quiet force and profound relevance to the world around us. Her commitment to the expressive possibilities of body and sound offers a vital language for exploring experiences that often elude words such as the psychological, the societal and, most certainly, the political,” said Bill T. Jones. “We are proud to champion her practice and to provide the space, trust, and support she needs to take risks, evolve, and envision what lies beyond the familiar.”

The RCA award provides two years of salary, healthcare benefits, full-time access to dedicated office space during the entire residency period, creative funds, a technical residency and fully-produced world premiere in the Live Arts theater, and touring support. Since the creation of the program in 2011, Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artists have been Yasuko Yokoshi, Kyle Abraham (MacArthur Genius Fellow 2013), Okwui Okpokwasili (MacArthur Genius Fellow 2018), RoseAnne Spradlin, Raja Feather Kelly (Doris Duke Artist Awards 2025), Faye Driscoll (Obie Award Winner 2023), Miguel Gutierrez (Doris Duke Artist Awards 2016), and Joanna Kotze. The signature Live Arts program is named for lead donors Slobodan Randjelović and Jon Stryker.

this is the beginning, this is the end is being commissioned, produced, and will be premiered by New York Live Arts as part of the RCA program, with lead funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund. this is the beginning, this is the end is co-commissioned with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, The American Dance Festival (ADF) with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works, and has been supported in part through residencies at Marble House Project, Milvus Artistic Research Center, LMCC's RehearsalWeek, the Pillow Lab at Jacob's Pillow, The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Loghaven Artist Residency; and is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding contributing to the making of this is the beginning, this is the end comes from  a 2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a 2025 NDP Finalist Grant Award, a 2026 NYSCA Support for Artists Grant  (Choreography Commissions) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and The Harkness Foundation for Dance.