Green Space To Stage New Work By D.I.G. Residency Artists In May

Green Space has announced a diverse roster of artists for its signature program Take Root, featuring work by our 2024-2025 D.I.G. Residency Artists, May 15th - 18th at 8pm.

TAKE ROOT is a curated series that supports dance makers by providing an opportunity to present new work. Our DIGGING IN GROUP Residency has allowed choreographers the opportunity to develop these pieces through mentor sessions beginning in September 2024. 

Take Root: D.I.G. 2025

May 15th - 18th

8:00pm

Advance sale tickets: $22 online HERE

Tickets purchased at door: $25 cash or card

Thurs. May 15th and Sat. May 17th

Natalie Clevenger

Steph McIsaac

Caitlin Sikora

Jeevika Bhat

Fri. May 16th and Sun. May 18th 

Robert Mark Burke

Alice Klugherz

Ciana Jao

Lulu Munteanu

JEEVIKA BHAT Jeevika's work is an experiment in shifting media - once, the question was how can we portray real life in a YouTube video; now, we ask: how can we portray a YouTube video on stage? Here, we see a Youtube recording of a portion of an Arrangetram (solo Bharatanatyam debut performance), specifically, Natya Mela, a piece that showcases elements of a circus.

Jeevika Bhat is a Manhattan-based dancer and choreographer who explores the confluence of her cultures through a contemporary Indian medium. Her background is in Odissi, an East Indian classical dance form known for its nuanced storytelling and graceful fluidity. Jeevika has studied under the guidance of Guru Jyoti Rout for the past two decades, and is now a teacher and choreographer with her dance company, Jyoti Kala Mandir. She is a graduate of UC San Diego, where she earned a BS in Mathematics with minors in Linguistics and Dance, and UC Irvine, where she earned an MFA in Dance.

ROBERT MARK BURKE This new work by Robert Mark Burke is a duet that explores the gravity of grief. Diving into darkness, the duet pushes and pulls the two dancers as they battle to find themselves on two feet, ready to move on.

Choreographer and performer Robert Mark Burke (he/him) has worked with 10 Hairy Legs, Megan Williams Dance Projects, Meagan Woods and Company, Bryn Cohn and has toured the historic legacy work of Lucinda Childs, including the 2021 revival of “Dance” at The Joyce Theater. Burke has been a guest choreographer and instructor at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Rider University. As Artistic Director of Robert Mark Dance, Burke has presented his work across the US, including South Orange Performing Arts Center, the wild project, Dixon Place, Paramount Theater (Boston), Hofstra University, Rutgers University, Rider University, Dance New Amsterdam, Jersey City Theater Center and New Jersey Performing Arts Center. 

NATALIE CLEVENGER Natalie's work explores the evolution of queer friendships, articulated by themes of intimacy and child-like play. The structure emphasizes gender-neutral roles, developing a connection between the characters that transcends appearance and affirms their profound bond.

Natalie Clevenger is from Mooresville, IN and received her BFA in dance from the University of Arizona in the 2018. Upon graduation, Natalie joined Dance Kaleidoscope in Indianapolis, IN and danced with the company for three seasons. While in Indiana, Natalie was awarded the Robert Beckmann Fellowship to produce a LGBTQ+ focused show, ENIGMA, which premiered August 2022. Natalie joined the Limón Dance Company in the fall of 2022, and has toured internationally and domestically with the company. Outside of Limón, she has been a guest artist with Cornfield Dance, the Indianapolis Symphonic Orchestra, and the Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival, among others.

CIANA JAO Drifting between selves, it lingers in the space where identity splinters-- where speaking of oneself as another becomes both mirror and escape. What is revealed when the "I" steps aside, and whether distance might forge a sharper kind of truth.

Ciana Jao, a first-generation Filipino-American, hails from Michigan and is currently a freelance artist based in New York City. Her dance journey began at a young age, training as a competitive dancer at Spotlight Dance Works under the guidance of Liz Schmidt. Her passion and dedication led her to the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, where she earned a BFA in Dance with a focus on Movement Composition. In June of 2024, Ciana premiered midpoint in New York City alongside Arch Dansé Ensemble for their Curated showcase. Previously, Ciana was honored as an Emerging Choreographer at Eisenhower Dance Detroit's New Dance Festival.

ALICE KLUGHERZ The Tingling is a dance theatre piece about smoking; from the political to the personal. From the 1994 hearings where seven Tobacco company CEO's denied nicotine was addictive, to what smoking does, the marks it leaves, and a particular person it affected. A concrete and abstract take on smoking. From the first inhalation: "I got this tingling in my fingers".

Alice Klugherz started performing her talk/dance work (docu-whimsy) in 1988. She writes, choreographs, and performs through the perspective of an aging feminist. Her work delves into the chaos of everyday life: technology overload, ageism, loneliness, and the excessive waste that is poisoning our environment and cluttering our streets. Alice has performed at PS122, Dixon Place, Dance Theatre Workshop, and University Settlement. She created and performed Rapunzel Rants in May 2023 at Green Space as part of the Take Root program, and worked on it further for a performance at Arts on Site in Dec 2023. Alice was last seen at The Tank in Ruth Geye's Can I Help You.

STEPH MCISAAC In healing time, everything is already whole. In human time, nothing feels further from the truth. How do the parts of ourselves who know the truth of how things are care for the parts who seem to have no idea? please dwells in the weeds of mind and the high-tone illusion of control only to break into a spaciousness that was already here—and back again. 

Fascinated by human practices of worldbuilding, Steph McIsaac (any pronouns) brings fifteen years of training in cultural anthropology to bear on movement, somatics, performance, and the body. Steph received their PhD in Medical Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019, and taught anthropology and embodiment studies as a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis and Bowdoin College. Steph's research and writing explores how history lives in the body, and in the ways people and traditions access, express, and transform embodied history through healing practices.

LULU MUNTEANU Before I was an egg I was a chicken is a look into how we view different versions of the self deeply informed by gender, transition, and absurdity. The term egg refers to those who are in a state of awakening/birth, as well as a term used among those in the trans community to refer to someone who is trans but has not yet realized. The piece utilizes Chickens as a motif to carry this message, focusing on the silliness of this serious topic.

Lu/Lulu Munteanu is a 23 year old artist based in New York City. Originally from Seattle, Washington they began training in ballet and modern dance at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, including a year in their Professional Division Program, and the Alonzo King Lines Training program in San Francisco. Lulu is currently based in New York and has been a part of the founding cohort of Gesture Theater, a trans-led movement theater company. Alongside this, Lulu has focused on their own choreographic voice setting work for Waxworks (Triskelion Arts) and Green Space (Fertile Ground).

CAITLIN SIKORA Sharp Woman is an exploration of how women negotiate gender-based expectations and limitations, and how their tactics have evolved over the past few generations. An all-female trio navigates angular positions with precision and attack, at times playing with provocatively feminine imagery, all searching for a sustainable sense of empowerment through self-acceptance.

Caitlin Sikora is an NYC-based dancer and choreographer and the Artistic Director of the project-based dance company Sikora + Dance. Her early dance training is in Vaganova method ballet, Horton and Graham modern, and jazz. As an undergraduate student at UC Irvine, she also trained in International Latin Ballroom and contemporary ballet while earning her BA in Dance and BS in Physics. During this time, she began her intellectual and creative journey into choreography, improvisation, and contemporary dance. She has since danced with Hannah Kahn Dance Company and Winifred Harris' Between Lines Dance Company, and has performed works by William Forsythe, Merce Cunningham, Ohad Naharin, and Cora Bos-Kroese.

THE D.I.G. RESIDENCY provides choreographers an opportunity to develop and share new work together during 8 work sessions moderated by a rotating member of the Green Space Artist Advisory board, including Valerie Green, Aviva Geismar, Selma Trevino, Nicole McClam, Chris Ferris, Jon Lehrer, and Hector Canonge. The residency provides a space to deepen the creative process while building relationships with fellow New York City-based choreographers and dancers, and includes professional development opportunities.

DANCE ENTROPY / GREEN SPACE