On January 26 and 27, ADA welcomed nine New York based artists and 12 international programmers to a virtual edition of American Dance Recon. Begun in 2012, ADR invites international programmers to the U.S. to see live performances, to visit the studios where artists rehearse, and to deepen personal connections between the programmers and the artists. 

ADR was launched in New York City, home to the largest and most diverse dance community in the U.S. Although we planned to return to NYC in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led us to this virtual visit. ADR Virtual remained an immersion into dance in New York and provided new opportunities to see a variety of work, hear from artistic directors and choreographers, and deepen relationships.

Each day began with showcases from the companies and concluded with breakout rooms where the artists and programmers personally connected. Topics ranged from post-COVID planning to what has been inspiring them lately. While ADR was virtual, it provided a platform to connect in genuine and heartfelt ways.

 

 

The 2021 USA Fellows will receive a $50,000 unrestricted award that recognizes their contributions to the field and allows them to decide how to best support their lives. These Fellows were chosen for their bold artistic vision and significant impact. Each artist demonstrates generosity and care toward field-building that continues to inspire and propel their discipline. The following artists were selected in the dance field:
 

Ishmael Houston-Jones
 

Emily Johnson

Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. Johnson is a land and water protector and an activist for justice, sovereignty and well-being. A Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, she is based in Lenapehoking / New York City. She is of the Yup’ik Nation and since 1998 has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances function as portals and care processions; they engage audienceship within and through space, time, and environment—interacting with a place’s architecture, peoples, history and role in building futures. She is trying to make a world where performance is part of life, where performance is an integral connection to each other, our environment, our stories, our past, present, and future.
 

Cynthia Oliver

Cynthia Oliver is a dance maker, performer, and scholar reared in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Her work incorporates textures of Caribbean performance with African and American aesthetic sensibilities. She has toured the globe as a featured dancer with the contemporary companies David Gordon/Pick Up Performance Co(s), Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Bebe Miller Company, and Tere O’Connor Dance and as an actor in works by Laurie Carlos, Greg Tate, Ione, Ntozake Shange, and Deke Weaver. She earned a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University, a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award for choreography, a 2016 Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography Mellon fellowship, and a 2011 University Scholar award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was a 2017 Center for Advanced Studies associate and currently serves as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation in the Humanities, Arts, and Related Fields at UIUC, where she is a professor in the Dance Department with affiliations in African American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies.

 

Ni'Ja Whitson

Ni’Ja Whitson (New York/Los Angeles) is an award-winning, Queer, Nonbinary Trans multidisciplinary artist and futurist. Whitson engages transdisciplinarity through a critical intersection of the sacred and conceptual in Black, Queer, and Transembodiedness—site, body, and spirit. They are a Creative Capital awardee (2019), a two-time recipient of the Bessie Award (2017, 2019), a Hermitage Fellow (2020), and an artist in residence at 18th Street (Los Angeles) and New York Live Arts (2020–23)They hold an MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. Whitson is an assistant professor of Experimental Choreography at the University of California, Riverside, and a sought-after speaker, consultant, master class facilitator, and conversationalist, with appearances at notable institutions and events.
 

How should dance organizations think about that difference when considering faculty additions, casting, marketing, and commissions?

 

An encouraging Dance Data Project report reveals movement toward gender equity in programming and leadership at dance festivals.

• How a $970,000 award represents hope and change for a Black L.A. dance company by Makeda Easter from The Los Angeles Times.

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