Please join us for A Shared Evening of Performance, presented by Movement Research 2017 Van Lier Fellows Fana Fraser + NIC Kay.

Fana Fraser with Martell Ruffin
no talking while eating fish a bone will stick in your throat (work in process)

a sermon, a story
a study, a speech�
a slippery shape shifting song of songs�
of shamed desire,�
fueled by blood and rage and a mortared pound of salted flesh.

a slow re-membering.

Born and raised in Trinidad & Tobago, Fana Fraser is a performer living in New York City. She is a Movement Research 2017 Artist-in-Residence Van Lier Emerging Artist of Color Fellow and a CUNY Dance Initiative 2017-18 resident artist. She was nominated and selected for MANCC Forward Dialogues, the 2017 inaugural choreographic lab for emerging movement-based artists at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. Fana was a 2016 resident artist at the Dance & Performance Institute in Trinidad & Tobago and for Open Call 2016 – a partnership project between BAAD! and Pepatián. Her performance work has been presented at Trinidad Theatre Workshop, Emerging Artists Theatre, BAAD!, the CURRENT SESSIONS, WestFest, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Gibney Dance, and La Mama Moves. She is an Honors graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA program and has performed with Ailey II, Sidra Bell, Francesca Harper, Andrea Miller, The Metropolitan Opera, and with Ryan McNamara for Performa 13, Art Basel Miami, Guggenheim Works & Process, and Frieze New York. Fana is currently the Rehearsal Director for Ailey II and also performs with Camille A. Brown and Ryan McNamara. http://www.fanafraser.com/

NIC Kay presents work in progress
GET WELL SOON! You Black + Bluised
a duet with Tasha Carter

This work is a continuation of their exercises in getting well soon, a project / meditation based on the loose and often used phrase indicating a hope of recovery. These exercises have been articulated as movement, installation, games, endurance, ritual, poetry, and collective action.

The site specific work, GET WELL SOON! You Black + Bluised is a performance of abstract bids in movement and tableau.

NIC Kay is from the Bronx. Currently occupying several liminal spaces. They are a person who makes performances and creates/organizes performative spaces. Their current transdisciplinary projects explore movement as a place of reclamation of the body, history and spirituality. NIC has shown work at venues throughout the United States and Internationally. NIC Kay will be a 2018 Artist in Residence at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn. https://www.nic-kay.com/

Movement Research is a NYC based creative services organization offering classes, workshops, residencies, exchanges, informal showings, discussions, and both printed and online publications that all serve as laboratories for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms. Located in various studios, churches, and cultural centers throughout lower Manhattan, Movement Research is dedicated to the creation and implementation of free and low-cost programs that nurture and instigate discourse and experimentation while striving to reflect the cultural, political, and economic diversity of its moving community. Begun as an artist-run organization, Movement Research continues today to be primarily staffed and run by working artists, valuing the individual artist and their creative process and creating opportunities that spur interaction and exchange among choreographers and movement based artists.

The Movement Research Van Lier Emerging Artists of Color Fellowship is a year-long program for two NYC movement-based artists of color between 22 and 30 years of age. The fellowship provides creative research support, rehearsal space, mentorship, performance and related opportunities. Designed to support the artists’ individualized creative process, the fellowship uses the resources available to be responsive to each artist’s needs. In addition to providing resources and experiences during the year of their fellowship, the program facilitates support for laying groundwork for the artists’ future. Artists are selected through an open application and panel process; past Fellows include Jasmine Hearn (2016) and Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson (2016).

The Movement Research Van Lier Emerging Artists of Color Fellowship is supported by New York Community Trust through the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund.

Movement Research gratefully acknowledges public support from the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency); the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council as well as City Council Member Rosie Mendez; Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s Manhattan Community Award Program; and Materials for the Arts (a program of NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Department of Sanitation, and NYC Department of Education). Movement Research also gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions of private support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Davis/Dauray Family Fund; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Howard Gilman Foundation; James E. Robison Foundation; Jerome Foundation; Marta Heflin Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; New York Community Trust Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund; NYU Community Fund; Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; Trust for Mutual Understanding; Valentine Perry Snyder Fund; from MRX partners Asian Cultural Council; CEC ArtsLink; and Konstnärsnämnden/The Swedish Arts Grants Committee; and from all of the dear Friends of Movement Research, who contribute financial support, labor and love.

Thanks always to the clergy, staff, and congregation of Judson Church; Judson continues to be a beacon for free spirits in the arts and politics and a leader among progressive faith communities in the city and nation for over 100 years. Enormous gratitude to Frances Alenikoff (1920-2012), founder of Eden’s Expressway, and to her daughter Francesca Rheannon and family, for their continuing belief in the mission of Movement Research and for keeping alive Frances’ spirited example of what lifelong artistry is. Special thanks to Abrons Arts Center, Danspace Project, and Gibney Dance Center for their ongoing partnerships; and to East Village Dance Project and GOH Productions, owners, and operators of Avenue C Studio.

Image of Fana, photo by Whitney Browne
Image of NIC, photo by NIC Kay