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Women in Motion presents Symara Sarai

Company:
Symara Sarai

Women in Motion presents
2023-2024 Commissioned Artist Symara Sarai

I want it to rain inside

Wednesday, July 24th at 7:30pm

Kestrels, 188 6th St, Brooklyn, NY

$25 General Admission Ticket

$15 Artist/Student/Senior

$50 WiM Patron

From the artist: "I want it to rain inside" is an exploration of the complexities of black queer femininity and the magic of its vulnerability, with this solo I continue to investigate the nexus between the parallels of black queer imagination and anarchy.  You will see the space transformed into a topia of my choosings, an invitation into a practice of authentic autonomy.  I transform perceptions of failures into successes and invite present negotiations as a way to engage with infinite possibilities.

Symara Sarai, a Portland, Oregon native currently residing in Brooklyn, has immersed herself in interdisciplinary and choreographic studies globally. Her work varies due to the different influences she has embraced throughout her life. A 2023 Bessie Winner for Breakout Choreographer, Symara is also a recipient of the Dai Ailian Foundation Scholarship based in Trinidad and Tobago. The scholarship led her to Beijing, China where she spent two years gaining an associate degree in modern choreography at the renowned Beijing Dance Academy.

Symara is a graduate of SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Dance Program. She was a resident artist for Bearnstow, Gibney 6.2 Work Up, Gallim’s 2022 Moving Artist’s Residency, BAX’s Fall 2022 Space Grant Program, and Center for Performance Research’s 2022 AIR Program. She is a 2023 Women in Motion Commissioned Artist. Their work as a performer and maker has been reviewed and featured in the NY Times, Dance Enthusiast, Fjord, as well as promoted through Forbes. She has had multiple film works commissioned by Berlin-based choreographer Christoph Winkler. They have presented work at the WIP Showing at Bates Dance Festival, The Clarice at UMD, The LGBT Center, Judson Church, BAAD, WiM Salon, Chez Bushwick, The Beijing Dance Academy Theatre, and other venues throughout the United States, China, and Germany. She is currently an Urban Bush Women company member. She has also notably worked with Jawole-Willa Jo Zollar, Joanna Kotze, Jasmine Hearn, Raymond Pinto, Ogemdi Ude, Ley Gambucci, Pioneers Go East Collective, Rena Butler, Kevin Wynn, Nattie Trogdon+Hollis Bartlett, Alexandra Beller, and Slowdanger, among others.

"I want it to rain inside," is made possible with funding from Mertz Gilmore Foundation’s Late-Stage Creative Stipend and administered by Eva Dean Dance in partnership with Women in Motions Choreographer Commissions. Ms. Sarai was EDD’s 2023-2024 Artist in Residence, and received a space grant and works-in-progress showing at Union Street Dance for the creation of this work.

WOMEN IN MOTION is a volunteer-run organization whose mission is to foster female choreographers through commissioning, producing and mentoring. Founded in 2000, WiM has produced a diverse group of over 92 dance artists, and the list of once-emerging, now-established choreographers goes on. In addition to their annual concert performance, WiM hosts quarterly performance salons presented in non-traditional performance spaces throughout the city, offering female artists the opportunity to show work-in-progress in a supportive, intimate setting, intended to create a dialogue between artists and audiences. Women in Motion is directed by Melissa Riker and Amber Sloan.

Photo by Maria Baranova, courtesy of New York Live Arts