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The Dance Enthusiast Asks Stefanie Nelson About Curating "How high is the ceiling in my glass castle?" For Triskelion Arts

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Published on May 30, 2017
Gaetano Montecasino from Antonello Tudisco's "To Be or Body"

WHO: (Curator) Stefanie Nelson; (Choreographers) Jonathan Gonzalez; Christine Bonansea; Cristina Planas Leitao; Antonello Tudisco; Michelle Duvall; BOB.

WHAT: "How high is the ceiling in my glass castle?" A Guest Curated Series by Stefanie Nelson.

WHERE: Muriel Schulman Theater at Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street, Brooklyn, NY.

WHEN: June 1-3 and 8-10, 2017 at 8PM.

MORE INFO: http://bit.ly/2qlF0qa

TICKETS: http://bit.ly/2qHSKyE

Sammi Lim for The Dance Enthusiast: Do shed light on the title of your series.

Dance artist Stefanie Nelson: Thinking about the what, who, and why for this series, I kept returning to the idea of "glass ceilings." They were everywhere this election cycle, resonating more deeply now that “otherness” seems more entrenched and endangered than ever. Since the idea mainly references externally imposed biases based on cultural, gender and/or race based prejudices, a castle seemed more fitting: What limitations are imposed by society, and which ones do we create ourselves? How can we break the vicious cycle of the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” by exploring various microcosms of the individual “glass castles” each of us inhabits?

Stefanie Nelson. Photo © Michael Discenza.

TDE: What informed your decision to line up certain performances on the same day? Time constraints, content or both?

SN: Both. I ultimately put pieces together based on aesthetic gut feelings within a framework of the artists' availability.

TDE: There will be two visiting artists from abroad: Cristina Planas Leitao and Antonello Tudisco. As a dance maker who calls Italy her second home, name some benefits borne out of linking dance and travel.

SN: Linking dance and travel offers heightened sensory experiences that come from being in a new place. It offers unexpected opportunities for collaboration and creative exchange, the opportunity to reach more people, to expand your periphery as an artist, to feel less stuck as your perspective widens, to allow yourself freedom from expectation, to bask in anonymity, to feel the exhilarating 'first time' excitement of new people, tastes, smells, travel stress, uncertainty, et cetera.

Cristina Planas Leitao's Bear Me. Photo © André Mendes.

TDE: Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup is turning two decades soon! Any grand plans in the pipeline?

SN: We haven’t made any grand plans for 20 since it's still a couple of years away and is a somewhat loaded milestone. More immediately, we are looking forward to the 7th edition of Dance Italia this summer, the implementation of a new cross cultural creative residency between NYC and Naples, the continuation of a new program offering weekly movement classes to people with disabilities, and the NYC premiere of A My Name Is... this Fall. Grateful.

TDE: Lastly, The Dance Enthusiast is a huge proponent of audience reviews; what are your sentiments on viewer feedback?

SN: I wholeheartedly encourage feedback, especially now that our democratic ideals are presently under attack by the travesty that is our current administration. Readers can be asked to consider what they are reading and by whom it was written. They can sift through the voices, taking into consideration the writer's relationship to the work. There is plenty of room at the table… though it’s probably a good idea to keep in mind why a particular person is there, who invited her/him, where is s/he coming from? Is this person a doer or a witness?

Christine Bonansea's OnlyHuman.

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