Davalois Fearon Dance - Blog

Thank You for Supporting Davalois Fearon Dance!

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 04:00:00 GMT

We sincerely THANK YOU for supporting Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD). We are delighted to share some of our recent accomplishments with you. An excerpt of “Finding Herstory,” the first solo of the “Finding Herstory” solo series project, was performed at Danspace as part of Bloodlines(future), curated by Stephen Petronio. In addition, DFD received the Mosaic Fund grant for “KERNEL,” the second “Finding Herstory” solo, which premiered at the Arts for Art Vision festival. Finally, we are proud to announce that Dava was recently appointed a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University, where she premiered I.D.G.A. as a part of the fall Princeton Dance Festival. Currently, we are working on the third solo for the “Finding Herstory” project titled “Up/right.” Thanks to you, other individual donors, and funders, we can begin to realize our vision for “Up/right!”As our organization grows, the cost of operating that organization also increases, and new challenges and expenses arise. Such as securing studio space for rehearsals for the company, cultivating new work to add to the company repertoire, and fairly compensating our dancers, musicians, & collaborators for the superb quality work and artistic merit they bring to our organization. We appreciate your help ensuring that Davalois Fearon Dance will flourish for the coming year.
Thank you again!
Dava & The DFD Team

Davalois Fearon and Mike McGinnis present

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 05:00:00 GMT

The inaugural presentation of an artistic experience featuring:
choreography by Davalois Fearon
performed by
Davalois Fearon, Courtney Lewis & Morgan Anderson
compositions by Mike McGinnis
performed by
Mike McGinnis, Dana Lyn, Stephanie Richards, Sara Schoenbeck
& the New York debut of Venezuelan artist Deborah Castillo

Saturday, December 13th at 8 PM
At The Vasquez 93 Forrest st, Bushwick, NY 11206
Just a few blocks form
Morgan Ave on the L train or Flushing Ave on the J or M train

Come enjoy a night of dance, music, drinks and more!
$10 Admission
$15 Admission & 1 drink ticket
$20 Admission & 3 drink tickets
For more info contact us at DavaMikePresent@gmail.com

Dance Workshop and Screening

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Photo by R.I. Sutherland-Cohan

New York Public Library (NYPL) Eastchester Branch is excited to present a screening of the first iteration of “KERNEL” recorded at the 26th Arts for Arts Vision Festival, followed by a Davalois Fearon Dance Community Dance Workshop (DFDCDW) at 2 pm Saturday, Dec 17, 2022, at the NYPL Eastchester Branch located at 1385 East Gun Hill Road, Bronx, NY 10467. “KERNEL” is a fusion of American contemporary dance and Afro-Jamaican dance forms, such as Kumina and dancehall, that features music composed and performed by Mike McGinnis with dance choreographed and performed by Davalois Fearon.

Audience members are invited to enjoy the " KERNEL " screening in the library's Community Room and stay for a workshop led by the 2022 Bronx Council on the Arts Dance Fund and Bronx Recognizes It's Own (BRIO) awardee Davalois Fearon. Participants will be invited to journey through time with and dance the evolution of Dancehall from Kumina to Ska to Reggae and Dancehall from 1940 to the present day. Visit https://www.nypl.org/locations/eastchester to RSVP and learn more.

Can't Make the KERNEL screening?
Join us online

Announcing The Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater (DFDVT) Virtual Premiere of the Arts for Arts Vision Festival 26 performance of "KERNEL" on Saturday, December 17th, at 7 pm. An episode of "Time to Talk with Dava" will follow the premiere. The episode will feature a virtual dance along in which participants are invited to explore the underpinning Afro-Jamaican movement vocabulary of "KERNEL." Visit davaloisfearon.com/virtualtheater for tickets.

"KERNEL," a Brooklyn Arts Council 2022 Awarded project, is a piece that features music composed and performed by Mike McGinnis with dance choreographed and performed by Davalois Fearon. "KERNEL" is the second solo born out of the 2021 Stephen Petronio Company 2021 Bloodlines(future) Program commission of "Finding Herstory." The Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater allows Davalois Fearon Dance to fulfill its mission of pushing artistic and social boundaries while cultivating the next generation of dance artists by providing a platform for the company to share performances, workshops, and discussions.

Stephen Petronio Company: Bloodlines/Bloodlines(future)

Photo by: R.I. Julie Lemberger

Photo by: R.I. Julie Lemberger
Dava thanks Stephen Petronio, Stephen Petronio Dance Company, and Danspace Projects for presenting excerpts of Finding Herstory as a part of Stephen Petronio Company: Bloodlines/Bloodlines(future), an evening of new work by early career choreographers, including Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Tendayi Kuumba & Greg Purnell (UFly Mothership), and masterworks from established choreographers Steve Paxton and Stephen Petronio.

In 2014, Stephen Petronio Company launched Bloodlines to preserve a lineage of postmodern dance artists who have inspired Petronio’s career as a dance maker. In 2019, the Company expanded this initiative to include Bloodlines(future), which addresses lineage by commissioning new works by early-career dancemakers to broaden the definition of influence and extend the on-stage dialogue between postmodern choreographers. Danspace Project presents new work in dance, supports a diverse range of choreographers in developing their work, encourages experimentation, and connects artists to audiences.

2022 Princeton Dance Festival

I.D.G.A. Cast Photo by: Maria Baranova

Congratulations to all performers and participants of the Princeton Dance Festival! Dava was honored to be commissioned by the Princeton University dance department to create I.D.G.A., which uses the tension between structure and chaos, mundane everyday movement, and physical virtuosity as tools to create I.D.G.A. (“I Don’t Give A” ), a commentary on aspects of the toxic corporate culture in America.

I.D.G.A. premiered as part of the 2022 Princeton Dance Festival, which featured new and repertory works by Ronald K. Brown, Davalois Fearon, Sun Kim, Michael J. Love, Susan Marshall, Rashaun Mitchell & Silas Riener, and Caili Quan, performed by students in the Program in Dance at the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center. The range of works includes rhythm tap, contemporary ballet, popping/hip-hop, modern influenced by African dance, and contemporary dance works from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Thanks to everyone who supported the 2022 FAMILY GATHERING Artists & Friends Fundraiser Celebration. Dava and Mike were happy to perform in support of the organization! If you couldn't attend and want to support free Jazz in NYC and ensure the strength of AFA as they seek to grow younger and more diverse talent while presenting the great elders of the music world who still pave the way, CLICK HERE to find out how.

Modern Women: 21st Century Dance Coloring Book Calender 2023

So happy to share that Dava is featured in February in the new Modern Women: 21st Century Dance Coloring Book CALENDAR 2023 based on the "Modern Women: 21st-Century Dance, a 92-page coloring book, which feels like the antidote to a COVID-19 winter. Created by Brooklyn-based dance photographer Julie Lemberger, the book pays tribute to this generation of powerful and creative women dancers." Lisa Traiger, Dance Magazine. Click here to purchase or find out more.

Virtual Premiere: Más-In-Poverty-Ation

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 02:11:24 GMT

Virtual Premiere Friday 12/3

Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater presents the virtual premiere of Más-In-Poverty-Ation by Loreal Quiroz as a part of the DFD Commission Initiative. Más-In-Poverty-Ation explores the overrepresented black and brown incarcerated experience through the personal, correctional, and sociological lens.

Stick around after the premiere for Time to Talk with Dava as a part of The Time To Talk Initiative, which provides resources and ways to take immediate and long-term action against systemic racism.

Register here

Giving Tuesday

Photo by Argenis Appolinario

Happy Giving Tuesday!
This Giving Tuesday we invite you to consider making a contribution to Davalois Fearon Dance. This year DFD celebrates its 5 year anniversary and is excited to continue to fulfill our mission of pushing artistic and social boundaries and cultivating the next generation of artists for the next 5 years and beyond. We are so grateful for our community and the support we have received over the years. Your contribution will allow us to continue creating new work, producing the Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater, empowering more artists through the DFD Commission Initiative, and generating new and imaginative events and performances for all of YOU!

Our 5 year celebration continues! Take a look at some of the moments we’ve shared in the past few years.

To make a contribution please visit this link.

DFD Birthday Celebration

Photo of Lift Up as a part of For C.J. at BAAD!
Tony Turner Photography

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the DFD Birthday party!! It was so amazing to celebrate and dance with our DFD Family! A special thank you to Njeri Rutherford and Anya Kress for all of their behind-the-scenes work to produce the virtual event. Cheers to many more years of DFD! 🍾

What's Next:

Más In-Poverty-Ation Virtual Premiere
Friday, December 3rd at 7pm EST
Register via the Virtual Theater

Dance Now Viewing Party, DFD Turns 5, and Meet the Inagural Class of DFD Mentees!

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 23:39:56 GMT

Dance Now
Virtual Viewing Party

Njeri Rutherford in A Little Power Inside and Between

SEE THE FALL ON-DEMAND PROGRAM PERFORMANCES
Featuring short dance works by The Davis Sisters, Davalois Fearon, Paul Singh, Rourou Ye, Audrey MacLean, and The Bang Group.

Join us for a virtual viewing party on November 4th!

For $15.00, you’ll receive access to all the above works, or for $50.00 you can view the entire season, including the Winter and Spring On-Demand Programs and the in-person DN Family Reunion. Proceeds directly support the artists.

More info coming soon!

DFD Birthday Benefit

Photo credits (clockwise from top left): Argenis Apolinario; Andrew Lee; Nan Melville courtesy of the artist and Rossi & Rossi Gallery; Anya Kress; Jasmine Murrell; Argenis Apolinario⁠

SAVE THE DATE! Join us Wednesday, November 17, 2021, at 6 pm for the DFD 5 year anniversary celebration. Hosted by the Davalois Fearon Dance Team via our Virtual Theatre this birthday party event will feature excerpts of select works, giveaways, dance party, and more! You can register for a DFD Birthday celebration here.

Mentorship Program
Meet the Inaugural Group!

INTRODUCING the first class of DFD mentees!!
Read more about this incredible group on our website

The Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD) Arts & Social Justice program is designed for college students and recent graduates to develop the community, resources, and skills necessary to navigate and combat racial and social justice issues in the field of dance. The 3-month pilot program will be for an invited cohort. It is designed to give participants an overview of race-related to the dance world and academia, the business side of dance, and arts and social justice best practices. As a part of this program, students will directly interface with DFD’s social justice initiative, Time to Talk Initiative, which in conjunction with the choreographic work, provides the community with resources and ways to take immediate and long-term action.

THANK YOU FOR COMING!!

Photo by Tony Turner

What an amazing event!! A HUGE thank you to Davalois Fearon, Ayanna Heaven, Mike McGinnis, Ryan Greenidge, Agyei Philip, Rasaan Green, and Careitha Davis for contributing their talent, creativity, time, and energy to bring this event to the community! Thank you to the Stephen Petronio Company for commissioning Finding Herstory and PLG Arts for presenting Finding Herstory. We also want to recognize and thank Davalois Fearon, Anya Kress, Tess Montoya and Njeri Rutherford of DFD and Rina Kleege and Hollis Headrick of PLG Arts for collaboratively producing and managing Music and Dance at Parkside Plaza from start to finish! Thank you to the Green Arts for providing production support, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Tony Turner for documentation, and to all of our funders and supporters who made this event possible!

We are so grateful to everyone who came out and danced with us! Thank you to our audience plants, Careitha Davis, Caleb Dowden, Danion Lewis, and Tess Montoya for helping to get our community dancing together! Shout out to our lovely and supportive Pentacle friends who showed out! And to the amazing human who spontaneously stepped up to help keep the flow of the show going! You are all the reason we do what we do!

What's Next:

Dance Now Fall On-Demand Viewing Party
November 4, 2021 at 7PM EST
$15.00 for the Fall program, or $50.00 for the entire season
All available works will be captioned
More details here

DFD Turns 5 - Virtual Birthday Celebration
Wednesday, November 18th @ 6pm
Join us for excerpts of select works, giveaways, a dance party, and more!
Register via the Virtual Theater

Four Artists’ Movement Through Time:
A Pentacle Legacy Conversation
Monday, November 29th
7:00pm-7:45pm
RSVP for the FREE online event here

DFD Commission Initiative - Virtual Premiere
12/3 Details coming soon!

COVID-19 is still here

DFD, along with everyone else, has been affected by the coronavirus. We have been to pooling our resources together to stay afloat, and help the dance community and society. Here are some ways you can help!

Help DFD: Become a monthly Davalois Fearon Dance donor or make a one-time donation here.

Donate Blood: The New York Blood Center is still in urgent need of blood donations. You can learn more and sign up to donate here.

Get tested: Look up your local testing availability and get tested to help stop the spread!
NYC Vaccinations
NYC Testing
NYC Antibody Testing
NYC Testing and Tracing

Reach out to us with other ways in which you are helping out your local community. We would love to hear what you are doing, to continue pooling these ideas and get as many people helping as possible!

Couldn’t Have Done It Without Them: Stephen Petronio

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:07:26 GMT

by Davalois Fearon
Founder/Artistic Director/Executive Director – Davalois Fearon Dance

Couldn’t Have Done It Without Them!
A spotlight blog series on organizations and individuals that have provided integral foundational support for Davalois Fearon Dance

Stephen Petronio and Davalois Fearon (2006)

Numerous individuals, organizations, and institutions have aided me on my journey to become the artist I am today. In particular, Stephen Petronio and the Stephen Petronio Company (SPC) contributed tremendously to my success. Thank you so much, Stephen, for taking a chance on me as an apprentice in 2004 when I was a senior in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, subsequently hiring me fresh out of college in 2005, and now supporting my career as a choreographer by awarding me the 2021 Bloodlines(future) commission for my Finding Herstory Project.

And, Thank you Stephen for:
Helping me develop from a dancer to a performing artist
Teaching me about choreography through your creative process
Giving me a platform to be a teacher
Teaching me about boney landmarks, especially my trochanter, tailboard and pubic bone
Teaching me about Alexander technique, Kline Technique and body mind centering
Nurturing my passion for education by making me education coordinator
Helping me to cultivate me skills as a now Artistic Director through learning how to restate your work
Inspiring me to do a internship on education in dance and arts management at Pentacle via there cultivating leadership in dance internship program
Giving me the warm feeling of Love the way a father loves a daughter
Giving me the justified cold shoulder when I made poor uninformed choices and welcoming me back again after the fact
You showed me how and now I thrive so thank you ❤️💜💙

All of the individuals, organizations, and institutions included in this ongoing blog series have given me opportunities to build the foundation of Davalois Fearon Dance. They have laid the groundwork for me to achieve the DFD’s mission to push artistic and social boundaries by creating multidisciplinary works that confront complex issues, prompt contemplation, and cultivate the next generation of artists. On behalf of all of us at Davalois Fearon Dance, I would like to extend my deepest and most heartfelt gratitude to Stephen Petronio and the Stephen Petronio Company. Thank you for all that you do!

With gratitude,
Dava and the DFD Team

September 27th, 2021

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 16:37:28 GMT

In the Waves - Melissa McGill

Caroline Goddard for Tom Powel Imaging⁠

That’s a wrap on In The Waves! Congratulations Melissa McGill on this incredible project! It was such a blast to work together!! A HUGE thank you and CONGRATS to all the Wave performers for all the dedication, memorable moments and beautiful performances!!!
.
And special thanks to the Curator Dodie Kazanjian, Dramaturgist / Producer Melanie George, and our Production team Philipp Bachmann, Melissa (Max) Conlon, and Tyler Paradis <3
Last but not least we are very grateful to the funders Art&Newport, Newport Restoration Fund, Van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Joyce and George Wein Foundation, and de Ramel Foundation for helping to bring this vision to life!

PLG Arts &
Stephen Petronio Commission

Photo by Richard Termine
PLG Arts presents Music and Dance at Parkside Plaza is an outdoor, block party-style event that celebrates the rich Caribbean heritage of Flatbush/ Prospect Park Lefferts Garden (PLG) and the growing community of local artists. The event will feature the music of composer composer and woodwind player Mike McGinnis alongside Dancehall and Reggae facilitated by D.J. Ayanna Heaven, and a site-specific performance of Finding Herstory and community dance led by Davalois Fearon.

Finding Herstory is a solo dance performance created and performed by Davalois Fearon. It is commissioned by the Stephen Petronio Company for the 2021 Bloodlines(future) Program, made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor Hochul and New York State Legislature. It is inspired by Africanist forms such as reggae/dancehall that have contributed to the American dance landscape and shaped Fearon as an artist.

Dance Now

SEE THE FALL ON-DEMAND PROGRAM PERFORMANCES
Featuring short dance works by The Davis Sisters, Davalois Fearon, Paul Singh, Rourou Ye, Audrey MacLean, and The Bang Group.

Join us for the virtual viewing party on November 4th!

For $15.00, you’ll receive access to all the above works, or for $50.00 you can view the entire season, including the Winter and Spring On-Demand Programs and the in-person DN Family Reunion. Proceeds directly support the artists.

More info coming soon!

Introducing Careitha Davis

Photography by Luisanna Tejada

We are so grateful to have Careitha Davis on board as the Choreography Assistant for Dava’s upcoming work Finding Herstory!! Read more about Finding Herstory above, and read more about Careitha below:

Careitha Davis, a Brooklyn native with roots in Trinidad and Tobago, is a professional dancer, choreographer and educator. From an early age Careitha started training as a dancer in Modern, Jazz, Ballet and African while traveling as a young performer. Careitha attended SUNY Purchase College receiving a BA in Media, Society & the Arts and earned an MA in Dance Education K-12 Track from New York University where she practiced methods in instructing non-dancers and young learners as a practice for community building and creating art. She has performed the works of George Faison, Dianne McIntyre, Ronald K. Brown, Mouminatou Camara, Joya Powell/Movement of the People and Jemal Gaines. Careitha began teaching Soca at Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance in 2018 and established BodyRa Movement in 2020. Her teaching and choreographic philosophy for BodyRa Movement is for dancers to reach a level of freedom in their movement, building community through the rituals and traditions in Caribbean culture. In the year 2020 and 2021, BodyRa Movement has been granted the Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency Initiative and 2021 premiered ‘Trinidad Noir’, a choreographed piece highlighting the cultural traditions of Trinidad and Tobago, at Spoke The Hub: Local Produce Mini Festival.

What's Next:

Day of Music and Dance
10/17 at 2:00pm at Parkside Plaza

Dance Now Fall On-Demand Viewing Party
11/4 Virtual viewing party
Details here

DFD Turns Five - Anniversary Celebration
11/17 Details coming soon!

Opportunities & Resources:

NYU Tisch seeks applicants for the following positions:
Assistant Arts Professor, Dance, Non-Western Forms
Assistant Arts Professor, Dance African Diasporic Forms

Movement research is currently seeking applicant for the following internships:
[In-Person] Production Internship
[Virtual] Programs & Events Internship
[In-Person] Class Registrar Internship
More information here

Kennesaw State University is conducting two searches for a tenure-track Assistant Professor (ballet/modern technique) and an Assistant Professor (Histories of Dance/Theory) starting Fall 2022.
More information here.

Additional resources that may be helpful:
List of Arts Resources During the COVID-19 Outbreak

COVID-19 is still here

DFD, along with everyone else, has been affected by the coronavirus. We have been to pooling our resources together to stay afloat, and help the dance community and society. Here are some ways you can help!

Help DFD: Become a monthly Davalois Fearon Dance donor or make a one-time donation here.

Donate Blood: The New York Blood Center is still in urgent need of blood donations. You can learn more and sign up to donate here.

Get tested: Look up your local testing availability and get tested to help stop the spread!
NYC Vaccinations
NYC Testing
NYC Antibody Testing
NYC Testing and Tracing

Reach out to us with other ways in which you are helping out your local community. We would love to hear what you are doing, to continue pooling these ideas and get as many people helping as possible!

Announcing: New DFD Initiative, Commission And More!

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:54:23 GMT

DFD Mentorship Program

Photo: Mark Frohna

ANNOUNCING: The Davalois Fearon Dance Mentorship Initiative! The Arts & Social Justice internship will kick off the Davalois Fearon Dance Mentorship Initiative! It is designed for college students and recent graduates incorporating social justice practices with dance and choreography. As a part of this program, students will directly interface with DFD’s social justice focused Time to Talk Initiative, which increases the awareness of structural racism within dance, academia, and society at large.

Email us here to learn more.

SPC - Bloodlines(future)

Jaqlin Medlock Photography

We are so happy to announce Davalois Fearon has been selected to commission work for
Stephen Petronio Company's Bloodlines(future).

Stephen moves into the next phase of his Bloodlines project, looking towards future generations of artists and heirs to the Bloodlines lineage and how these historical masters frame the future of modern dance. Stephen Petronio Company’s Bloodlines, which began in 2015 and has since restaged 11 iconic dances. These masterpieces have irrevocably marked the American postmodern dance landscape and have had a particular impact on Petronio’s thinking. Bloodlines(future) Program, made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with support from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Meet Raven, our new Marketing Director!

We are so excited to welcome Raven Marsh to the DFD Team as our Marketing Director!
She has been active with our Time to Talk Initiative and performed in
Dava's piece Just Be, which premiered at Purchase this Spring!

More about Raven:
Raven Marsh is a graduate of SUNY Purchase in the conservatory of dance. As a dancer and activist, Raven has chosen to engage in projects that she is passionate about. This year, she has had the opportunity to serve as a Time to Talk Initiative member for Davalois Fearon dance. She has been able to share her experiences as a student and provide helpful insight into many of the initiative's goals. In addition to being a part of the time-to-talk initiative, Raven served her community as a co-Leader of the COD’s Racial equity group during her senior year. A group focused on making the dance space purchase a more equitable and safe space for those often marginalized. Raven is dedicated to creating safe and inclusive communities and hopes to share her practices with others to improve the dance space and its communities in the future.

What's Next:

We are so proud of launching our DFD commission initiative, which produced the first success of the Time to Talk Shedding Workshop facilitated by Mikaila Ware and a work in progress piece, Untitled by Morgan Renee Anderson Raynor. Stay tuned for announcements on our upcoming in-person, virtual, and DFD commission initiative events!!

Opportunities & Resources:

Artistic Director, Production Stage Manager, Tenure Track Assistant Professor, etc. positions via the IABD career site

Dancewave seeks to hire a Community Programs Coordinator (FT) and a Seasonal Events Producer (FT). View our website for more information.

Professional Development for the People! is an experiential, 8-week online course that shares SLMDances’ praxis. This course is for you if you are an artist, organizer, educator, cultural worker, or another related practitioner deepening and re-imagining your leadership practice. More information here.

National Dance Institute of New Mexico is looking for people with dance experience for our open positions (both full time with benefits and part time opportunities). Please find our employment opportunities, a short video with testimonials from our current teachers, and information about our Teaching Excellence teacher training workshop this summer here.

Movement Works seeks a teaching artist for k-4 movement classes in Yonkers NY. The teaching schedule for the fall school year (2021/2022) is determined by the participating school. To submit resume or for more information: Damaris Ferrer 4movementwork@gmail.com

Additional resources that may be helpful:
List of Arts Resources During the COVID-19 Outbreak

“Time to Talk - Shedding Workshop” with Mikaila Ware was made possible in part by the BAX Parent Artist Space Grant. The creation of "Time to Talk" was made possible with the support of the Bronx Council on the Arts, Pearl Diving Movement Residency, Mabou Mines’ SUITE/Space, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts Department of Dance. Time to talk premiered virtually on June 26th, 2020, via the Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater. Davalois Fearon Dance is fiscally sponsored by the Foundation for Independent Artists, Inc., a non-profit organization administered by Pentacle (DanceWorks, Inc). Pentacle is a non-profit management support organization for the performing arts. Mara Greenberg, Director; 75 Broad Street, Suite 304, New York, NY 10004. 212/278-8111. www.pentacle.org."

Happy Summer! Looking back on 2021 so far...

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 18:23:36 GMT

Happy Summer from Davalois Fearon Dance, and THANK YOU for your ongoing support! We are celebrating this summer by looking back at some of the highlights of 2021 so far despite the setbacks we faced due to COVID.

2021 so far: Premieres

Still by Anya Kress, "Joy", full cast

This past spring, Dava premiered Just Be on SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance students and Joy on Marymount College BFA dance students. Many thanks to DFD team members Njeri Rutherford and Mikaila Ware, assistant choreographers, and Anya Kress, a production assistant for Dava during her commissions

In-person and virtual performances

Thank you to Hillsborough Community College for presenting
Time to Talk in Florida this February!
Thank you to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for presenting
Consider Water at UTEP World Water Week 2021 !
Thank you to the New Shul for presenting excerpts of For C.J. at the Kumah Festival!

Dava as a guest speaker and writer

Jaqlin Medlock Photography

We are so grateful to the following organizations for giving Dava a platform to share her thoughts on these important topics!

IABD panel on Ntozake Shange's Dance We Do: A Poet Explores Black Dance
UTEP World Water Week 2021 Dance Symposium: Re-Valuing Water in Glocal Practices Structure
Dance/NYC's Symposium Studio to Stage Pipeline: Story of Racism, Tendus & Black death
Dance/USA 2021 Virtual Conference What is the Dance Field Doing About the Climate Crisis? and Supporting the Artistic Entity: Investing in Infrastructure for Sustainable Growth panels
COVID Talks with Raja and Dava presented Bates Dance Festival The Future Impossible curated by Raja Feather Kelly

Time to Talk Initiative Updates

This past year we have been deepening our social justice activism by expanding our Time to Talk Initiative into a discursive project created by Artistic Director Davalois Fearon to dismantle structural racism within dance, academia, and society at large. This series includes workshops, a mentorship program, online interview series, written articles, and much more to come. The initiative builds upon the For C.J. Initiative. It will take a multidisciplinary approach by utilizing both arts and informed discourse to educate audiences on the many racial disparities that occur socially, environmentally, and academically.

We want to THANK and recognize the hard work of Time to Talk Initiative partners Elissa Buxbaum, Raven Marsh, Jennifer Nagilla, and Mikaila Ware who are committed to seeing this work through. Learn more about the Time to Talk Initiative here.

And thank you, too!

We are grateful to all of you who participated, attended, volunteered, donated, funded, and supported us to make these happenings possible.

To continue to support our work moving forward, you can make a general contribution. Please visit davaloisfearon.com/support. Your donation will directly support our upcoming endeavors, including the DFD Virtual Theatre, all of the DFD initiatives, projects, and live performances.

What's Next:

We are so proud of launching our DFD commission initiative, which produced the first success of the Time to Talk Shedding Workshop facilitated by Mikaila Ware and a work in progress piece Untitled by Morgan Anderson Raynor. Stay tuned for our next newsletter for announcements on our upcoming in-person, virtual, and DFD commission initiative events!!

Announcing: Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater, For C.J. Virtual Premiere and Time to Talk with Davalois Fearon

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 18:22:06 GMT

Bessie Award-Winning Artistic-Activist Davalois Fearon is excited to announce the virtual premiere of the BRIClab work in progress performance of For C.J. and the kick-off of the Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD) 2020 season. The performance will be available for streaming at 7:00 pm EDT on Friday, October 23rd, 2020 via the Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theatre, a new platform to present both new and work-in-progress performances. A post-performance discussion with historian, dancer, curator, and co-creator of Black Dance Stories, Charmaine Warren, and Fearon will take place at 8:00 pm. Visit davaloisfearon.com/virtualtheater for tickets to the performance and post-performance virtual event. The Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater is the company’s response to the devastating effects of COVID-19. The virtual theater was created to support the company’s commitment to creation, performance, and community engagement despite pandemic restrictions.

Photo: Argenis Apollianario

For C.J. honors Fearon’s nephew who fell victim to a fatal asthma attack in 2017. In response, Fearon decided to take action and research asthma fatalities, which led her to the alarming discovery of systemic medical and environmental negligence in communities of color. In the Bronx, where Fearon and C.J. grew up, “The asthma hospitalization rate for children is 70 percent higher than the rest of New York City and 700 percent higher than the rest of New York State,” says Fearon. For C.J. is an ensemble work celebrating C.J.’s life, telling his story through movement, live music, and visual arts. “Sitting in the audience of For C.J. was an experience that affected both my head and my heart," said B.J. Evans, BRIC, Senior Producer, Performing Arts. “This beautiful, flawlessly-executed work gets to the heart of the urgent crisis of medical and environmental racism.”

The post-performance discussion is the kick-off of a new series called Time to Talk with Davalois Fearon. It is the second phase of Fearon’s Time to Talk project, which points out structural racism within dance, academia, and society at large. Each episode will feature Fearon and an invited guest to talk…... about race.

The Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theater gives DFD the opportunity to fulfill its mission of pushing artistic and social boundaries while cultivating the next generation of dance artists by providing a platform for the company to share performances, workshops, and discussions.

For more information on For C.J., Time to Talk, or the Davalois Fearon Dance Virtual Theatre please visit www.davaloisfearon.com