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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
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by Mike Marriott Executive Director – Davalois Fearon Dance Pentacle Numerous individuals, organizations, and institutions have aided Davalois on her journey to become the esteemed and recognized artist she is today. Without the support of these individuals & organizations, Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD) would not exist. Today, we focus on Pentacle and their fiscal sponsorship*, presentation and administrative support they have given Davalois Fearon Dance. Davalois started working with Pentacle as an arts administration intern in 2014 focusing on general arts management and education programming. This would create the foundation that has helped make Davalois a successful Artistic Director & General Manager for her company. The ability to operate similarly to a non-profit while maintaining creative control of their artistic endeavors has to lead a lot of artists to start looking at fiscal sponsorship as a way to achieve their artistic aspirations.  Davalois Fearon and Morgan Anderson in Power Inside and Between. Costumes, wearable sculptures and make-up design by Jasmine Murrell. Photo by Nan Melville. Courtesy of the artist and Rossi & Rossi gallery Pentacle has provided DFD with opportunities to perform by presenting the company over the last two years as apart of their ART APAP series. In addition, Pentacle Just recently, commissioned Davalois to create a new work as a part of the Pentacle Dance series at the Rubin Museum. But Davalois Fearon Dance’s greatest support from Pentacle been back in 2016 when Davalois Fearon Dance was selected to participate in Pentacle’s Administrative Resource Team (ART) Program, a two-year research and direct services program for dance artists. There were 81 responses to Pentacle’s Request For Proposal, and after two rounds of panels, 16 NYC-based artists of similar artistic quality and administrative capacity were selected to participate in the study. Davalois Fearon Dance was one of eight artists who received capacity-building support in the form of one-on-one mentorship, 24 months of bundled administrative support, and grant funds to use toward implementation of their artistic vision.
In the two years, DFD has benefited from ART expeditiously!! Achieving almost all Davalois set out to achieve outlined in the application including Website and marketing materials overhaul, the public launch of the company, increase visibility, more performance opportunity and internal administrative restructuring for efficiency. Since Davalois and Pentacle began working together back in 2014, the growth of Davalois as an artist and the company’s growth as an artistic entity have been nothing short of astounding. We are so excited about currently entering into a new phase in the relationship where we have partnered with Pentacle to produce NYC Arts Education programming, centered around the DFD repertory based curriculum!!! Davalois Fearon and all of us here at Davalois Fearon Dance would like to thank Pentacle, its leadership, and staff for their continued support over the years. *Fiscal sponsorship is a business model where a non-profit organization, in this case Pentacle, acts as the fiduciary for an artist, or artistic project or company, such as Davalois Fearon Dance. This business model allows the artist, or artistic project to operate similarly to a non-profit arts. Through Pentacle’s Foundation for Independent Artist fiscal sponsorship, Davalois Fearon Dance is able to gain access to non-profit funding opportunities such as receiving tax-deductible donations and applying for grants designated for non-profit organizations such as the Map Fund. There is also a dedicated bookkeeper that is assigned to Davalois Fearon Dance to help the company with any administrative needs they may have regarding the finances. In the end though, Davalois Fearon maintains creative control of her company. As part of FIA, Dava is able to receive non-profit rehearsal rates on studio rentals for Davalois Fearon Dance rehearsals. This year we celebrated a successful first year of the For C.J. Initiative. We cannot say THANK YOU enough to everyone who supported this initiative, through endorsements and/or partnerships and through showing up!  Left to right, Artistic Director Davalois Fearon and performers Njeri Rutherford, Mikaila Ware, and Morgan Anderson in For C.J. at BAAD 2019 Tony Turner Photography. Costumes, wearable sculpture, and makeup design by Jasmine Murrell. Set design by Myssi Robinson. Within the first year of the project, we held 6 events, reaching 350 people. We concentrated our effort in the Bronx, where the asthma hospitalization rate for children is 70% higher than the rest of the city and 700% higher than the rest of New York State. The majority of our focus was bringing these events to churches, community centers, and local venues in hopes of reaching target groups in concentrated areas within the local community. See our detailed report for more information.
The For C.J. Initiative was awarded a MAP Fund grant and BRIClab Residency! The project will also be supported by the 2019 Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) award through Bronx Council on the Arts and by Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) 2019/20 Parent/Artist Space Award. This support has made it possible for us to fund the For C.J. Initiative and the entire company’s expenses through the end of the year, which is half our fiscal budget! We are celebrating this success and everyone on the DFD team is charged up and ready for next year! We are so glad to share this news with you in celebration of a successful year! Thank you again to all who played an important role in this initiative! Sincerely, Davalois Fearon and DFD team Power Inside and Between: DFD at The Rubin Video: Quincie Hydock April 10, 2019 6:00pm, 6:45pm, 7:30pm The Rubin Museum More information here Please join us for a new, site-specific work, titled Power Inside and Between (working title). This piece reclaims the trope of the “Angry Black Woman” to find power inside rage, inside community, and inside the black female body. This piece is part of the Pentacle Dance series at the Rubin Museum. Other artists include ZviDance (March 27), Antonio Ramos (April 24), and Francesca Harper (May 8).  Davalois Fearon Dance Season One at BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. Photo: Charles Rice-Gonzales. BAAD! the Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance
by Mike Marriott, Executive Director Numerous individuals, organizations, and institutions have aided Davalois on her journey to become the esteemed and recognized artist she is today. Without the support of these individuals & organizations, Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD) would not exist. Today, we focus on BAAD! and the contributions of DFD’s performance home in the Bronx. Davalois has had the opportunity to perform individually, and with her company, at some of the most prestigious venues in New York, including The Joyce, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the the New Victory Theater on Broadway, but the venue that helped launch her solo career, the venue that has been with her since day one, has been BAAD! the Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance. The first time Davalois perform at BAAD! was in April of 2014. She has since performed there on six different occasions, and BAAD! has presented three of her noteworthy works, Consider Water, Time to Talk, and For C.J. BAAD! has been an invaluable partner in the growth of Davalois Fearon Dance. It is a haven for Dava to flesh out ideas and take risks. Each performance there as lead to amazing opportunities for the company and while Dava has a tremendous artistic reputation throughout New York City and beyond, Davalois is a Bronx-based artist, and her home is at BAAD! This spring, Davalois, and her artistic activism, is coming home to BAAD! for the first iteration of her newest work For C.J., a piece that will honor Ms. Fearon’s nephew, a Bronx native, who recently fell victim to a fatal asthma attack. It uses nature to explore themes of loss and remembrance and celebrates C.J.’s life by telling his story through movement, live music, and visual arts. The work has an initiative component that seeks to highlight disparities in asthma care and provide tools to combat them. The asthma hospitalization rate for children in The Bronx is 70 percent higher than the rest of New York City, and 700 percent higher than the rest of New York State. Because of statistics like these, it was important to Davalois that this work premier in The Bronx, and at BAAD! Join us March 29th & 30th, 2019, as Davalois celebrates 5 years at BAAD! the Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance. I am overjoyed by the overwhelming support the For C.J. Initiative was able to garner and could not be more grateful to everyone who did their part to make this dream a reality. I would like to highlight some individuals in particular who helped me create the campaign and truly supported me behind the scenes. Without them the campaign would not have been successful at all.
Moila Fearon, thank you for your encouragement and unfaltering belief in me and my abilities, I believe I can be who you believe I can! Andrew Lee, THANK you for producing the Kickstarter video. Your artistry is incredible and I am so lucky to have you as a friend! Thank you for the pushing me to launch the campaign and for holding me to the highest standard. Tess, thank you for being right beside me every step of the way and for the GORGEOUS handmade bracelet donation<3. Sarah, thank for doing all the grunt work to get the campaign up and running and doing everything you could to help me reach my goal. June thank you for your guidance and encouragement! Joanne, thank you for your thoughtful words that pushed me clarify my mission. Mike Marriott, thank you for being there from the beginning and always believing in me. Charmaine and Tony, thank you for being my amazing guest on during the live event, Mikaila for helping me get the word out, Morgan for dancing your butt off at the live event, Patrick for your cameo that didn’t make it in but still meant the world to me, Kathleen for the generosity you showed by hosting the launch party, August for your invaluable advice that made me think outside of the box, and Ashley for the initial conversation you had with me about Kickstarter at DANY many moons ago. All of these small pieces helped to make up the whole and I am could not have been able to craft a successful campaign without each piece of the puzzle. So thank you all<3 |
AboutDavalois Fearon Dance's mission is to collaboratively create, perform, and teach a versatile body of work that draws from Artistic Director Davalois Fearon’s richly diverse movement vocabulary and cultivate the next generation of dance artists. Fearon is passionate about creating work that push both artistic and social boundaries. Archives
October 2020
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