NYU Production Lab Announces Inaugural Cohort for its 2024 Artist Development Program for Dance
The NYU Production Lab announced six dance artists who have been selected for its inaugural 2024 NYU Artist Development Program for Dance. Over the next several months each fellow will continue to develop a new dance work, while also participating in monthly career-focused intensives under the guidance of the Lab’s staff and a team of industry experts.
“The hope of the NYU Artist Development Program for Dance is to build an ecosystem within the Dance field, developing artistic networks and critical career readiness for NYU Alumni as they navigate critical transition points in their career,” says NYU Production Lab Director Linsey Bostwick who is leading the program with associate Ntshadi Mofokeng.
The program will gather the cohort together monthly to focus on their work, while also providing bespoke mentorship, access to studio space, and other project-specific artistic resources. The program will culminate in a work in progress showing with industry guests, intended to inspire interest in the works and build community.
The program will also have monthly events open to the greater NYU dance community, each one focused on a major areas of concern for careers in dance. Professional communication, audience engagement, community building, and wellness all are among the topics that will be explored. Experts across the dance field will join the cohort and larger group to share their experience and gudance.
Bostwick comments, “Unlike many development programs for artists, we did not focus solely on emerging or mid-career artists, but rather concentrated on artists that are in transition during different stages of their career. This inaugural group of dance artists represents a diverse array of dance genres and schools of study across the university.”
The 2024 Cohort
Kristel Baldoz: (M.A. in Arts and Politics from Tisch, 2019) is a Filipina-American multidisciplinary artist from Delano, California, who works across performance, dance, and ceramics. Her work has been supported by the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation, New York Live Arts, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She was a 2019 EmergeNYC fellow at the Hemispheric Institute and, in 2022, an artist-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution School of Visual Art and Art Cake. Kristel’s works have been featured in Brooklyn Rail and Fjord. As a performer, she has worked with Reggie Wilson, Anh Vo, Wilmer Wilson IV, Kate Watson-Wallace, and Alex Da Corte. She holds an MA in Arts Politics from New York University and a BA in Dance, Theater, and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley.
Rohan Bhargava: (BFA in Dance Tisch 2015) Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Rohan Bhargava began dancing at The Danceworx Academy for the Performing Arts, where he went on to serve as a performer, choreographer, and educator. In 2012 he relocated to New York to study dance at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Bhargava founded Rovaco Dance Company in 2015 and has presented work for The Dance Gallery Festival, Mare Nostrum Elements, Making Moves Dance Festival, Little Island NYC, and Rhythmically Speaking Dance. In 2019, he completed a residency through the CUNY Dance Initiative at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, and he was awarded the 2020 Jadin Wong Fellowship in Dance, through the Asian American Arts Alliance. In 2021, Rovaco Dance Company was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.”
Rovaco is a recipient of the Dance Advancement Fund 2022-23 award by Dance/NYC, and Bhargava currently works for Kizuna Dance, Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theater, Studio Susan Marshal, and Mare Nostrum Elements.
Austin Coats (MFA in dance, Tisch 2020): Austin Warren Coats is an interdisciplinary artist with a Bachelor of Arts in dance studies from Kent State University and a Master of Fine Arts From New York University. He has worked with artists such as Silvana Cardell, Angela Luem, Catherine Meredith, Jess Pretty, and Jamal White. Coats also has interests in the arts including writing, illustration, dance, film, and fashion design. His film work has been showcased in the Dance On Camera Film Festival and other institutions. Coats currently performs with Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, a Dance Company. Coats has presented work at Dixon Place Theater, Tisch’s Summer High School Program, and at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.
David Lee (MA Dance Education, Steinhardt, 2022): David earned his BFA in Dance Perf. from UC Irvine dancing in Donald McKayle’s company. David earned his MA in Dance Education: Dances of the African Diaspora from NYU, receiving the Outstanding Leadership in Social Justice in Dance Education award. In LA he worked on commercial projects, music videos, and companies, and the company director of Rogue Makers. In NYV, he has showcased at clubs and emerging artist festivals, a residency with Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company and is working with Iona University dance ensemble. As a dance educator, David is a teaching artist, in 23′, he presented a workshop in waacking and queerness at the NDEO’s Conference. His choreographic research centers on the experience of being Asian in America.
Jade Manns (BFA in Dance, Tisch 2019): Jade Manns (BFA in Dance, Tisch 2019) is a dancer, choreographer and co-founder of the artist-run performance space PAGEANT in New York. Her work has been shown at Draftwork at Danspace Project (NYC), Movement Research at the Judson Church (NYC), Sundays on Broadway at Weis Acres (NYC), The Brooklyn Rail, Singing in Unison (NYC), New Dance Alliance Performance Mix Festival (NYC), The Provincetown Dance Festival (Truro Center for the Arts, MA) and PAGEANT (NYC). It has been supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and New Dance Alliance’s Satellite Residency. Jade is an alumna of the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and holds a BFA in dance and minor in performance studies from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Grace Yi-Li Tong (BFA, Dance Tisch, 2021): With a child-like glee, Grace Yi-Li Tong (she/her) is a Chinese-American movement artist originally from Seattle, WA. Influenced by make-believe, clowning, and contemporary dance theater, her work ridiculously collages “regular” events to decontextualize bodily and social identity, fairytale, and comedy. In 2021, Grace earned her BFA in Dance and a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She now works as an independent, New York-based choreographer, performer, educator, and arts administrator. As a choreographer, Grace has recently developed and presented work at: Flushing Town Hall, Triskelion Arts, ReMo Studios (Amsterdam) Devising Performance Residency, Arts on Site, Art Cake Dance Series II, Laguardia Performing Arts Center, and on Governor’s Island. Her film credits include choreographic collaborations with brands Tod’s Shoes and Yayi Chen, and musicians Kevin Sun and bluetrails. Additionally, she has recently received support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant program for her self-produced show: ZOO! at Arts on Site (2023) and from the Netherland-America Foundation for her residency at ReMo Studios (2023).
As a performer, Grace has recently been in process with Beth Gill, Luis A. Lara Malvacias, Patricia Hoffbauer, Jody Oberfelder, and more. Grace has taught at programs such as NYU Tisch Summer High School, Steps on Broadway Academy, and more, and served as Development Intern for AIM by Kyle Abraham in 2023.
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