Live Artery provides a platform for artists to share their work with the general public and presenters from around the world, fostering new commissions, touring opportunities, and lasting professional relationships. Artists showing works-in-progress or excerpts of completed works on January 10 include Maree ReMalia, Abby Z and the New Utility, and Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre.

Saturday, January 10

Maree ReMalia
At 1pm

Abby Z and the New Utility
At 3pm

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre
At 6pm

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Maree ReMalia | WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER
1pm, Studio

Creator/Performer/Co-Director: Maree ReMalia
Co-Director: Adil Mansoor
Sound Designer: David Bernabo
Media Designer: Kolton Cotton
Scenic Designer: Sasha Jin Schwartz
Dramaturg: Jenny Johnson
Assistant Director: Iliana Tomasa Sharp
Lighting Designer: Nicole White

Set in a karaoke-funeral-lounge, Maree ReMalia’s WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER (WOWEO) welcomes audiences into an evening-length solo blending dance, text, and pop music as a way to grieve a parent who raised her and a parent she never met. The performance explores how a solo body can become a meeting place for others and how a mic becomes a lifeline. Co-directed by theater artist Adil Mansoor, this new performance commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Bates Dance Festival, Hatch Arts Collective, and National Performance Network, premieres in Fall 2026.

FUNDING
WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST), Bates Dance Festival (BDF), Hatch Arts Collective (Hatch), and NPN. More information: www.npnweb.org. Produced by Hatch, WOWEO premieres at KST in fall 2026 and is being presented at BDF in summer 2027. Developmental support for WOWEO has been provided by the Center for New Work Development at Carnegie Mellon University Center in partnership with KST, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and Opportunity Fund. This Live Artery presentation is made possible through KST X NYC with support from The Ford Foundation and The Heinz Endowments America’s Cultural Treasures initiative.

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Abby Z and the New Utility | All Purpose Room (2027); Work in Progress Showing
3pm, Studio

Performers:
Lucy Dillon
Jennifer Meckley,
Benjamin Roach
Yukina Sato

Part dance, part sport, part hardcore punk opus, All Purpose Room, Abby Zbikowski’s next evening length work with her internationally acclaimed dance company, Abby Z and the New Utility, explores the significance of the life changing and deeply transformative experiences we encounter in our lives. This new work reflects how our realities are rearranged as we work with and try to contain the unruly aspects of life. Through thrilling, sometimes dangerous, and rigorous choreographic form All Purpose Room weaves together upheaval, play, release, and survival into one full-throttle physical ride.

FUNDING
All Purpose Room is co-commissioned by the American Dance Festival and NYU Skirball, with support from the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University.  Additional funding by The Ohio State University Arts and Humanities Large Amplifier New Project Grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. All Purpose Room will premiere in 2027 at the American dance Festival.

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Samar Haddad King, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre | Shabaab (working title)
6pm, Studio

Choreographer/Director/Sound Designer/Writer: Samar Haddad King
Performer: Mohammed Smahneh
Performer: Yousef Sbieh
Guitarist/Composer: Hisham Abu Jabal
Dramaturg/Puppet Direction: Enrico Dau Yang Wey
Puppet Design/Construction: Sipho Ngxola
Lighting Designer: Muaz Aljubeh

Shabaab (working title) celebrates the intimacy, beauty, and tenderness of Arab male friendship. In a land where shared dreams and struggles are often overshadowed by the structural obstacles and systemic violence of occupation, the strength and sweetness of their bond is what helps these boys grow into men. Using puppetry and text interwoven with a playful and explosive movement score, and featuring compositions on guitar by Hisham Abu Jabal and sound designed by YSDT Artistic Director Samar Haddad King, Shabaab is a visceral embodiment of love, friendship, and the impossible weight of a lifetime spent under siege.

FUNDING
This project is supported in part by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Center for Arab American Philanthropy, The Emma Sheafer Charitable Trust, The Howard Gilman Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts. Residency support was provided by the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU and LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.