Joanna Kotze is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, dancer, and educator who has been a distinctive force in New York’s dance community since 1998, Kotze creates highly physical dance performances through a collaborative, multi-disciplinary process, presenting ways to look at effort, labor, humor, violence, unpredictability, and beauty through movement as well as the body’s relationship to sound, light, physical materials and space.
As the eighth RCA, Kotze has been developing her new evening-length piece, this is the beginning, this is the end, with additional support through creative residencies at The Pocantico Center, Jacob’s Pillow, and Loghaven. Her 2022 work ‘lectric Eye premiered at The Space at Irondale, was reprised in New York Live Arts’ 2023 Live Artery Festival, and toured to the American Dance Festival and UtahPresents. Her acclaimed outdoor performance BIG BEATS has been realized in multiple communities across the U.S., and her virtual project LONG DISTANCE DANCE DIALOGUES connected choreographers across the globe through conversation and shared movement.
Her work is recognized for its deep physicality, collaborative spirit, and multi-disciplinary layers, often involving musicians, writers, visual artists , and designers. Kotze is the recipient of a 2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a 2025 NDP Finalist Grant Award, and a FY2026 New York State Council on the Arts Grant Award, all of which are contributing to the making of this is the beginning, this is the end. Previously, Kotze received the 2013 Bessie Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer. Her 2018 piece What will we be like when we get there premiered at New York Live Arts as part of the Live Feed creative residency program and earned a Bessie nomination for Outstanding Music Composition by composer Ryan Seaton.
Her choreography has also been commissioned and presented by leading institutions such as New York Live Arts, The Yard, Danspace Project, Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Wexner Center,and international platforms including, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Wanås Konst Sculpture Park in Sweden. Her extensive residency history includes support from MANCC, LMCC, The Camargo Foundation, The Bogliasco Foundation, Marble House Project, and Baryshnikov Arts Center, among many others.
Kotze is also an active performer, currently dancing with Kimberly Bartosik/daela, Stacy Spence, and Annie-B Parson. She has performed with Wally Cardona (2000-2010, 2018), Donna Uchizono, Tendayi Kuumba, Kota Yamazaki, Netta Yerushalmy, and many others. As an educator, she has taught at Movement Research, The Ailey School, NYU, Gibney Dance, The New School, and the American Dance Festival, among many others. She is originally from South Africa and has a BA in Architecture from Miami University.
Lena Engelstein (Dancer) is a choreographer whose work has been dubbed “The High Weird” by NYT Theater Critic Helen Shaw and a Bessie-nominated performer recognized as “a human gazelle” by The Brooklyn Rail, a “slow-motion avalanche” by The New Yorker, and “a fully committed comic” by the New York Times. She’s made work with Lisa Fagan, Maia Chao, Jo Warren, and performed in work by Joanna Kotze, Faye Driscoll, Isa Spector, Alexa West, Iris McCloughan, and Third Rail. She received the NYSCA Choreography Grant and FCA’s Grants to Artists award alongside Fagan. Lena holds a B.A. in Mathematics.
Wendell Gray II (Dancer) is a Bessie nominated dance artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s performed with Joanna Kotze, Annie-B Parson, Juliana May, Miguel Gutierrez, Tere O’Connor, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, and Kevin Beasley, among others. Wendell is a 2025-2028 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, an alumnus of the University of the Arts, and was raised in Atlanta, GA. Wendell has been working with Joanna since 2019.
Molly Heller (Dancer) is the Director of Heartland, a multidisciplinary collective based in Salt Lake City. She is also co-owner and co-director of Material gallery with Jorge Rojas and an Associate Professor in the School of Dance at the University of Utah. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally and her research explores performance as a healing practice and the relationship between physical expression and emotion. Molly holds certifications in Pilates and Reiki. As a performer, she has worked with Naganuma Dance, Netta Yerushalmy, Stephen Koester, Satu Hummasti, and Katie Faulkner, and has worked with Joanna Kotze since 2018.
Symara Sarai (Dancer) is a Portland, Oregon native currently residing in Brooklyn, has immersed herself in interdisciplinary and choreographic studies globally with deep recognition. Named Dance Magazines’ 2025 “Top 25 to Watch,” a 2023 Bessie Winner for Breakout Choreographer, and a recipient of the Dai Ailian Foundation Scholarship based in Trinidad and Tobago. She is currently a featured artist in Greater New York was recently a commissioned artist at Festival Theaterformen and was in the TBA 2026 line up. She is known to be a courageously committed performer and maker. The NYT stated “Sarai is a daring solo improviser, and her uninhibited spirit infuses.” Symara has been working with Joanna since 2019.
Hsiao-Jou Tang (Dancer) is a Taiwanese-born, New York-based dancer and inaugural recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ 2024 Viola Farber Award. She has performed with Doug Varone and Dancers, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Netta Yerushalmy, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Monica Bill Barnes, Annie-B Parson, John Jasperse, and others. Hsiao-Jou has been working with Joanna since 2021.
Maralie Armstrong-Rial (Musician) is an artist & vocalist whose work seeks spiritual expression through unconventional means. She performs solo as VALISE and in Humanbeast, with V Manuscript. Maralie has sung with The Body, Drew McDowall, Assembly of Light Choir among others. She previously held teaching appointments at Brown University and RISD. This is Maralie’s first project with Joanna.
Ryan Seaton (Composer/Musician/Performer) is a Bessie-nominated composer, audio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist based in New York. He creates original scores and live sound for dance and theater. His work has appeared at BAM, New York Live Arts, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and The Kitchen, along with numerous theaters across the U.S. and internationally. Ryan has been working with Joanna since 2014.
Kathy Kaufmann (Lighting Designer) is a New York City native, and two time Bessie recipient. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, Music From The Sole, Joanna Kotze, The Bang Group, Mariana Valencia, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Ellen Cornfield and Vicky Schick. She is the resident designer at Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, and taught at Sarah Lawrence and NYU.
Christian Joy (Costume Designer) is an internationally recognized costume designer and artist living and working in New York City. Her work spans across stages including the Grammy Awards and Oscars as well as the Museum of Modern Art and an upcoming project at St John the Divine with Ballet Collective.
212box (Set Design) is a prominent New York City-based multi-disciplinary architecture and design firm founded in 2000 by Eric Clough. The boutique firm has earned global acclaim for its unique methodology that seamlessly blends hyper-detailed luxury architecture with intricate, playful storytelling and interactive narrative elements. Their projects are characterized by hidden elements, secret drawers, and complex geometries that encourage users to actively engage with and decode their physical surroundings.
