Fresh Tracks 2022/23 Cohort

Kristel Baldoz
Malcolm-x Betts
Miguel Alejandro Castillo
Jade Charon
Orlando Hernández 

ABOUT THE WORKS

Drawing from Anne Anlin Cheng’s concept of ornamentalism, multidisciplinary Filipina-American artist Kristel Baldoz engages the relationship and slippage between objecthood and personhood, and orientalism and objectification that is tied to the female Asian identity. Cheng’s concept addresses how the Asiatic woman, the “yellow” woman, is seen as an aesthetic ornament – she is viewed as an object rather than a person. Through dance, ceramics, and indictment, Baldoz’s new piece investigates the choreography and movement between body and objects.

Malcolm-x Betts is a Black American visual and dance artist based in New York City. Making work for Black people through his Blackness, Betts’ new piece Niggas at Sundown is created in collaboration with Arien Wilkerson, Nile Harris (performer) and Andy Kobilka (performer/sound designer). Via past and present, the performance explores notions of displacement, identity, and belonging, and investigates sundown towns in the United States and the violence of being visibly Black. Using body-based abstraction rooted in care, communion, and joy in opposition, Betts and company create alternative modes of being outside of white supremacy. The piece also has a clothing design element: costumes double as frames for performance scores. Jumpsuits made by Betts are constructed within improvisational practice, showcasing them in various states of motion and distilling the dynamic movement potential of the garment.

Venezuelan interdisciplinary choreographer, director, installation artist, educator and performer Miguel Alejandro Castillo states “all folklore is an expression of resilience.” Loud and Clear imagines a fictional folkloric festivity to celebrate the ongoing construction of the Venezuelan diaspora, featuring musician Daniella Barbarito and visual artist Lexy Ho-Tai.

Interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, and filmmaker Jade Charon presents Gold Pylon, an inquiry into the possibilities if a grandmother’s prayer becomes an intercessory superpower and gateway to a higher self. Charon’s ongoing multi-media research project series Gold was created to emPOWER Black and Brown people by connecting them to the element gold’s spiritual, metaphysical, and ancestral powers through dance, film, sound, and writing. This latest event in the series is a live multimedia performance solo that journeys through the refining and purification process of gold, reaching for the gateway of the higher self. This piece features collaborations from Ker Chen (visual designer and technician) and Farai Malianga( musician & composer).

Tap dancer and choreographer Orlando Hernández explores legacies of colonialism and diaspora in the Caribbean and Americas. In Too soon to discover planets, too late to discover islands, he uses technologies of sacred rhythms and mask-work to tell the story of two people who arrive in a new land, only to be killed in a terrible storm…

This season continues the revamped version of Fresh Tracks with Live Arts producing a shared evening of new work in the theater developed during the residency. The professional development workshops and meetings throughout the residency focus on applying learned knowledge and skills towards the shared production. After an invigorating audition period in fall 2022, the artists selected receive a 50-hour studio residency, $3000 fee, and while working with nia love, take part in professional development workshops led by renowned professionals from the field. Residents also  obtain exclusive access to Live Arts’ Communications, Development, Production and Programming staff, and a Live Core Artist Membership. Fresh Tracks is supported in part by Partners for New Performance.

ABOUT FRESH TRACKS

New York Live Arts’ Fresh Tracks Residency & Performance program is a season-long residency for emerging movement-based artists in support of new work creation and professional development. This season marks the 58th year of Fresh Tracks which was a signature program of Dance Theater Workshop created in 1965 to bring new choreographic artistry to the forefront.

The 2022-2023 season will continue to follow the updated version of the Fresh Tracks Residency Program:

• Live Arts will produce a new work in the theater with a shared program developed during the residency.
• The professional development workshops and meetings will in part focus on applying learned knowledge and skills towards the shared production.

Five artists will be selected for the program who will receive a 50-hour studio residency, $3000 fee, working with Artistic Advisor nia love, take part in professional development workshops led by renowned professionals from the field, exclusive access to Live Arts’ Communications, Development, Production and Programming staff, a Live Core Artist Membership and a fully-produced shared program in the New York Live Arts theater.