Super Nothing

SUPER NOTHING

Choreographer: Miguel Gutierrez
Performer/Collaborators: Jay Carlon, Evelyn Lilian Sanchez Narvaez, Justin Faircloth, Wendell Gray II
Lighting Designer: Carolina Ortiz
Composer: Rosana Cabán, with contributions from Miguel Gutierrez  
Costume Designer: Jeremy Wood
Dramaturgical Assistance: Stephanie Acosta
Production Stage Manager: Gianna Durante
Management: Michelle Fletcher

Additional movement contributions: Ajani Brannum, Marty Kudelka, Kathryn Hunter

Super Nothing is a new quartet for performers from New York (Justin Faircloth, Wendell Gray II) and Los Angeles (Jay Carlon, Evelyn Sanchez Narvaez). 

BIOGRAPHIES 

Miguel Gutierrez (he/him) is an artist and educator living between Lenapehoking/Brooklyn, NY and Tovaangar/Los Angeles. His work continues and expands the legacy of experimental QTPOC artists and creates empathetic, irreverent, and reflective spaces that prioritize attention as a means to unravel normative belief systems. He is also fascinated by how capital interacts with art making, a topic he explored in his podcast Are You For Sale? Recent performance work includes I as another, which looks at the virtual architecture of memory, and sueño, a bilingual music project of melancholy songs, which was recently performed at Jacob’s Pillow. His work has been presented internationally for over twenty years in venues such as American Realness, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chocolate Factory, Walker Art Center, Wexner Center for the Arts, American Dance Festival, On the Boards, REDCAT, Festival D’Automne in Paris, Festival Universitario in Colombia and as a selected artist for the 2014 Whitney Biennial. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and a recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Art award, a 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award, a 2016 Frankie Award, and four New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards. He has received project support multiple times through the National Performance Network, MAP Fund, and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project. He is an Associate Professor of Choreography and Vice Chair of the MFA in Choreographic Inquiry in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA. www.miguelgutierrez.org IG: @aboylikethat  

Jay Carlon (he/they) is a performance artist, choreographer and community organizer whose work facilitates shared healing, exploring postcolonial identity, ancestry, and the complex queer/Filipinx experience. The youngest of 12 in a migrant family, Carlon connects a global network of AAPI creatives and communities. Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 To Watch,” Carlon has shown work with the Filipino American National Historical Society, at REDCAT, homeLA, Lincoln Center, and more; and performed with The Industry Opera, Oguri, Bill T. Jones, and the Metropolitan Opera. Commercial work includes performance and choreography for Mndsgn, Kanye West, and Solange Knowles; and as associate director with aerial spectacle company Sway at the Olympics and Super Bowl. www.jaycarlon.com 

Justin Faircloth is a performing artist from North Carolina. Since relocating to New York, Justin has had the pleasure of working with Blaze Ferrer, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Doug LeCours, loveconductors, Jordan Lloyd, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Maddie Schimmel, Third Rail Productions, Third Class Citizen, Erik Thurmond, Alexa West, Ash Yergens, Jessie Young, Abby Zbikowski, and others. Instagram: @bacnneggs

Wendell Gray II is a dance artist, choreographer, and educator currently based in Brooklyn, NY, situated on Lenapehoking land. Wendell’s artistic journey has led him to perform with a myriad of influential choreographers in contemporary, experimental, and concert dance. Those artists include Miguel Gutierrez, Pavel Zustiak, Tere O’Connor, Joanna Kotze, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Christal Brown, and Kevin Beasley, among many others. Wendell’s original choreographic works have been shown on stages and platforms across the country. His original works have been showcased at venues such as Coffey Street Studios, Kinosaito Arts Center, Gibney, University of the Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, Center for Performance Research, Chez Bushwick, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, and The Painted Bride. Wendell is an alumnus of the University of the Arts, where he graduated with a BFA in Dance under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. Originally hailing from Atlanta, GA, his artistic journey has been enriched by a diverse range of influences. For more, visit wenings.com

Evelyn Lilian Sanchez Narvaez aka evelina aka Letty Leticia aka ehd-dhe!!!!! Comes from cleaning houses with her mom! Excited, Proud and Grateful, this saddie baddie continues to listen to the aprendizajes that “la limpieza” have gifted her. To See +  To Do + To Be Thankful For All Of It. evelina is currently working on embodying healthy anger, the lawyer brain, and the movements of a soft tissue specialist. Evelyn has been apart of projects with Miguel Gutierrez + Jill Sigman + Abby Zibikowski,  Curated by Eva Yaa Asentwaa + Gibney Dance Work Up 4.0 Artist  + Art Educator with Urban Art Beat & Elders Share The Arts  and an American Dance Festival + Gibney Dance + Movement Research COMMUNITY MEMBER. Compost + Scents + Fascia + Inflammation + Sound + Texture + Volume + Crunch + Color

Carolina Ortiz Herrera is a NY based Lighting Designer for theatre, opera and dance, born and raised in Mexico City, She tells stories through light to elevate the human experience to a universal language illuminating the complexity of the human experience. She thinks of light as an enigmatic, yet subtle living force transporting an audience to “stand at the threshold” where a new understanding of our collective experience is revealed.   Carolina has collaborated with many regional theaters across the United States, including Broadway. She is excited to continue a second collaboration with Miguel on this new piece. She is honored to have been featured on the 2nd Annual “Women to Watch List” from the Broadway Women’s Fund. www.carolinaeortiz.com 

Rosana Cabán is a Puerto Rican born, Brooklyn based artist. She uses sound, sculpture and performance as mediums to probe problematic binaries such as masculinity and femininity and technology vs human progress. As a producer and recording artist, she is ½ of the collaborative music duo “cosas cosas” along with artist Gabo Camnitzer (“Mother Courage”, 2024.) She has most notably performed at the Brooklyn Museum, National Sawdust, the Fillmore, Webster Hall, and over 80 rock venues across the US and Canada through touring with STRFKR, LadyHawke, the Generationals and Sylvan Esso. Cabán holds an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University and is a Berklee alum. She was a Marble House Project Artist in Residence in 2018, an Ace Hotel AIR 2017, and a guest collaborator for Lucas Artists Fellow Xandra Ibarra at Montalvo Arts Center in 2020. She is currently a Rockaway Artists Alliance Artist in Residence for the Summer 2024 session and a Teaching Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute.

Jeremy Wood is a designer and artist working in Brooklyn, NY. He currently designs for Brooklyn based menswear brand, Outlier, most recently under the creative direction of Willie Norris.  A graduate from Pratt Institute, his work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, and multiple New York City based publications. He has collaborated with various musicians including L’rain and Remi Wolf for digital and live performances.

Gianna Durante (she/her) is a New York-based theater artist thrilled to be working on Super Nothing as the Production Stage Manager. A graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Stage Management program, her credits include Good Bones (The Public Theater), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Minetta Lane), and Kafkaesque!(Theatre 154). Gianna prioritizes the well-being of her company members and aims to foster and uplift a space for creativity and joy. She is passionate about stories that reflect the present and believes theater thrives when artists bring their unique experiences and energy to create a collaborative work of art. Endless thanks and gratitude to the team, her family, The Chickens and Sina.

Michelle Fletcher is a live performance maker, director, educator, artist manager and psychodynamic therapist based in Catawba and Cherokee lands, colonially known as Greenville, SC. Fletcher earned her BFA from North Carolina School of the Arts, MFA from Florida State University, and MSW from NYU. Fletcher was a Fulbright Scholar at The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, teaching contemporary technique and dance technology. Her dances have been presented at ODC Theater, CounterPulse, Triskelion, and CPR. Fletcher’s film Dan’s House headlined the Dance for Camera Festival at Lincoln Center and San Francisco. She currently serves as Manager to Miguel Gutierrez.

THANK YOU’S

All work is collaborative. Thank you to Evelyn, Justin, Jay and Wendell for diving into the mystery with me with willingness, weirdness, care, commitment, and humor. Thank you to Carolina, Rosana, and Jeremy for your big, beautiful, amazing swings. Thank you to Stephanie for your ever supportive brilliance. Thank you, Michelle, for your unparalleled stewardship, which models a kind of dedication and care that I wish for the entire field. Thank you Gianna for diving in. Thank you Christina for your care. Thank you Ajani Brannum for your early contributions. Thank you Fouad Hassan for your light.

Thank you to Bill T. Jones, Janet Wong, Kyle Maude, Hannah, Tyler Ashley, Chanel, Leo Janks and the entire crew and staff of New York Live Arts for supporting the creation process into the premiere of this new work. Being the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist these past two years has been a dream I wish could happen for every artist. I cannot overstate how important and meaningful it has been to have an artistic home to develop this work.

Thank you Megan Kiskaddon, Laura Paige Kyber, Tara Aisha Willis, Jodee Nimerichter, Edgar Miramontes, and Jared Williams for the indispensable resources in getting us to this point and the investments you made in championing this piece.

Thank you to Fred Frumberg for all the work you did to help with the development of this work, and for all the work you did in life to support performing artists. Rest in peace. 

Thank you to my Jazzclown Inc. Board – Jennifer Cook, Jynne Dilling, Michelle Jarney, Mia Kang, and Alberto Orso. Your wise and heartfelt counsel has shifted my understanding of what a board can be. 

Thank you Stanlyn Brevé and National Performance Network for supporting my work for so many years. 

Thank you to all of the individual donors who gave so generously to help us realize this project. 

Thank you Sandi Dubowski and Eric Rockey for opening up your beautiful home to us for a fundraiser.

Thank you Marin Sander-Holzman for your steadfast friendship and for opening up your beautiful home to us for the party.

This piece emerged from an invitation to an Archive Residency from the Maggie Allessee National Center for Choreography. Thank you to Carla Peterson, Ansje Burdick, Chris Cameron for their extraordinary work at MANCC, for their care of the archive and for working so hard to create a critical incubation space for so many artists. Thank you also to MANCC’s first director, Jennifer Calienes. 

Thank you Kristin Juarez for the beautiful conversations that got this process going. 

Some of the dance material in Super Nothing was generated from contributions from past collaborators: Michelle Boulé, Hilary Clark, Luke George, K.J. Holmes, mickey mahar, and James McGinn.  

Thank you to Aleks Perez, Joey Navarrete-Medina, and Andrea Soto for their contributions to the process. 

Thank you David Guzman and Akane Little for helping with everything!

Thank you Joy Ray for your assistance with the set! Thank you Farhad Mirza for taking my panicked call. 

Thank you Juliana May for an enduring friendship, personal and artistic. No one else gets it like you do.

Thank you Amy Page for your sewing brilliance.

Thank you Daniel Soto for your voice. Thank you Aram Atamian and Ankita Mishra.

Thank you Theodore Shapiro and Evyn for coming through on recording assistance. 

Thank you Marion Anderson, Jay Laubscher, Jessie Young, Daniel Lupo, Melani DeGuzman, Kimiko Tamae, Amelia Golden, and Mad Schimmel for making space in your homes for the dancers. 

Thank you to Gabrielle Civil, for listening to my insecurities throughout the process and encouraging me to trust myself. 

Thank you to my colleagues and students at UCLA.

Thank you to the artists, scholars and writers who served as inspirations to me in this project: Christina Sharpe, Mira Schendel, Ralph Lemon, Neil Greenberg, Juliana May are the obvious ones, but I am inspired by so many more than I can name.

Thank you to the audience – the folks who have followed my work for what is now decades (!), and to the new folks who I hope will join the ride. The work is nothing without people to receive it so thank you for your willingness to do so. 

CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTE

Super Nothing started when I was invited to engage in an Archive Residency at MANCC, which beautifully coincided with the amazing two year Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist offer from New York Live Arts. At first I thought it would be a recuperation and redemption of past work, but quickly, once I was in the room with the dancers, it began to evolve into something else. Super Nothing is an emotional MRI for how people, MY people, come together to process the overwhelm, how we support each other and maintain ourselves. For years now I feel like the baseline emotion I’ve reckoned with is grief. Grief courses through everything. It’s coursing through me now with the emboldening of cruelty and stupidity in this country, the obliteration of Palestine, the rightward tilt everywhere, and the embrace of alleged “strongmen” i.e. cowards/mediocre men who fail upwards. In the midst of this, what has come through me is a dance. Super Nothing. Something epic and expansive and also tiny. But (my) pieces form a vast network of butterfly effects that shape the world in meaningful ways. Making – engaging all of the folks who make it happen, creating intentional time, accepting insecurity and imperfection, practicing joy, inventing inside jokes in rehearsal and crying when we must – IS A BLUEPRINT FOR SURVIVAL. Making has kept me alive, simple as that. It is really hard and really beautiful. I’m sour on “hope” and “resilience” cuz there’s too much awful shit going on to be naively aspirational. I fight bitterness daily. But l’m here for being relational, engaged, fighting for mystery/magic, and laughing/crying with my collaborators, friends, lovers, colleagues, students, and audience. 

FUNDING CREDITS

Super Nothing was commissioned, produced and presented by New York Live Arts as part of the Randjelović /Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Program, with lead support from Mellon Foundation. Super Nothing premiered during New York Live Arts 24-25 season. 

Super Nothing was additionally co-commissioned by On the Boards/Seattle, Center for the Art of Performance/UCLA, MCA Chicago and American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works.

Super Nothing is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by New York Live Arts and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org

Super Nothing was made possible with generous support from Café Royal Cultural Foundation and developed with residency support from Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival and The Field Center.