SUNDAY SESSIONS
Beth Gracyzk Productions X Peridance Center
Sunday Sessions is a workshop series inviting participants to explore improvisational tools & tactics in contemporary dance, and through the lens of teaching artists who actively use improvisation in their generative work. A 2-hour workshop will guide movers through modalities that will help develop individual movement invention and lead into ensemble practices that will open up possibilities of connecting with others as we build each moment together.
UPCOMING
FEBRUARY 2 • 12:30-2:30 PM
BRENDAN DRAKE
BIO
Brendan Drake is an interdisciplinary artist and educator currently based in Brooklyn and Washington DC. Their work uses disparate movement forms, erotic imagery, text, and sound manipulation to interrogate issues largely centering queer power dynamics. Brendan was a 2017-2018 Fresh Tracks Artist at New York Live Arts and has been awarded grants and residencies through the Monira Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Fund, FCA, CUNY, BKSD, The Tank, and Chez Bushwick. Their recent work has been presented at Danspace Project (Draftwork), Movement Research, The Brick, La MaMa, PAGEANT, Joes Pub, AUNTS, JrHigh (Los Angeles, CA), and The Dance Complex (Boston, MA). They have also recently guest taught at Columbia University, University of Massachusetts, Muhlenberg College, Skewl, Peridance, SCDT, Loculus, and UCLA. As a dancer, They currently work with Nattie + Hollis, and Kayla Hamilton/Circle O Productions. Brendan received their BFA in Dance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and their MFA in Choreographic Inquiry from UCLA.
FEBRUARY 23 • 2:30-4:30 PM
SYMARA SARAI
BIO
Symara Sarai(They/She), a Portland, Oregon native currently residing in Brooklyn, has immersed herself in interdisciplinary and choreographic studies globally. A 2023 Bessie Winner for Breakout Choreographer, Symara is also a recipient of the Dai Ailian Foundation Scholarship based in Trinidad and Tobago. The scholarship led her to Beijing, China where she spent two years gaining an associate degree in modern choreography at the renowned Beijing Dance Academy. Symara is a 2019 graduate of SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Dance Program. She was a resident artist for Bearnstow, Gibney 6.2 Work Up, Gallim’s 2022 Moving Artist’s Residency, BAX’s Fall 2022 Space Grant Program, Center for Performance Research’s 2022 AIR Program, New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Artist 23/24 as well as a 23/24 Women in Motion Commissioned artist. They are currently a Abrons Arts Center Performance AIRspace Resident. Their work as a performer and maker has been reviewed and featured in the NY Times, Dance Enthusiast, Fjord, as well as promoted through Forbes. She has had multiple film works commissioned by Berlin-based choreographer Christoph Winkler. They have presented work at New York Live Arts, The Clarice at UMD, The LGBT Center in NY, Judson Church, BAAD, Kestrels, and other venues throughout the United States, China, and Germany. She is currently an Urban Bush Women company member. She has also notably worked with Jasmine Hearn, Ogemdi Ude, Pioneers Go East Collective, Kevin Wynn, Joanna Kotze, Nattie Trogdon+Hollis Bartlett, and Slowdanger, among others.
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Symara’s choreographic practice is multifaceted and draws from a variety of sources. At present, they are particularly interested in combining the methodologies of folk, improvisation, and modern dance to explore their American and West Indian heritage. Symara merges these practices with rigorous archival research. This research results in a spontaneous performance practice that creates space for her to access ideas quickly, generate on the spot, and move with a sense of abandon allowing for nuanced variation and a constant state of fresh play. This is a practice of immediacy, not thinking of consequences or premeditated problem solving, opening the channel for a momentous present. The arrival at ultimate play is an indulgent practice of surrendering that she is steadily in as a Black, queer, radical, wildass maker in the field. Through their work they aim to embody the destruction of normalcy and known structures. Symara is eager to exchange thoughts on fearlessness and radical vulnerability centered on empowering uninhibited desires and wants.