Show Box L.A. / we live in space
2018-19 Residency Program
2018-19 Residency Program
Show Box L.A. is pleased to announce the seven artists for our 2018-19 Residency Program For Choreographers: Gayle Fekete, DaEun Jung, Kara Mack/Africa in America, James MahKween, Meena Murugesan, Jillian Stein, and Sadie Yarrington.
Residencies will take place at we live in space, a studio in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of South LA. Over the course of the year, there may be open rehearsals, informal showings, classes, artist talks, or other events where the artists will share their creative process and varied approaches to choreography and dance-based performance work.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Gayle Fekete is the Head of Dance/Professor in the Department of Theatre and New Dance at Cal Poly Pomona. Gayle has been associated with Urban Bush Women NYC as guest artist and consultant on numerous international residencies and summer institutes. She is on the consultant team for Urban Bush Women’s Choreographic Centre NYC. Gayle Fekete presents and produces festival and immersive performance projects in the Los Angeles area, and has produced and facilitated numerous CSU Summer Arts Dance intensives. She is a creative consultant/dramaturge for independent performance practice. Currently, she is exploring site specific, interactive media and interdisciplinary performance collaborations. Her interests include dancetheatre, choreography, installation architecture, and performance practice that challenges class, race, culture and identity. She also is an independent producer and performs with PRISM, Mechanism Dance Theatre, Rennie Tang/Architect, Opera Del Espacio, and The Market Gallery Studio in Los Angeles. Fekete is an active voice regionally and has served on numerous grant panels including NET, DCA, and COLA.
DaEun Jung is a dance maker, dancer, and dance instructor. Rooted in Korean culture and with a thorough background in Korean dance (including six years of specialized training at Gugak National Arts School in Seoul), DaEun’s dances reveal her body memory of her past and present. Her works have been presented at art and community venues, including Electric Lodge, Highways, REDCAT and the Korean Cultural Center in LA. DaEun is currently experimenting with liberating her Korean classical movement vocabulary from its cultural context.
Previously, she performed in Asia, Russia, Europe and North America as a dancer with the internationally renowned Korean dance company, GPDC. She had also worked for the rhythmic performance group PMC, presenting more than 1,000 shows to worldwide audiences. She recently completed her MFA in Choreography at UCLA, where she received the Westfield Emerging Artist Award and Evelyn and Mo Ostin Performing Arts Award.
Previously, she performed in Asia, Russia, Europe and North America as a dancer with the internationally renowned Korean dance company, GPDC. She had also worked for the rhythmic performance group PMC, presenting more than 1,000 shows to worldwide audiences. She recently completed her MFA in Choreography at UCLA, where she received the Westfield Emerging Artist Award and Evelyn and Mo Ostin Performing Arts Award.
Kara Mack/Africa in America Kara Mack is a star choreographer, and mastermind behind the Grammy’s African dance blowout by rap icon Kendrick Lamar for his 2016 Grammy Performance. The South Carolina-born singer, dancer, choreographer, and producer has blazed stages from the Grammy’s, NAACP Image Awards, BET Awards and has collaborated with renowned choreographers Fatima and dozens of A-listers. Her innovative choreography has earned her many accolades and has been featured in major original productions. Kara Mack is also the Founder/CEO of the brand Africa in America, and has taught at many schools including the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Africa in America represents as a primary resource for professional African dance, music-based artists and art participants who are interested in the growing culture here in America while blending state-of-the–art visuals and using the cutting-edge fashions of today. These styles include the arts from North and South America, the Caribbean, West, Central, and Southern Africa. Since African-based arts have held a huge part in social justice both in America and the Diaspora, “Africa in America” also is committed to continue this path by keeping our audience aware when it comes to community and organization building, grant and work opportunities, and many other ways that may inspire art locally and nationally.
James MahKween is from Atlanta, GA. He graduated with a BFA in Musical Theater from American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA). After graduating, MahKween has been setting and reaching goals. He has performed with Lula Washington Dance Theatre, JazzAntiqua, and Kouman Kele African Dance and Drum Company,and BrockusRed. Recently, he has been seen at The Hollywood Bowl performing for the Annual Jazz Fest. He also has a dance company called Eternity Dance Theatre. His choreography has been shown at NAACP ACT-SO 2014 & 2015, Highways Performance Space, The Luckman Theater, Friendship Concert, DANCESCAPE, DanceSpot LA, Tri-Art Festival, Sol-Cal Dance Invitational, Carnival Choreographers Ball, and HHII Dance Festival. MahKween has also produced his own choreography showcase REFLECT.
Meena Murugesan is a choreographer, dancer, and video artist based in Los Angeles. Meena creates experimental non-linear narratives with moving images at the intersection of live performance, video art, and activism. Rooted in the movement practices of bharata natyam, improvisation, and somatic bodywork, Meena centers ritual funk, Tamil folk, non-vedic, non-brahmin, melanated consciousness as an ethical and creative practice. Meena is currently dancing with taisha paggett/WXPT, and designing multi-channel video installations for live performance with choreographers Marjani Forte-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Embodiment Project, Lionel Popkin and others, and is working on two personal movement and video projects. www.meenamurugesan.com
Jillian Stein (b. 1982) is a Los Angeles based artist. Her artistic practice stems form the idea of the paradoxical body. Stein received an MA (2009) and her professional diploma for choreological studies and contemporary dance performance (2003) from the Laban Institute in London, UK. She graduated cume laude with a BFA from Arizona State University (2004). She has presented her own work at We Live In Space, Los Angeles, CA (2017), BAMPFA (2016), the Hammer Museum (2016), Pieter Performance Dance Space, Lincoln Heights, CA (2015), REDCAT Theater, Los Angeles, CA (2013), homeLA, Los Angeles, CA (2013), UCSD Gallery, Los Angeles CA (2011), the PLACE!, London, UK (2009) and LABAN theatre, London (2008). Her work has been included in exhibitions at L.A.C.E. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2012), the LASH, Los Angeles CA 2013, Top 40, Los Angeles CA (2014), and WOAH Los Angeles, CA (2013). She has performed for several artists including Silvia Palacios Whitman, Flora Wiegman, Simon Vincenzi, Alexandra Bellar, and was an original member of the Sunland Dancers, directed by James Kidd from 2013-2016. jilstein.tumblr.com/CV
Sadie Yarrington is a Los Angeles based performer, choreographer, director and educator. In 2011, she received a BFA in Dance and BS is Anthropology from the University of Michigan. She trained internationally with Oyu Oro Afro Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble (Cuba), Ballet Lab (Australia) and Buzz Dance Theater (Australia). Since moving to Los Angeles she has performed works by Dianne McIntyre, Stephan Koplowitz, Grace Phelan and Invertigo Dance Theatre. Her choreography has been presented at the American Theatre of Actors (NYC), Brand Library & Arts Center, Descanso Gardens and most recently during The Music Center’s Sleepless. Sadie is an avid educator and creates a safe space for students to discover their own connection to movement. She is on faculty at Inner-City Arts (DTLA) and New Roads School (Santa Monica), and teaches dance workshops to physically and neurologically diverse groups. Sadie’s most current work, “Muscle Memory”, explores how past experiences live, or can be triggered, in the body. As a choreographer in residence at We Live In Space she plans to engage the community in the development of the work, break the fourth wall and challenge her choreographic process.
The 2018-19 Residency Program is supported in part by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
photo credits:
Gayle Fekete – photo by photo by JonMarc Edwards
Meena Murugesan – photo by d. sabela grimes
Sadie Yarrington – photo by George Simian
Kara Mack – photo by Robert Atkins
James Mahkween – photo by Mathias Foley
DaEun Jung – photo by Ella Gabrial
Jillian Stein – photo courtesy the artist
Gayle Fekete – photo by photo by JonMarc Edwards
Meena Murugesan – photo by d. sabela grimes
Sadie Yarrington – photo by George Simian
Kara Mack – photo by Robert Atkins
James Mahkween – photo by Mathias Foley
DaEun Jung – photo by Ella Gabrial
Jillian Stein – photo courtesy the artist
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