Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 637
(upbeat music) - Welcome back in everyone to a fabulous new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. We have a great, great show in store for you today as we continue our journey into the fabulous world of dance here in New York City. Joining us today, we have the director of the CUNY Dance Initiative, Alyssa Alpine. She's joining us today to talk about just one of the many shows and companies that are working with the CUNY Dance Initiative, Tabula Rossa Dance Theater, and their upcoming presentation of Animus, Nacondi, and Ship of Fools. Now, those shows are being presented on September 20th and 21st at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College. And you can get tickets and more information about their shows and anything CUNY Dance Initiative by visiting cuny.edu/danceinitiative. We're really excited to be bringing you this organization and these shows as well. So let's not waste any more time. Let's go ahead and welcome on our guests. Alyssa, welcome into Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Thank you, Andrew. I am so happy you're here today. I'm so happy that we are talking about this great organization that you are the director of, the CUNY Dance Initiative. Before we dive into Tabula Rossa Dance's upcoming work, I wanna start by focusing on this initiative. So can you start by telling us a little bit about your organization? - Absolutely. So the CUNY Dance Initiative is housed within the public university system for New York City CUNY. And we work with 13 colleges across five boroughs. And the goal of the program is to provide New York City choreographers and dance companies with much re-needed rehearsal space and performance opportunities. These are things that are in short supply in New York City. They are beyond the reach of many independent choreographers. And so this program by taking spaces that are appropriate for dance on CUNY campuses that might be underutilized during part of the year, right? Like summer break or summer classes are very lightly scheduled. And that dance studio is in an air conditioned or heated building. And it is empty, not being used for much of the summer. So we do an open call for applications each year and we bring choreographers to these campuses to make use of space that otherwise might be sitting empty. At the same time, we also are very much cultivating new audiences for CUNY performing arts centers. And we are bringing artists to perform at CUNY stages. In tandem with this, which very much serves the New York City dance community, we also host master classes, guest lectures, connect CUNY students with these artists. And then we're also always keeping an eye on ticket prices to make sure that things are affordable for the CUNY communities and also of course the students themselves. That is the program in a nutshell. We started in 2014. So we are in our 10th year and we posted over 247 choreographers to date. - That is incredible. That is incredible. What a feat. And I'm curious to know, you know, you mentioned that the organization if I heard right was 10 years old, 2014, when you were founded. Were you with the group when it was originally founded? - So yes, I am the founding director of the program. I can't believe it's been 10 years. You know, cue the jokes about gray hair, et cetera. But that aside, it has been incredibly rewarding to build a program from scratch. There was a pilot that was done before my time and that was supported by the New York community trust. They gave us full funding to forge ahead and the pilot was done with four colleges. And so when I was hired, it was like, oh, let's just see if we can expand it a little bit. It would be great to work with like up to six colleges in the first two years. And so we did a call to the colleges to see who is interested. I believe there are 24 colleges in the system and, you know, not everyone has appropriate spaces for dance. Like the graduate center, for example, they have a small theater, but heavily used by them. So they don't have a lot of availability. But we got an overwhelming response. 10 colleges signed up the first year. So we were off to the races. We now work with 13 colleges and all five boroughs, plus three partner organizations outside arts organizations that we have cultivated to really support artists more thoroughly. But yes, I started the program 10 years ago. It has truly been a pleasure to grow it and really see the impact that it's had now over a decade. - That is incredible. That, thank you so much for creating something like this. This is wonderful. We need more things like this to continue to cultivate and take the arts into the next generation and in the future. So I'm very curious to ask, you kind of told us the origins of the CUNY Dance Initiative, but with you being the founding director of it, what has it been like developing the CUNY Dance Initiative? - I personally like taking an idea and building out a structure and also doing a little bit of like, what is it, throwing the spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks and like, what doesn't work? It's been a real learning curve, of course, because each CUNY college, not only are they located someplace and not, you know, in a very specific community, we work with a mix of community colleges, which are two year colleges and four year colleges. A few of them have a dance program as part of their academic offerings, but many of them don't. And so it's been a real challenge to think, okay, you know, for example, tabula rasa dance theater, is it the John Jay College of Criminal Justice? They do not have a dance program. There are students, there's a dance club, but you know, like they're not, we're not in a position where we can say, oh, we're just gonna bring in a guest choreographer, we'll teach a dance class and we've made a connection, isn't that great? So it's been so interesting for me to say, how do we create connections between these artists and their ideas and their projects and CUNY students? So in this instance, a work that has a strong social justice component aligns really well with the college and the theater that is part of the John Jay College. And so, you know, we're working on setting up guest lectures that are focused on social justice issues that are pertinent to what the company is performing, the death penalty and, you know, law and justice kind of topics. And I think it's just so important for CUNY students to have these conversations with artists that are, you know, not necessarily in an academic setting, but taking those ideas and seeing them transposed in a different discipline. - That's very fantastical, love it. Now, I do want to turn a little bit more to just one of the, I believe you said, 24 different companies that you collaborate, that you feature over this next, let's say season, which is Tabula Ross a dance. And I would love to know, I mean, first of all, how do you go about selecting the companies and the works that you are collaborating with? - So we do an open call for proposals every year. Typically held in the winter and the spring, we're on a season that is aligned with the CUNY academic calendar. So residencies run from July of one year, this year, July 1st of 2024 through June 30th of 2025. Our open call, I always think it's very much aligned with the CUNY ethos, right? It's the public university system. We want to have an open application process as well. So we do our call for applications and we allow whoever first to select colleges where they would like to have a residency. If someone doesn't want to go to the Bronx, we don't want to send them to the Bronx. So artists decide which of the 13 colleges they would be interested in having a residency at. And, you know, we try to provide some parameters so that people understand what shape that might take. I receive all of the applications, I do an initial pass and then I sort them by college and we send them out to be reviewed by a panel which is usually faculty and staff at each partner college. They get back to me with a short list of artists that they are interested in hosting. We go back and forth a little bit. There'll be some final interviews and conversations as part of the process. I always say, I am one voice at the table. This is not my curatorial vision at all. It is very much driven by the colleges that are hosting the artists because they know their students, they know their community, they know their ticket buyers, better than I can. Even after doing it for 10 years, they know their people and they know, oh, this artist would be really well aligned with this department and they're focusing on this this year. And those are things I just don't know since I am not embedded in each single, in every campus. So that's how the selection process works. And we typically host between 22 and 24 artists each year. - That is incredible. Like I said, the amount of artistry that you're amplifying is fabulous. So as I mentioned, the show that we're, or the company I should say, we're kind of focusing on a little is Tabula Rasa Dance, who's presenting these two new works, Animas, Nacondi and Ship of Fools, which is also in collaboration with Hispanic Heritage Month, I believe. So can you tell us a little bit about these two shows and what audiences might expect from them? - So Tabula Rasa is led by a choreographer who is from Mexico, Felipe Escalante. And he very much believes that dance and what you see on stage should really address pressing social issues of our times. And so Animas Nacondi tackles the issue of the death penalty. Obviously, he is taking it. So these are both world premieres, I should say. So I have not seen these pieces. These are both brand new pieces. But Animas Nacondi is really looking at the pain of families who have lost someone to the death penalty. And then Ship of Fools is a dance theater parable about the rise of authoritarian leaders worldwide. And I think we can all connect some dots on what that might look like. So there is two world premieres, which is, I would say also a really big deal for a relatively young company. He started this company in New York in 2018. And so to do two premieres is a lot in one evening. - Wow, these are two fantastic pieces. I'm really just about this. - There, we actually just launched a promo video as well. It's on our Instagram and then it's on our website to give, I think, audience is a sense of what the movement is like. It's super dynamic. He has incredible collaborators, you know, just for the stage look in terms of lighting and music. He has a really strong visual vision that isn't just the dance, that encompasses the entire stage craft, which to me is always the hallmark of a very talented choreographer. It's a lot to manage. As we sort of joke, people wear too many hats and that is surely the case, but he's wearing them well. - Well, I would also like to kind of tie that into the other 23 companies that you're working with. You know, what can audiences expect for the rest of the season? Would these other companies that you'll be featuring? - So, Tabula Rasa is the first show of the season. And we are celebrating our 10th year this year, as I mentioned earlier. And so our home base for the community dance initiative is the Copperberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. And on November 16th, we're featuring a double bill of two former community dance initiative residence artists. One is a flamenco company, Sonia Olga, and Ismael Fernandez, and the other is an Afro-Latin soul company led by Safa McMillar. And both of them are gonna future live music and dance. It should be a great evening. So those are the two things that are confirmed for the fall. I think the spring is going to be jam packed with performances for us. And the reason this works out often is that, you know, the artists start their residency in the fall, but they're not really ready to perform until the second half of the year. So January, February of 2025. We are definitely known, I think we've gotten a reputation for supporting flamenco artists, which since, if you're not particularly well versed in the dance world, you might not realize it percussive art forms tap and flamenco, they have shoes that can often leave marks on floors. And so it's particularly hard for these artists to find studio space, which was already in short, you know, in short supply for them to get studio space where they can basically work on the floor directly and not have to bring in a platform. It's particularly challenging. So because the number of the CUNYs, they have the facility to support flamenco. And I think they also have the audiences and the interests. So we're hosting another flamenco artist in February at LaGuardia performing arts center, Laura Peralta. It'll be a premiere from her as well. And what other highlights can I think of? Honestly, I'm just pulling together the calendar right now. CUNY started its classes last week. And so I think everyone's kind of coming back and really settling in and figuring out what they're doing for the next 10 months. - That's fabulous, that is fabulous. What a great variety though. This is exciting. All the more reason to go head over to the website to check out the calendar as it begins to be populated with these wonderful works. Now with all the great work that your initiative, the CUNY Dance Initiative is doing with all the, as I mentioned, the variety of styles and companies that you bring in, is there a message or a thought that you're hoping that audiences take away from these works? - So we support so many different kinds of dance. There's tap, there's flamenco, there's hip hop, there's other street styles, there's contemporary, there's ballet. So while I love to see repeat audiences at multiple shows, I don't necessarily expect it. And I think, you know, whoever goes to a show frequently on their home campus or in their community, I hope that when they go, especially if they don't know the artist, that they are excited to go back and see more dance, whether it's at that CUNY Performing Arts Center or it's someplace else. One of the real beauties of this program is that we're trying to connect artists with new audiences. So if we send someone, you know, to do a residency at Oestos Community College in the Bronx at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, that's a very different audience than they might encounter at Brute Performing Arts Center in the Flatiron District. And so I think for artists to have these audiences that are new to them is, I mean, that's how you build a career. That's how you build a professional, sustainable life in New York City. And we need audiences who appreciate dance and who want to go see dance. Yes, yes, that is the thought right there. Put that on a t-shirt somewhere, you know what I mean? Go see dance. Well, that leads to my final question for this first part. And I love that you continue to mention that this isn't just like a one spot focus, you know, initiative, it goes all over the boroughs of New York, especially as it's tied into CUNY University. Who are you hoping have access to not only CUNY Dance Initiative, but in particular to these works that you all are collaborating on, putting on? Many of our audiences are either students or people in the community, although, so one of my favorite, this is a little bit of a t-shirt, but one of my favorite things to do, you know, during an intermission or after a show, as I go to the women's room and I go to the bathroom and you get to hear, you know, candid conversations about where people are coming or from or what they thought of the show. And we had a great flamenco show at Hosto Center for the Arts last winter. And it was sold out and so I was just so curious, you know, who are these people? And, you know, I asked the performing arts center director, I was like, you know, are these all your ticket buyers? They just showed up, but he said a third of the ticket buyers were new. And when I was in the bathroom, there were women that were coming from Long Island, which is a journey to get to the Bronx. And, you know, I didn't ask them, like, how did you hear about the show? But they loved it. And I feel like, well, maybe they'll either go follow the company and see them someplace else, or they'll go back to Hosto Center for the Arts 'cause they're now in the mailing list and they like the show. And either of those things would be a win. But I digress a little bit 'cause you've had asked, you know, who do we hope goes? I do really think there is a value to having a performing arts center that you go to that's in your neighborhood that doesn't say, you know, I'm gonna get on a train for 45 minutes or an hour. That's great to go to Broadway or to Lincoln Center. I mean, that's one of the joys of living in New York City is that this stuff is available to you. But if you're not really in the performing arts circuit, I think there's a much better shot that you're gonna go hear that music concert or go to that dance performance that's maybe 10 minutes away. And I do this myself. I live in Brooklyn. I'm fortunate to be near the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I love walking to see a show that's 15 minutes from home. And I think that's something that many people enjoy. And it also just, you know, the ticket prices at most of these performing arts centers are, you know, within the reach of, I think, more people than some of the things that are in the heart of Manhattan. (upbeat music) - Well, on the second part of our interviews, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better, pull the curtain back, if you will. And I would love to start with our regular first question, which is what or who inspires you? What playwrights, composers or shows have inspired you in the past or just some of your favorites? And I do also wanna include, you know, what choreographers, this is a dance episode. So what choreographers or dance pieces have inspired you? - So I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna peel the curtain back for you. And so I grew up in the Midwest. I grew up in Wisconsin and I came to New York City to go to Columbia University. And I had largely trained in ballet before that, although I had discovered the big world of modern dance with Martha Graham, who is, you know, a legend in modern dance, but it was a whole new world to me. And so I came to New York City and I trained at the Graham School. And I just, I kind of fell in love with modern dance. And that shifted my understanding of what dance was and what it could be. It means that dance theater is something that I particularly find interesting. I went to go, you know, it's like it's New York City and you just have exposure to so much. And I remember going to see Pina Bausch's company and just being blown away by not only the dancing, but just the whole concept of the production, which, you know, not to knock the nutcracker or sleeping beauty, but it's just a very, very different experience through the Brooklyn sirens here. So that was where I came from personally. And I have been fortunate to work in arts administration. I like to joke that I have cleaned up way too many spills, both figuratively and literally because I think when you work in performing arts, you have to be ready to sort of get out the mop and do it yourself at times. That is the nature of working in the performing arts. I've also danced myself on the side quite a bit professionally, but I've always maintained a core career in arts administration in terms of things that inspire me. And, you know, keep me here, right? Keep me engaged with what is going on. I actually haven't seen much in the last month. It's been a quiet month, I think August. But, and I see a lot of our own shows, obviously. I think the things that, to me, always stand out, and this is a little bit of a shameless self promotion for the community dance initiative, we often are the first evening length show that is devoted to a choreographer's work. And sometimes they're really accomplished artists and they just haven't caught into a point at their career where this is an opportunity for them. And we hosted a residency again at Hostos this year for hip hop artist named Tweet Boogie. And I had connected with her during the pandemic. She was one of our resident artists and I don't know, we just had a connection and I loved working with her. So I was really excited to give her a show, a performance residency this spring at Hostos. And she pulled out the stops with an amazing show with truly an army of dancers. I mean, there must have been 50 people on stage. She has worked, I mean, she's worked for Janet Jackson, 50 Cent, I mean, her credits are extraordinary. And she has never had a show of her own. And it was in the Bronx, which was her home territory where she grew up, her family and friends were there. And it was also a fantastic show. And to me that, I mean, it came full circle in a very personal way for this choreographer, but it was also so special to see something of this caliber. Like she has a light, she has a light and it should be seen more than it is. And I hope we can support her with another residency down the road. But going to a show and not exactly knowing what it's gonna be and being blown away, it's one of the best things about my job and it's also one of the best things about living in New York City. - I love that list there. That is a fabulous list. Names that I am slowly growing familiar with, which I'm so happy, but that, oh, what a spectacular answer. I wanna snowball off of it because I would love to know, what is your favorite part about working in the performing arts? - Oh, of course, going to see the show and seeing it all come together is the heartwarming heart. This is really like performing our administration nerd stuff, but for all the listeners who have crafted email blasts using whatever management system, whether it's MailChimp or constant contact, et cetera, wow, do I love sending those emails out, seeing who's opening them and our open rates and our click through rates, like that warms my heart. We have like a 50% open rate. I'm gonna brag a little bit. And so to me, like building that email list and making content that's relevant to our audience is surprisingly exciting. Because you actually feel like you're reaching people and that people are paying attention and you're not just sort of like splatting out into the world and hoping someone is listening or paying attention or watching your video, et cetera. Always a little tricky to see like, how does that translate into ticket sales? But I feel like having people who are interested in what we're doing, it's a big, big step along the way. So I geek out a little bit on those statistics. What else, I just really like connecting with the artists. I work remotely much of the time and I travel around and I speak with the artists and I speak with the colleges. But it's really nice to have the one-on-one conversations with the choreographers about what they're working on, especially with the case of Tabula and Marasa, had a conversation with Felipe as we were working on a promotional video and some other materials to learn more about him and his work and where he's coming from. And it just feels like a really personal connection. And I feel like, you know, with 24 artists, I can do that over the course of a year. - I love that answer. That is so wonderful. I love the way you're trying to engage in audience as well. That's so fantastic. And now we've arrived at my favorite question to ask guests and of course that is what is your favorite theater memory or in this case, what's your favorite performing arts memory or dance memory? - Well, to see, I could tell you the story that my mother says about me when I was very young in an audience, which, you know, has its humor. Okay, so we host a lot of, you know, like work in progress, open rehearsals as part of our program. That's another way that we, you know, bring students into the work. And so often an artist will show an excerpt of what they've been working on and there's a moment for some back and forth in Q&A, et cetera. And I always love hearing what students ask. So this is the audience moment. So we had an artist working at Queens College and definitely more experimental dance theater. And she wanted to say she was German. So she had sort of that like dance theater background. And at the end of the piece, the performers, you know, was very much about like doing something that you didn't want to do. And so they picked up onions and they took a bite from the onion. And then of course, you know, there's a very real reaction to what happens if you choose to bite out of an onion, like you would an apple. And so it's a strong theatrical statement. Let's put it this way. So the students that were sitting in on the open rehearsal were from a very, from a class that was in the dance program, but it also satisfied a writing and literature component for their undergrad. So it's kind of like a 101. And it was using dance within the conversation about literature and writing. So, you know, it's like students that have not seen dance at all. There are students that are, you know, from an orthodox background, there are students that are from, I mean, truly going to Queens, especially I would say a lot of the Queens College students, it's just incredibly diverse. And so these students are like, oh my God, was that an onion? Was that a real onion? No, no, no, it was not a real onion, it was something else. And they were so drawn by this moment because it just seemed so real to them and it was. And it, you know, and then it sparked a whole conversation about like, you know, what do you do when there's something that you don't want to do, but you have to do it, et cetera. And, you know, like, I love listening to that. I love watching it unfurl. And I think it, you know, for the people that were there that wouldn't normally see dance, this was a very eye-opening experience for them. And I don't, you know, I can't hope for something better myself as a director of this program. - I love, thank you so, so much for sharing that. That was wonderful. Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know, are there any other projects, productions or anything coming on the pipeline for you or for CUNY Dance Initiative that we might be able to plug for you? - I will put in a shameless plug for our November 16th show, which is celebrating our 10th anniversary with, it's a double bill with live music and dance. Information about that is on our website. That is the big one as we look ahead for the next couple of months. And then I would say just, you know, if you want to join our email list, there's also information on the website how to do that. And then audiences will know what's coming up. We are definitely a platform for new choreographers, young choreographers, and so I think it can be really exciting to get someone near the beginning of their career. And, you know, see what the next generation of artists to put on stage? - Yes, yes. And that is it brilliant leading to my final question, which is if our listeners would like more information about the CUNY Dance Initiative, or about the first performance being the Mitabula Rossa Dance, or even you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you, how can they do so? - The best way to find out more information about the CUNY Dance Initiative is our website, which is www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative. We have a calendar of events on the website. There are profiles on all of the resident artists for this year, and going back to 2014 for anyone who wants to do an archive dive, and there's also information about how to contact me. - Ah, act. Well, Alyssa, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. This was so wonderful. I'm so glad that we've been put on to your wonderful organization, and I can't wait to see all, I want to see all 24 of these companies. This is just so exciting. This is such a-- - Great. - So-- - I will see you there. - Yes. My guest today has been the amazing director of the CUNY Dance Initiative, Alyssa Alpine, who joined us to talk about the CUNY Dance Initiative, as well as our upcoming first presentation of the year, the Tabula Ross Dance Theater's production of Animus, Naconda, and Ship of Fools. These two performances are happening September 20th and 21st at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, and you can get tickets and more information about these shows and the entirety of their upcoming season by visiting CUNY.edu/dance initiative. That's also a great place to contact Alyssa and the CUNY Dance Initiative, so we'll be listing that in the episode description, as well as on our social media posts, but coming out and join us to see Tabula Ross Dance Theater's Animus, Naconda, and Ship of Fools, as well as the other 23 amazing companies that CUNY Dance Initiative is presenting. The first set of shows is September 20th and 21st. And we also wanna add for our American listeners that election day is November 5th. Make sure you are registered to vote, have a plan to cast your ballot and do your democratic duty. You can find out how and where you can register to vote by visiting vote.gov. The future demands that we fight for it now. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies, and keep talking about the theater. In a stage whisper. - Thank you. (upbeat music) - If you like what you hear, please leave a five star review, like and subscribe. - You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at stagewhisperpod. - And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpod@gmail.com. - And be sure to check out our website for all things stage whisper and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets and more. Simply visit stagewhisperpod.com. Our theme song is Maniac by Jazzar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazzar and Billy Murray. You can also become a patron of our show by logging on to patreon.com/stagewhisperpod. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. Thank you so much for your generosity. We could not do this show without you. (upbeat music) ♪ Don't care anywhere near your town ♪ ♪ Makes me there ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]