2024 Spring Season Family Matinee by New York Live Arts

The performance is approximately 60 minutes with pauses in between each piece. No intermission.

PROGRAM

Unorthodox

Premiere 2020

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman in collaboration with ARD Dancers

Composed by Stefania de Kenessey

Lighting Design by Alexandra Vásquez Dheming Length: 9 minutes

With an original score inspired by the drive and tradition of Klezmer music from composer Stefania de Kenessey, the work juxtaposes raw realness with the polite versions of ourselves we portray to the world. What happens when you unzip the dress to breathe? The title is inspired by a book of the same name about a woman who leaves a strict Hasidic sect.

(Un)Coupled (Excerpt)

World Premiere

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman in collaboration with ARD Dancers

Composed and performed by Stefania de Kenessey

Costumes by Gabrielle Corrigan

Lighting Design by Alexandra Vásquez Dheming

Length: 18 minutes

ARD’s newest piece explores the raw, poignant journey of uncoupling. While societal norms pressure partnership, this piece explores the aspects of yourself that are discovered and rediscovered when a partnership ends.

Variations on a Box

Premiere 2016

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman in collaboration with ARD Company

Composed by David Homan

Costumes by Mondo Morales

Lighting Design by Marika Kent, Reinterpreted by Alexandra Vásquez Dheming Length: 12 minutes

Variations on a Box drives the full company of dancers to explore the constraints of shape and sound. A living puzzle with dynamic patterning, athletic group interactions and balanced by a connected group of dancers.

Interactive Workshop

After a short performance by Ariel Rivka Dance, families are invited to explore their creative side by getting on stage with the dancers. We will warm up our bodies and learn some movements from Variations on a Box.

Rivka Dance was founded in 2008 by Ariel sman. An all-female contemporary any with a mission to champion female ives through original choreography, missioned music, and family and ational programming. The company es a community of vulnerability and ptance through movement, providing rtunities for hope and connection.

Ariel Rebecca (Rivka) Grossman As a native New Yorker, Ariel Grossman trained at LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts, and the Joffrey Ballet School under the direction of Gerald Arpino. She earned a B.S. in Dance and a Minor in Women’s Studies from Skidmore College and holds a Master in Early Childhood Education. Ariel Grossman received a 2023 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Ariel draws inspiration from the struggles and joys of the human experience, particularly through being a woman and mother — molding pieces that are striking, evocative, and multi-layered.

Ariel’s choreography was honored in 2023 at the Ballet Vero Beach Tastemakers Season. She has been commissioned by Nickerson Rossi Dance, Konverjdans, Ballet Vero Beach, Skidmore College, and more. Her work has been presented internationally, including BAM Fisher, Bryant Park, Detroit Film Institute, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York Live Arts, and in Turkey, France, and Israel. Awards include Dance/NYC, Jersey City Arts Council, Princeton Area Community Foundation, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She was named a New Jersey Performing Arts Center (New) Moves Fellow, a Dance Lab NY NexusLab Resident, Mana Contemporary and Nimbus Arts Center artist in residence.

DANCERS

Amy Ashley acquired a passion for movement from a young age through ballet, before stepping into modern, jazz, and contemporary forms under the mentorship of master teacher Tracey Durbin. An Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program graduate, her performance career has been a blend of collaborative projects and freelance work, spanning musical theater, film, and concert dance. In New York City she collaborates with Allyson Ross/Southern Belle Stories and Disagreeable Creatures Collective, and teaches throughout the tri-state area. Amy became a faculty member at Mark Morris Dance Center in 2021, and is the lead teacher for ARD’s growing education programing.

Asia Bonilla originally from Trabuco Canyon, CA, graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program with a major in Dance and a minor in Mathematics. She has performed internationally at the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Rudolfinum Concert Hall in the Czech Republic and danced with Awaken Dance Theater, VISIONS Contemporary Ballet, BHdos (the 2nd company of Ballet Hispánico), and Alison Cook-Beatty Dance. She has performed works by choreographers Alvin Ailey, Robert Battle, Michelle Manzanales, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Jacqulyn Buglisi among others. She has also taught dance outreach in Nicaragua, NYC, and virtually with JUNTOS Collective, and is currently on the ballet faculty of Dance Project of Washington Heights.

Abriona Cherry is a native of Southern Maryland. She trained at a variety of local studios as well as the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC and the Dance Theatre of Harlem Pre Professional Residency at Duke Ellington. Abriona graduated from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program with majors in Dance and International Humanitarian Studies. She has performed works by Alvin Ailey and Arthur Mitchell and worked with choreographers such as Robert Battle, Virginia Johnson, Amy Hall Garner, Adam Baruch, Tanya Chianese, and Chuck Wilt. She has performed and taught dance outreach both nationally and internationally through the JUNTOS Collective. She currently dances professionally in New York with Vashti Dance Theatre and Ariel Rivka Dance.

Kristin Licata is from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program. She performed classics by Alvin Ailey and Joyce Trisler and worked with Robert Battle, Sean Curran, William Forsyth, and Elisa Monte. After graduation, she danced with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II, Felice Lesser Dance Theater, Regina Nejman and Company, Tamara Saari, Dance, Yuka Kawazu/Danse En L'air, Vabang!and Vox Luminere. Recently, she worked in the creative process with Chanel DaSilva, Maria Naidu and Michael Spencer Phillips. Touring internationally in Brazil, Greece, and Poland, Kristin currently dances with Covenant Ballet Theater, Matthew Westerby Company, and Valerie Green Dance Entropy, as well as being an ABT® certified teacher, teaching ballet and modern throughout NYC.

Casie Marie O'Kane originally from Northern Virginia, attended the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program in San Francisco, California from 2010-2012. While in the training program, Casie worked closely with Alonzo King, David Harvey, Maurya Kerr, Christian Burns, and Karah Abiog. Since moving to New York in 2012 she has worked with Sidra Bell, Erin Carlisle Norton, Maruya Kerr, Jennifer Archibald, Yoshito Sakuraba and Karol Armitage. She has a B.S. in Public Affairs from Baruch College and completed her 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2018. Casie joined Ariel Rivka Dance in 2014.

Kyleigh Sackandy holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase College and an MS in Dance/Movement Therapy from Sarah Lawrence College. She has performed professionally in New York with SYREN Modern Dance, NuDance Theater, Beth Liebowitz & Artists, Indah Walsh Dance Company, and Catherine Galasso among others. She has also choreographed and performed internationally in Taiwan, Japan, Spain, and Canada. Kyleigh currently teaches dance in New York and is a dance/movement therapist for children with developmental disabilities and who have experienced trauma.

Hana Ginsburg Tirosh holds a BA in Education Policy from Princeton University and an MFA in Dance Performance and Teaching from Purchase College, SUNY. Currently a member of Ariel Rivka Dance, Matthew Westerby Company and Kaleidoscope Dance Theatre, she has also performed with Mark Dendy Dancetheater, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater, Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, Riedel Dance Theater, Yuka Kawazu/Danse En L’air, Tamara Saari Dance, Lane & Co, KDNY and Amy Marshall among others. She was a founding member of 360° Dance Company, serving as a dancer, General Manager, Board Member and Rehearsal Director from 2006-2014. Hana is the New York City Director for the New York Institute of Dance and Education, and her most perfect creations are her three sons, Orin, Arlin and Zahavi.

Caitlyn Casson originally from Philadelphia, graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of South Florida, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance and a minor in Psychology. She has performed repertoire by distinguished artists Bill T. Jones, Doug Varone and Talley Beatty. Casson’s desire for internationally diverse, artistic endeavors has taken her across the globe to perform and teach. Since 2013, she has been working as an international dance trainer with MindLeaps to Eastern Europe and Africa. Most recently she performed at the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Kigali, Rwanda. In New York City, Caitlyn spends her time teaching yoga and dancing with Matthew WesterbyCompany, Dance Entropy and Ariel Rivka Dance. Stefania de Kenessey is active in a wide variety of genres. Her opera adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s best-selling novel “Bonfire of the Vanities” premiered in New York City in 2015 to considerable acclaim: “melodically ingratiating…skillfully wrought…caustically witty” (Financial Times); “Stefania de Kenessey’s musical setting was, unlike a lot of contemporary opera, tuneful and grateful to the voice” (The Observer). Her instrumental and vocal music has been performed extensively in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Joe’s Pub, LaMama, and New York Live Arts. Premieres in 2018-2019 featured her (mostly) humorous cabaret songbook, The WellTempered Woman, for which she wrote both music and lyrics, as well as

COLLABORATORS

She, her first purely electronic score for Ariel Rivka Dance.The latter marked the beginning of an ongoing and happy collaboration with choreographer Ariel Grossman, which in 2019 led to Rhapsody in K (co-composed with David Homan) as well as Mossy – with more to come. Trained at Yale and Princeton, de Kenessey is steadfastly committed to honoring women composers and is the founding president of the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Gabrielle Corrigan is a Costume Designer, Wardrobe Manager, and Dancer based in New York City. Currently, Gabrielle is the Head Costume Designer/Coordinator of Dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and also freelances as a costumer for dance organizations across the city. Gabrielle received her degree in Dance from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program where she also studied Fashion, and began working in costuming. As a BFA student she performed works by Yoshito Sakuraba, Adam Barruch, Yusha MarieSorzano, and Robert Battle. At Marymount Manhattan College she has had the pleasure of designing costumes for Darshan Bhuller, Netta Yerushalmy, Jenn Freeman, Cameron Mckinney, Caleb Teicher, and others. In her freelancing Gabrielle has most recently worked with the Limon Dance Company, Thryn Saxon, Syren Dance Company, and FiveTwo Dance. Gabrielle is honored to participate in her first collaboration with Ariel Rivka Dance for (Un)Coupled.

Alexandra Vásquez Dheming is a Salvadoran Lighting Designer and Production Manager based in Queens, NYC. Collaborators include Big Dance Theater, SLM Dances, Nélida Tirado, Calpulli Mexican Dance, New York Theatre Ballet, Trusty Sidekick, Gay Men's Chorus. Her work has been seen nationally (Lincoln Center, Jacob's Pillow, Park Avenue Armory, Guggenheim Museum, Baryshnikov Arts Center, CPR, PSNY, the Highline, BAM, Rattlesticks, Skirball, Kaufman Music Center, NYLA, Museo del Barrio, New England Conservatory of Music, Theatreworks, LA Public Libraries, Savannah Stopover Festival, Works and Process, Boston Celebrity Series, Festival Flamenco Albuquerque), and internationally (København Danser, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Cannes Film Festival, Oceania Cruises). She was commissioned artist for the Park Avenue Armory's Sound & Color: The Future of Race in Design Symposium (2023); Performance Space New York’s “Arts Workers are Artists Too” (2024).