Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo had the distinct honor of engaging in creative research and development as a member of the June retreat cohort at the Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, New York.
Kaatsbaan—meaning “playing field” in Dutch—is a 153-acre artist sanctuary situated along the Hudson River. Founded in 1990 with an initial focus on dance, the esteemed organization remains committed to supporting creative residencies in state-of-the-art facilities, fostering the incubation of cultural innovation and excellence across dance, theater, music, film, literature, culinary arts, and the visual arts.
There, Danielle and her collaborators—Kayla Farrish and Ingrid Kapteyn—had the pleasure of working alongside an intimate community of artists, writers, and scholars, many of whom were immersed in related research areas. She dedicated a significant portion of her time to advancing her research affiliated with her NYSCI award, supported by NYSCA and NYS DanceForce.
"It was a profound privilege to be a resident artist at Kaatsbaan—a place that deeply values the interplay of rigorous inquiry and creative process. Its temporal framework, immersive environment, and cross-disciplinary cohort fostered a fluid exchange between theory and practice, facilitating sustained experimentation and a return to my work with enhanced clarity, depth, and purpose. It was there that our creative research could simultaneously expand, deepen, and dissolve its own limits—leaving me grounded and ready to further engage the vulnerable aspects, stories, and subject matter at the heart of my work."
Danielle will continue this research in New York City over the summer and looks forward to working further with her collaborators at Cornell University in October.
To see more images of her rehearsal process at Kaatsbaan, visit @drpp.nyc on Instagram.
