The Wild Gather Program

PMA Dance & Performance Studies Faculty Present
the 2023/24 Choreographing Justice Series:

THE WILD GATHER: ON THE FLOOR, OFF THE SCREEN & THROUGH THE BODY

Thursday, November 30

7:30pm – 9:00pm:
SHARE IN/SHARE OUT:
END-OF-SEMESTER PMA DANCE SHOWCASE
Class of 56 Dance Studio Theatre

Friday, December 1
Back-to-Back Events!

7:30pm – 8:30pm:
ALL STYLE/FREE STYLE CYPHER
featuring Breaking and MC’ing by Legendary B-Girl
Ana ‘Rokafella’ Garcia and DJ’ing by DJ ha-MEEN.
The Flex Theatre

8:30pm – 9:30pm:
ARTIST TALK:
Ana ‘Rokafella’ Garcia in Conversation with
Ben Ortiz, Curator of the Cornell Hip Hop Collection
The Flex Theatre

Saturday, December 2
Three Events!

3:00pm – 4:30pm:
SHARE IN/SHARE OUT:
END-OF-SEMESTER PMA DANCE SHOWCASE
Class of 56 Dance Studio Theatre

7:30pm – 8:30pm:
HIP HOP DANCE ON SCREEN & FILM
co-presented by Dance Films Association
Film Forum

8:30pm – 9:30pm:
LESBIAN DANCE THEORY PARTY
co-presented by Dance Studies Association
The Flex Theatre

The vision of the Department of Performing and Media Arts is to nurture and mentor artists, performers, writers, and thinkers through the process of event programming. We recognize that all people should see their stories represented, and envision their stories as valuable.

We commit ourselves to creating spaces that actively seek to break down systems of oppression based on race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and place of origin and empower all to be involved. We seek to stimulate thoughtful discussion and enact social change within our productions and our audiences. It is our goal to make our events accessible to the wider Cornell and Ithaca community, to strengthen bonds and engage inquiry, dialogue, and impact around social and cultural change.

In the 2023-2024 academic year we will help realize a wide range of students’ creative projects, from original plays, to solo performances, to readings, to choreographies, to acting, directorial, and curatorial projects. We are particularly happy that in addition to supporting live performances, we are now also supporting the production of student films. Enjoy the shows!

Ana "Rokafella" Garcia is a NYC native who has represented women in Hip Hop dance professionally over the past three decades. She co-founded Full Circle Prod Inc, NYC's only nonprofit Hip hop Dance Theater company, with her husband Kwikstep, generating theater pieces, dance training programs, and NYC-based dance events with a particular focus on the cultural roots, the trajectory, and growth of the classic styles and how Hip Hop is interpreted globally and commercially. She directed a documentary highlighting the B-Girl lifestyle, entitled "All The Ladies Say," with support from Third World Newsreel and Bronx Council of the Arts. She is hired internationally to judge Break Dance competitions and to offer her unique workshops aimed at evolving and preserving its technique and cultural aspects. She has worked within the NYC public school system and various NYC-based community centers setting up programs that help expose young students to the possibility of a career in dance. In May of 2017, she launched “ShiRoka” — a t-shirt fashion line with Shiro, a Japanese Grafitti artist. She has been featured in pivotal Rap music videos, tours, film, fashion shows, and commercials including the NetFlix Series, “The Get Down.” Rokafella has choreographed for diverse festivals and concerts, such as The New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Firebird” in 2022, The Kennedy Center, Momma's Hip Hop Kitchen, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Branching out of her dance lane, she has also recorded original songs and poetry, and performed at NJPAC's Alternate Routes in Newark and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. She received the Joyce Award to collaborate with True Skool in Milwaukee and the American Dance Festival’s National Dance Teacher Award. Presently, she is an adjunct professor at The New School and a content creator for Bronx Net TV producing her own TV series entitled “Kwik2Rok”. Rokafella is a multi-faceted Afro Latin Hip Hop artist who references Nuyorican culture as her foundation. For more information, please visit larokasoul.com and fullcirclessouljahs.com.

Ben Ortiz, aka DJ ha-MEEN, is the Collection Specialist for the Cornell Hip Hop Collection (CHHC), which is part of Cornell University Library's Rare and Manuscript Collections division.  Ben's primary responsibilities include community outreach, teaching, curating exhibitions, and assisting researchers and community members with access to the collection.  Ben is also active in the local music scene, and can be found rocking dance floors everywhere.

Shawn Bible is the President of the Dance Films Association and an Executive Producer of the preeminent Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center. He is also moderator for the Dance Film Labs providing education to dance film makers and the filmmaker Q&A panels during the festival. Bible is the recent second-place winner of the Third Century Screens (3CS) videodance competition through the University of Michigan Bicentennial Committee. Bible's interest in dance and technology was also featured in "Bodies in Motion," a collaboration with Kingston University (UK) and the Amsterdam Conservetoire, in which dancers manipulated their environment through Wii controllers. Bible also utilized Kinect software in "Vivaldi's Four Season's in Dance", performed by Thodos Dance Chicago, in which the dancer’s movements manipulated the projections on the scrim in real-time. His videodance, “Dominique,” won a Rackham Film Festival award he received grant funding from Texas Tech University to produce, "CELL,” to highlight historic structures on campus. Bible’s videodance, “Moonplay,” was featured in the Sans Sousi Festival of Dance Cinema at the Contemporary Museum of Art in Boulder, Colorado. His recent animation, “VOID,” was featured in the #mydancefilm program in the Dance on Camera Festival 2020. Shawn has been on faculty at New York City institutions Peridance Capezio Center and Gibney Dance Center.  He has been a dance professor at Idaho State University, Texas Tech University, Grand Valley State University (as Head of Dance) and joined the faculty at Manhattanville College in 2016 and is a tenured Professor of Dance and former Chair of the Department of Dance & Theatre. In 2007, he founded shawnbibledanceco, a contemporary dance company that continues to present throughout New York City and internationally. For more information, please visit shawntbible.com.  

Olive Prince is a Visiting Lecturer in Dance at Cornell University and facilitated the Share In/Share Out: End-of-Semester PMA Dance Showcase. She is a movement-based artist, performer, and educator. Her work focuses on corporeal intuition and crafting dance in relationship to unique spaces, installation, objects, costuming, and other art forms. She has been commissioned to create dance for many Philadelphia companies and colleges including site-specific work in the Blackwell Library at William Smith College, the Philadelphia Museum of Arts, Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (a mosaic art garden), and the Iron Factory. Prince’s work has been presented at the International Night of the Singapore Youth Festival, Triskelion Arts Center (NYC), the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, the Live Arts Festival (PHL), the International Contemporary Dance Conference, and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival among others. Most recently, her work was featured in an interview on WHYY’s piece “Articulate with Jim Cotter” and she was 2023 recipient of NYS Choreographer’s Initiative Grant. As a veteran Philadelphia performer, she worked with Merian Soto, Silvana Cardell and Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers for over a decade. Olive Prince worked as an Assistant Teaching Professor in Dance at Drexel University and was the Director of Drexel's Dance Ensemble where she curated, produced, and created 4 performance experiences a year for 60+ dance students. These experiences included Sites of Dance (a walking tour of site-specific dance), Dance Films, and traditional dance concerts.

Danielle Russo is an Assistant Professor of the Practice (Dance & Critical Dance Studies) at Cornell University. Her creative and scholarly research concentrates on dance/performance and interactive technologies for unconventional ‘stages’ and environments, frequently in the public realm and through socially engaged praxes. As a choreographer, she has been presented nationally at the American Dance Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center for Performing Arts at Damrosch Park, The Oculus at the World Trade Center, and The Yard; and internationally in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Trinidad and Tobago. Residency and fellowship awards have included C.N.N. - Ballet de Lorraine (FR), Danscentrum Jette (BE), Nadine Laboratory for the Contemporary Arts (BE), Independent Artists Initiative WUK (AT), Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation (US), LEIMAY (US), Mana Contemporary (US), Performing Arts Forum (FR), and Springboard Danse Montréal (CA), among others. She is a multi-year grant recipient of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Carnegie, Dance/NYC, Harkness Foundation for Dance, One Brooklyn Fund, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Additional highlights include Armory Arts Week, Julian Schnabel’s Casa del Popolo, Governors Island, HERE Arts Center, The High Line Nine, La MaMA (fabNYC), LMCC River to River, Moynihan Station, National Academy for Performing Arts (POS), Place des Arts, and Solange Knowles’s Saint Heron, to name a few. Driven by social and civic impact, she has been creative placemaking and producing large-scale performances and experiential artwork in architectural, historical, and politically-charged settings since founding Danielle Russo Performance Project/DRPP in 2010 (drpp.nyc). With an emphasis on the intersection of local arts and public access, DRPP aims to bridge existing gaps between live arts curation and the larger, multi-cultural milieu that is New York City–its homebase. Outside of her own devising, Russo danced with The Metropolitan Opera for several seasons. Prior to arriving at Cornell, she was faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, CUNY Queens College, University of Iowa, and The Joffrey Ballet School BFA and Professional Divisions. Most recently, she was awarded Cornell’s Arthur C. and Molly Phelps Bean Faculty Fellowship.

Juan Manuel Aldape Muñoz, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. His research is at the intersection of performance studies, illegality and citizenship, borderlands studies, critical phenomenology, and critical dance studies. He is an interdisciplinary scholar with a research and teaching focus on creative ethnography and (Afro)Latinx/Latin American undocumented cultural production. In addition to writing about performance’s role in transforming society and ideas of citizenship, he is a choreographer whose work has been presented internationally. He was formerly the Managing Director of the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers in San Francisco. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Dance Studies Association. His research has been published in peer-reviewed and public journals, as well as in performance-related anthologies. He likes to bake donuts and enjoy warm rooibos tea, especially when it gets cold outside.

THE WILD GATHER is a 3-day call to move, honor, and celebrate the living lineages of Hip Hop dance and breaking. As part of Cornell’s yearlong mission for Freedom of Expression and in tribute of the 50-Year Anniversary of Hip Hop, PMA welcomes legendary B-Girl Rokafella for a PMA student showcase, All Style/Free Style Cypher, film screening, and more.
In collaboration with the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, the international Dance Films Association and Dance Studies Association, and Ithaca High School’s Creatives of Color, movers and shakers of all styles and traditions are invited to this participate in this multi-event series commemorating the original ‘Wild Style’—graffiti, MCing, DJing, and breaking. Together, we uphold and put to practice the founding values of Hip Hop: social justice, peace, respect, self-worth, self-authorship, understanding, community, and having fun. THE WILD GATHER is an open floor and forum for ALL to see and to be seen, and to hear and to be heard.

THE CHOREOGRAPHING JUSTICE SERIES is a yearlong programming of guest artist talks, curricular & extracurricular workshops, symposia, and live and multimedia performances helping us think and move in more just ways. How does the art and act of dance serve as a powerful model for social activism, civil disobedience, and community mobilization? The series features artists who employ/deploy dance and movement to disrupt, revolutionize, and reshape issues linked to racism, sexism, anti-intellectualism, and anti-LGBTQ2S laws. From bachata to breaking to tap, the series centers the dancing body as a site of healing, empowerment, spiritual conjure, and resistance to systemic injustices and erasures. The programming is united in identifying and promoting choreographic thinking and practice as critical to being politically engaged—of moving with a cause.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Class of 56 Dance Studio Theatre

Featuring the work of PMA Dance Students in Beginning Dance Composition, Dance in America: Cultures, Identities, and Fabrication, Dance Improvisation, Dance Technique III – Classical, and Global Dance I.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Flex Theatre

Featuring Breaking and MC’ing by Legendary B-Girl Ana “Rokafella” Garcia with DJ-ing by DJ ha-MEEN. Come see and be seen.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Flex Theatre

Ana “Rokafella” Garcia in conversation with Ben Ortiz, Curator of the Cornell Hip Hop Collection.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Film Forum

Screenings by Dance Films Association.

All The Ladies Say. Directed and produced by Ana “Rokafella” Garcia, 2010, New York, 45m.
All The Ladies Say was screened at the Dance on Camera Festival in 2011.

The Cell. Directed by Po Cheng Tsai and Meng Hsueh Ho, 2022, Taiwan, 22m.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Flex Theatre

Part dance party, part celebration of lesbian dance theory - and as a resistance to current attacks on academic freedom. “Lesbian dance theory” is both a specific thing and an umbrella frame for the interlinked, anti-oppression of LGBTQIA+ people and ideas. In partnership with Dance Studies Association, a party for lesbian dance theory is also and always a party for queer communities of color and a critique of how whiteness polices dancing bodies and academic spaces.

CORNELL HIP HOP COLLECTION (CHHC) collects and makes accessible the historical artifacts of Hip Hop culture to ensure their preservation for future generations. Established in 2007, the CHHC preserves more than 250,000 items across dozens of archives documenting the origins of Hip Hop culture and its spread around the globe. Open to the public in Cornell Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, its archives include thousands of sound and video recordings, hundreds of party and event flyers, artwork, photographs, books, magazines, and advertising, along with the archives of Hip Hop’s photographers, filmmakers, dancers, MC’s, DJ’s, artists, journalists, producers and publicists, and independent labels, managers and agencies.

ITHACA HIGH SCHOOL’S CREATIVES OF COLOR includes Naomi Barrett, Daniel Barrett Jr., Kaian Browne, Candace Butler, Angelina Cunningham, Johnae Davis, Denae Lawhorn, Cesar Marte, Erica Sellers, Essence Sellers, Olivia Orinda, Erica Sellers, and Essence Sellers, with mentorship from Jesse Wright.

DANCE FILMS ASSOCIATION is the catalyst for the production, presentation, and preservation of dance on camera. Founded in 1951, it is dedicated to furthering the art of dance film by connecting artists and organizations, fostering new works for new audiences, and sharing essential resources. It invests in filmmakers whose work features movement and dance to create films that are deserving of more attention. Supporting these artists to develop their skills and bringing their work to broader recognition serves to enhance both forms, especially at this time of rapidly evolving technology and cinematic tools. For more information, please visit dancefilms.org.

DANCE STUDIES ASSOCIATION (DSA) advances innovative analyses of dance by promoting diverse approaches and a globally inclusive, respectful dialogue in the dance field and various related disciplines. It advances the field of dance studies through research, publication, performance, and outreach to audiences across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. For more information, please visit dancestudiesassociation.org.

THE WILD GATHER would not be possible without the support of our collaborators and community. We are grateful for the generous contributions of our distinguished guest Ana “Rokafella” Garcia, Ben Ortiz and the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, Shawn Bible and the Dance Films Association, the Dance Studies Association, and Jesse Wright and Ithaca High School’s Creatives of Color. Thank you to PMA Interim Chair Dr. Samantha N. Sheppard, and the department’s tremendous staff and production team. We also extend our sincere appreciation to Cheryl Whaley and Eric Aboaf for their instrumental patronage of our dance and performance programming at PMA, as well as the trust and investment of President Martha Pollack and the Office of the Dean for the 2023/24 Choreographing Justice Series with the Freedom of Expression Initiative. And, of course, thank you to our students, whose hearts and visions are at the center of what we do and why we do it.

1610 Technical Production Lab: Aisosa Aigbe, Bailey Hecht, Charlotte Hee, Leah Ingalls, Davis Ouriel, Kat Petrosky, Amara Valerio, Nianhui Yang, Tracy Zeng

Scene Shop Work-Study: Arianna Josue, Julianna Lee, Benjamin Okoronkwo

Electrics Work-Study: Andrew Lewis

Costume First Hands: Bella Peters, Ana Mocklar, Izzy Berkenblit, Sharyn Schweitzer

Head House Managers: Idey Abdi, Safiyyah Franklin
House/Building Managers:   Kenneth Choi, Kene Chukwuma-Orakwe, Mari-Christina Clark, Evan Dickinson, Jack McManus, Jessica Pedro-Pascual, Ethan Sarpong, Matthew Saylor

PRODUCTION STAFF
Production Manager: Andrew Deppen
Technical Director: Fritz Bernstein
Assistant Technical Director: Savannah Relos
Props & Paint Coordinator: Tim Ostrander
Costume Shop Supervisor: Lisa Boquist
Lighting & Video Supervisor: Michael Garrett
Media Assistant: Randy Hendricken
Computer Support: Chris Christensen
Communications Manager:  Youngsun Palmer
Department Manager: Christopher Riley