 by Francesca Harper, music by Nona Hendryx

Existing as a film commissioned by ARRAY’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP) and a live performance that premiered in 2022 at Works & Process at the Guggenheim, 

 is choreographer and director Francesca Harper’s response to the 2010 killing of 7-year-old Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones at the hands of Detroit law enforcement. In collaboration with composer Nona Hendryx, Harper has created an expressive historical record of injustice as she explores the relationship between erasure and commodification in the media's coverage of brutality against bodies of color. Dancers from FHP Collective perform in costumes by Elias Gurrola. Margo Jefferson will moderate a discussion with Harper and Hendryx.

For many young New York City artists, the rambunctious dance tradition of showtime on the subway is their best opportunity to perform in front of a live audience. In tandem with the renegade act of public dance is always the possibility of confrontation and arrest, risks that performer/documentarian Kash Gaines’s cast of artists know all too well. At this in-process sharing of Kash's new project 

, commissioned by Works & Process, you'll hear intimate stories of dancers' perilous encounters with law enforcement inside and outside the MTA system and see the craft they’ve honed performing on the city's biggest stage. This performance offers proof that these uncaged birds truly can fly.

 was commissioned by ARRAY's Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP), a propulsive fund dedicated to empowering activists to disrupt the code of silence that exists around police aggression and misconduct. The development of the live performance of 

 was supported by and developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bethany Arts Community (2022, 2023, and 2024) with the collaboration of Gabri Christa and the Movement Lab at Barnard College.

 was commissioned by Works & Process, and developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bethany Arts Community (2023 and 2024) and Bridge Street Theatre (2023), and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency).

by Francesca Harper with music by Nona Hendryx at Works & Process at the Guggenheim, March 11, 2023. Photo: Titus Ogilvie-Laing; right: 

 in-process showing at Works & Process at Lincoln Center, April 24, 2023. Photo: Lafotographeuse

Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival at the Guggenheim

 is an unapologetic celebration of the prolific power of Black American artistry with Jazz as its center. Barnes reaches back nearly 100 years, connecting dances that sprang from America’s Black Jazz music to dance and music expressions of today such as House, Vogue, Lindy Hop, Hip-Hop, Hand Dances, Line Dances and more! Performed by an all Black, intergenerational cast of dancers and musicians, 

 is also a celebration of community and collaboration. Each performer investigates their personal relationship to Jazz as they explore imaginings of its inspirations and reapplications.

 was commissioned by Works & Process and developed in a Works & Process bubble residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation (2021) made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Works & Process on Tour

The Missing Element with The Beatbox House / LayeRhythm

18 Mt. Morris Park West, New York, NY 10027

—a fusion of beatbox and street dance originally commissioned to adapt the cipher to the circular architecture of the Guggenheim—dancers embody the elements of wind, fire, water, and earth in an effort to inspire the spirit and recovery of New York, set to the percussive stylings of NYC beatbox crew The Beatbox House. They’re joined by LayeRhythm, a non-profit arts group led by Mai Lê Hô that celebrates the vibrancy of street and club dance culture through a mix of freestyle dance, live music, and audience interaction. This show is a part of our season-long partnership with independent performing arts organization Works & Process.

This show will feature a special performance in collaboration with Works & Process. As part of this partnership, this season at SummerStage Ladies of Hip-Hop will perform at various shows. Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective (LDC) is an all-female intergenerational dance collective that creates dance works illuminating the strength, power and diversity of women in Hip-Hop.

This SummerStage dance performance is supported by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

 was commissioned by Works & Process and has been developed in Works & Process Bubble and LaunchPAD residencies at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (2020 and 2021), made possible in part through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable, and Catskill Mountain Foundation (2023). Past performances have taken place at the Guggenheim Museum, Guild Hall, Jacob’s Pillow Gala, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Little Island, NY PopsUp with Amy Schumer, and very recently at the Guggenheim Bilbao’s 25th Anniversary. The project started its life in renowned Brooklyn nightclub House of Yes.

Works & Process at SummerStage

Bethany Arts Community: House Dance Workshop & Artist Talk with Mai Lê Hô, LayeRhythm

Limited space available, registration required.

This class starts with a warm-up. We then learn some basics of house dance. To digest and fully integrate this vocabulary, we practice freestyle and/or choreography through game-based exercises and exchanges. The class is designed to connect movement with music and history, to provide tools for creativity and individuality.

This event is a Residency Community Program.

 As part of a residency at BAC, we ask each artist to build and facilitate a Community Program. Community Programs are a unique opportunity for both artists-in-residence and our local community to gather, engage, and be in conversation with one another through art. Community Programs are free engagements open to the public and/or in collaboration with a local community partner.


Mai Lê is a French-Vietnamese street/club dance artist & educator, curator, and the founder of LayeRhythm Productions INC, a NYC-based non-profit organization dedicated to highlighting freestyle voices in the performing arts landscape.

In 2015, Mai Lê created LayeRhythm, a cutting­ edge monthly jam session that layers live musicians & vocalists with freestyle dancers, acclaimed by the New York Times (2018). Since then, the project has been presented at venues/festivals such as the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, SummerStage, 92NY, National Dance Institute, NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, Gibney, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Church (Sag Harbor), Jacob’s Pillow (MA), Catskill Mountain Foundation, Bridge Street Theater.

From 2017 to 2019, Mai Lê was the Program Director of It’s Showtime NYC!, a City-funded program that celebrates NYC street culture and provides performance and professional development opportunities to street and subway dancers. She also toured Europe with seminal Detroit music producer Theo Parrish and his live band in 2014.

Mai Lê has won 1st place in various international house dance competitions such as Ladies of Hip-Hop (NYC, 2015), Universole (Detroit, 2015), Step Ya Game Up (NYC, 2013) and has served a judge for Footwork Frenzy (2022), House Dance UK (London, 2015), Slick City (Chicago, 2015), The Blueprint (Houston, 2013). She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance at Hunter College, and has taught house dance workshops in Brazil, Vietnam, Japan, DRC, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and throughout the US.


Works & Process LaunchPAD

with Michael Benjamin Washington and Ameya Marie Okamoto

Be the first to see Caleb Teicher’s performance-presentation exploring the range of relationships that take place in theaters between artists and audiences. Guest performers fill in the blanks with visuals by interdisciplinary artist Ameya Marie Okamoto and script/concept development in partnership with Michael Benjamin Washington.

 was developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bridge Street Theatre (2023) and ArtYard (2024).

Works & Process at the Guggenheim

Join choreographer Lar Lubovitch in a conversation moderated by Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, exploring his creative process, which spans six decades of work his profound influence and contribution to dance; and the stories behind his iconic works. Archival materials from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Lubovitch’s own archives will be woven into the event, creating an insightful and inspiring tribute to one of dance’s most cherished luminaries.

. Featuring Lar Lubovitch company dancers. Photo: Jack Mitchell

Works & Process at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Williams Center for the Arts - Ephrat Asherie Dance: 

Ephrat Asherie’s “movement phrases—compact bursts of choreography with rapid-fire changes in rhythm and gestural articulation—bubble up and dissipate, quickly paving the way for something new” (

). Her fun, lively company’s performance of 

 serves as a living archive of five generations of New York City club dancers. It’s an exhilarating journey through deeply personal histories; rarely seen archival footage; a vast musical landscape including funk, disco, and house; and decades of dancing through the culturally reflective styles of breaking, hip hop, house, vogue, waacking, and hustle.

“UNDERSCORED” was developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Catskill Mountain Foundation (2022), Bridge Street Theatre (2021), Kaatsbaan (2020), and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Additional residency support provided by CUNY Dance Initiative, Lumberyard, and The Yard. Past performances have taken place at Harlem Stage, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum, The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts, and The Yard. 

"UNDERSCORED" was made possible by the NEFA’s National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Mellon Foundation. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the APAP - Association of Performing Arts Professionals for a residency at The Jay and Linda Grunin Center, made possible through support from the Mellon Foundation. “UNDERSCORED” is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Works & Process in partnership with ArtPower at UC San Diego, The Momentary and The Yard. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency).

 by Isaac Mizrahi and Nico Muhly, Dance Heginbotham and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect conducted by Michael P. Atkinson

Since 2007, Works & Process has produced sold-out performances of Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic 

 directed and narrated by Isaac Mizrahi. After over one hundred performances, Mizrahi was inspired to create an homage to this iconic work, and during the pandemic Works & Process commissioned 

. Highlighting a cast of eight—including a flying bluebird, a swimming duck, and a running ostrich—danced by Dance Heginbotham, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and conducted by Michael P. Atkinson, 

 celebrates each individual’s unique strengths.

No matter how tall or small, everyone needs a ticket.

 was developed in a Works & Process bubble residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation in spring 2021 with the support from the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation. 

 also received a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency in winter 2021 at The Church in Sag Harbor.

Mask-wearing and COVID-19 vaccination are 

no longer required but are strongly recommended

Priority tickets for the fall 2023 performance series will go on sale online at 11 am on Friday, August 18, for $500+ Friends of Works & Process and all Guggenheim members at the Global level and above.

General ticketing will open online on Tuesday, August 22, at 11 am.

For questions, Friends of Works & Process should email friends@worksandprocess.org. Guggenheim members, please email membership@guggenheim.org. For general ticketing questions, please email boxoffice@guggenheim.org.

Tickets are available for purchase online only.

House seats may be available for $1,000+ Friends of Works & Process. To purchase house seats, email friends@worksandprocess.org.

House seats may be released to the public before performances.

 by Isaac Mizrahi, Nico Muhly, and John Heginbotham, commissioned by Works & Process, June 2022. Featuring Lindsey Jones, Norton Owen, Derrick Arthur, Brian Lawson, Marjorie Folkman, and Christine Flores. Photo: David Andrako

Produced by The Bearded Ladies Cabaret with Emily Schreiner
Rolling World Premiere with Woolly Mammoth, CulturalDC, & La MaMa ETC
From a commission by Works & Process at the Guggenheim

A true story of gender cannibalism set to music.

Once upon a vine, John Jarboe’s aunt revealed that John not only had a twin sister in the womb, but that John consumed her: “You ate her. That’s why you are the way you are.” This was a lot for John to swallow! In this musical shrine to the consumed twin, named Rose, John welcomes guests into a feast of gender through song, storytelling, and a full plate of wordplay. Featuring all original music written in collaboration with Emily Bate, Daniel de Jesús, Pax Ressler, and Be Steadwell.

"Rose: You Are Who You Eat" was developed during the fall of 2020 in a Works & Process bubble residency at Mount Tremper Arts, and immediately before the performance at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on June 20, 2021, in a Works & Process bubble residency at Bethany Arts Community, made possible by the Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Join The Momentary at the RØDE House for a lively weekend of breaking, hip-hop, house, and vogue with Ephrat Asherie Dance! With three opportunities to catch this incredible performance, mark your calendar for an experience of a lifetime.

 acts as a living archive of five generations of NYC club dancers that showcases a collaboration of performers ranging in age from 28 to 80, celebrating and investigating their connections from the club scenes of the 1970s–like the Loft Party and the Paradise Garage–until today. 

 features EAD ensemble members and three NYC club legends- Archie Burnett, Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune, and Michele Saunders.

Experience an exhilarating journey through deeply personal histories, rarely seen archival footage, a vast musical landscape (including funk, disco, house), and decades of dancing through the culturally reflective styles of breaking, hip-hop, house, vogue, waacking, and hustle.

 is a reminder of how essential it is to connect to one another. Come for the show, stay for the party— This will be a night of dance you don’t want to miss!

A Tribute to Jacques d’Amboise, with dancers from New York City Ballet

 Orpheum Performing Arts Center, 6050 Main Street, Village of Tannersville

For seven decades, dance icon and New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d’Amboise called Hunter, NY home. He served on the board of the Catskill Mountain Foundation and each summer the National Dance Institute, an organization he founded, came to the Orpheum Performing Arts Center providing educational programs enriching the lives of so many young people in our community.

Catskill Mountain Foundation in partnership with Works & Process pays tribute to this dance legend and beloved community member with a program featuring stars from New York City Ballet including principals Adrian Danchig-Waring, Unity Phelan, Emilie Gerrity, Joseph Gordon, Mira Nadon, and Andrew Veyette; soloist Sara Adams; and corps member and d’Amboise’s granddaughter Shelby Mann performing works by George Balanchine including 

Works & Process in Partnership with the Catskill Mountain Foundation

 by Angelica Chéri and Ross Baum,
Direction by Stevie Walker-Webb, Music Direction by Austin Cook, and Choreography by Tiffany Rea-Fisher

, learn about the true story of Mary and Martha Clarke, African American twin sisters who, passing as white, took extraordinary measures in Texas in 1893 to settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and save her home. Members of the musical’s creative team including writer and lyricist Angelica Chéri (a descendant of Mary and Martha Clarke), composer Ross Baum, music director Austin Cook, director Stevie Walker-Webb, and choreographer Tiffany Rea-Fisher discuss their creative process, and cast members perform highlights.

Lar Lubovitch at 80: Art of the Duet, dancers from Bruce Wood Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre

Creating and dancing a duet can be intimate, exhilarating, and very personal; few know this better than Lar Lubovitch. In honor of his 80th year, Works & Process has invited the choreographer to assemble a cast of dancers to perform some of his favorite duets and discuss, with moderator Wendy Whelan, the act of creation and performance. Featured works include 

 commissioned by New York City Center and performed by New York City Ballet’s Adrian Danchig-Waring and Davide Riccardo; 

 performed by Joffrey Ballet’s Fabrice Calmels and ABT’s Gillian Murphy; 

 performed by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Alexandria Best and Elliot Hammans; 

 performed by Bruce Wood Dance’s Alex Brown and Stephanie Godsave; and the iconic 

 by Lar Lubovitch Dance Company’s Tobin Del Cuore and Brett Perry.

This program has been supported with a residency provided by New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Ephrat Asherie Dance, It’s Showtime NYC!, Kwikstep and Rokafella, Ladies of Hip-Hop, LayeRhythm, Les Ballet Afrik, MasterZ at Work Dance Family, The Missing Element, Princess Lockerooo & The Fabulous Waack Dancers, Underground Uptown Ball

Celebrate New York City’s extraordinary club, street, and social dance artists. Don’t miss this one night takeover of Alice Tully Hall, when the Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival expands from the Guggenheim, crossing town to Lincoln Center. Spanning the continuum of concert and social dance, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Omari Wiles’ Les Ballet Afrik, It’s Showtime NYC!, Ladies of Hip-Hop, Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington’s MasterZ at Work Dance Family, 

 by Princess Lockerooo’s The Fabulous Waack Dancers take to the stage. Simultaneously, Mai Le Ho’s 

, and the Underground Uptown Ball call for all to jump into the cypher.

All projects resourced long-term from studio-to-stage with fully funded Works & Process LaunchPAD creative residencies. 

This project is a part of JanArtsNYC, one of the largest and most influential gatherings where more than 45,000 performing arts leaders, artists, and enthusiasts from across the globe converge in NYC.

 by Omari Wiles; commissioned by Works & Process; November 5, 2022. Photo: Titus Ogilvie-Laing

Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival at Lincoln Center

3551 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089

Don’t miss the Los Angeles premiere of 

, a living archive of five generations of NYC club dancers. The evening-length performance is a multi-generational collaboration of performers ranging in age from 28–80. Celebrating and investigating their connections to the NYC club scene from the 1970s at seminal parties like the Loft and the Paradise Garage through today, 

 features EAD ensemble members and three NYC club legends, Archie Burnett, Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune, and Michele Saunders. Audiences join the company in an exhilarating journey through deeply personal histories; rarely seen archival footage; a vast musical landscape including funk, disco, and house; and decades of dancing through the culturally reflective styles of breaking, hip hop, house, vogue, waacking, and hustle.

The pandemic kept ALL of us from gathering. Whether on or off the dance floor, 

 is a reminder of how essential it is to connect to one another.

Music From The Sole is a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap's Afro-diasporic roots, particularly its connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music, and its lineage to forms like house dance and passinho (Brazilian funk). Led by Brazilian dancer/ choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and by bassist/ composer Gregory Richardson, their work embraces tap’s unique nature as a blend of sound and movement, incorporating wide-ranging influences like samba, passinho, Afro-Cuban, jazz, and house.

Since their first performances in 2015 at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance, Music From The Sole has grown to a group of 15 dancers and musicians, touring across the US and abroad. They have received support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, New Music USA, and Dance/ NYC, and recently premiered new works commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.

As part of its mission to bring tap dance, America's original vernacular dance form, to new audiences, they appear as both a dance company and a band at dance and music venues. Recent credits include appearances at Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, the Guggenheim Museum, The Yard, Kaatsbaan, Portland Ovations, Caramoor Jazz Festival, Bryant Park, the 92NY, and Tap in Rio. They are 2022-23 resident artists at the 92NY, and partner frequently with organizations like the National Dance Institute and Lincoln Center Education, engaging through dance and music with communities across NYC and beyond.

 was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, 

was created with the support of a summer 2020 Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. This culminated in preview performances that were among the first outdoor performances permitted by New York State. 

 was featured in a Works & Process at Lincoln Center video performance and received a Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation (2022), with additional residency support by The Yard, Jacob’s Pillow, and Chelsea Factory. 

 is a National Dance Project Production Grantee.

House Fuzion Dance Class with Jai'Quin Coleman

Join us for a free dance workshop series with teachers from MasterZ at Work Dance Family, founded by legendary ballroom mother and Bed-Stuy native Courtney Washington. Learn Contemporary, House, Street Dance, and Hip-Hop. All levels welcome. 

by Cal Hunt and Johnathan “Akuma” Moore (In-Process)

New Yorkers are, by nature, archaeologists. Be it graffiti, hieroglyphics, or freestyle dance on the street, lived stories are shared to those willing to pause and take in the messages. Commissioned by Works & Process, see an in-process performance of 

featuring It’s Showtime NYC!, a company of dancers with a history of performing on New York’s streets and subways, in collaboration with composer and cellist Johnathan “Akuma” Moore. Facilitated by a Works & Process LaunchPAD creative residency at Bethany Arts Community, both the original music composition and dance work embody an artistic trade-off. They represent a collaboration between composer and company dancer as each investigates the notion, “This is how you sound to me.” Moore’s composition animates each dancer’s daily struggles and triumphs as live building blocks of the pyramid. As the pyramid deconstructs, choreographer and It’s Showtime NYC! Artistic Director Cal Hunt asks, “How do these stories get back into perspective?” As Moore incorporates innovative techniques typically employed by funk bassists and layered electronic loops into his cello composition, he frees himself to join the performance as a bonebreaker or flexN artist.

Aubrey “Ski” Primus, Drew “Drew” Farrow, Quinn “Qu” Brown, and Nazier “bless” Morales. Photo: Courtesy the artists; Johnathan Moore. Photo: Tiana Correa

Emicida / Goyo / Film Screening: AmarElo: It’s All for Yesterday / Ladies of Hip-Hop

In Association with 27th Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival

In association with the 27th Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival, Central Park plays host to a performance from one of Brazil’s best-known MCs and a screening of the documentary that celebrates his career and the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture. The first-ever Latin GRAMMY-winning Brazilian rapper Emicida has had his music featured in several video games; the 2020 film AmarElo: It’s All for Yesterday cuts between scenes from his concert in São Paulo’s Theatro Municipal, interviews, recording sessions for his 2019 album AmarElo, and animated sequences that illuminate the legacy of Black culture in Brazil. The film was nominated for the 2021 International Emmy Awards. With support from Goyo, the singer, producer, and co-founder of ChocQuibTown, the groundbreaking Colombian band that fuses salsa, jazz, hip-hop, and reggae.

This show will feature a special performance in collaboration with Works & Process. As part of this partnership, this season at SummerStage Ladies of Hip-Hop will perform at various shows. Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective (LDC) is an all-female intergenerational dance collective that creates dance works illuminating the strength, power and diversity of women in Hip-Hop.

 is commissioned by Works & Process and is supported from studio-to-stage in Works & Process Bubble and LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residencies at Bethany Arts Community (2021, 2022 and 2023), Catskill Mountain Foundation (2022), and Millay Arts (2023). Iterative performances have taken place at Dancers Responding to AIDS Hudson Valley Dance Festival, Guggenheim Museum, Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The work will premiere at Works & Process at the Guggenheim during the 2023-2024 season.

American Dance Festival - Les Ballet Afrik: 

Les Ballet Afrik is a multi-cultural dance company whose mission is to champion the Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ experiences within the ballroom scene. Rooted in African, Afrobeat, House, Vogue, and Latin dance styles, Les Ballet Afrik pioneered a new movement style called “Afrikfusion” under the artistic direction of legendary Omari “Oricci” Wiles.

In their latest work, New York is Burning, Les Ballet Afrik draws inspiration from the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning and its depiction of voguing as a powerful expression in the face of racism, homophobia, and the stigma of the AIDS crisis. Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, New York is Burning reflects the aspirations of a diverse group of dancers in a city beset by health, racial, and financial crises. Highlighting the importance of community and connection to ancestry, Les Ballet Afrik continues to provide a space for individual expression and radical acceptance.

Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 7:30pm
Friday, September 15, 2023 at 7:30pm

Omari Wiles developed "New York Is Burning" for his company, Les Ballet Afrik, in a summer 2020 Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, a spring 2021 Works & Process bubble residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation (with support from the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), and a January 2022 Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at The Church, Sag Harbor in partnership with Guild Hall of East Hampton. Throughout this time, in some of New York State’s first permitted performances during the pandemic, Works & Process coproduced Les Ballet Afrik’s outdoor, filmed, and preview performances at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Lincoln Center, and the Guggenheim rotunda and the world premiere in the museum’s Peter B. Lewis Theater on November 5, 2022. The company performed previews at Jacob's Pillow, New Victory, and SummerStage and most recently was presented at The Joyce Theater.

Initiated by artist Ryan Ponder McNamara, 

 is a movement (some call it a cult) motivated by the faith that humankind can achieve transcendence through dance. Come join the performers in this mass for newcomers, as they induct you into the mysteries of 

 and invite you to join the sacred revelry. We promise song, dance, and ecstatic testimony, all in the divine presence of our muse, Terpsichore.

and developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Watermill Center (2022), Bethany Arts Community (2023) and The Church, Sag Harbor (2024).

This project is also supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and a studio space grant from Performance Space New York. 

 is dedicated to Works & Process Chair Emeritus Bart Friedman.

FIAF - Tatiana Desardouin and Passion Fruit Dance Company: 

Friday, September 8, 2023
6-8pm: Festival Kickoff Party
8pm: Performance
FIAF Florence Gould Hall


NY-based choreographer Tatiana Desardouin and Passion Fruit Dance Company bring bold street and club dance styles to the stage. The performance features moving testimony from four women with different backgrounds and a range of life stories, revealing both their pain and paths to joy. While the piece explores difficult social issues faced by women, it conveys a broad message of hope, celebration and an invitation to unfold and release mental blocks.

The performance will be preceded by a kickoff party from 6-8pm in FIAF’s Tinker Auditorium to celebrate the opening of the Crossing The Line Festival. Open only to performance attendees.

Choreographed, produced, and directed by Tatiana Desardouin
Performed by Mai Lê Ho, Lauriane Ogay, Nubian Néné, and Gyeun “Lobel” Jeong

Commissioned by The Santa Fe Opera for premiere in summer 2024, composer Gregory Spears and former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize–winner Tracy K. Smith discuss their newest collaboration, which explores the intersection between religious faith and political power. Highlights are performed culminating an opera workshop.

Santa Fe Opera Theatre. Photo: Robert Godwin

New York’s own award-winning Dorrance Dance celebrates its SummerStage Central Park debut. Pushing the dynamic range that tap dance has to offer and sharing the complex history and powerful legacy of this Black American art form, the program will feature 

. Led by artistic director and MacArthur fellow Michelle Dorrance with original music of “breathtaking vocalist” Aaron Marcellus, join this company of singular artists culminating in a musical and emotional journey that only Marcellus’s soul-stirring live performance could provide!

“With each performance of Dorrance Dance, tap expands.” 

SummerStage dance programs curated by and presented in partnership with Works & Process. The creation of 

 was created, in part, during a residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park.

Rowan University - Music From The Sole's 

Tap, percussive dance, samba, house, and live music come together in 

, in which Brazilian tap dancer/choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and bassist/composer Gregory Richardson lead eight dancers and a five-piece band in a performance that explores tap's lineage and connections to other Afrodiasporic forms, commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Together the pair embrace shared roots across the diaspora and reflect on racial and cultural identity, while also celebrating the joy, strength, depth, and virtuosity of Black dance and music.

Runtime is approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.

 was made possible by New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. 

American Ballet Theatre: The Art of Storytelling with Susan Jaffe

Newly appointed Artistic Director Susan Jaffe leads a program illuminating how the art of storytelling is at the heart of American Ballet Theatre. Members of ABT’s artistic team participate in the discussion, and dancers perform highlights of iconic classics and one-act story ballets.

Cassandra Trenary and James Whiteside in Jiří Kylián’s 

CPA at Penn State - Ephrat Asherie Dance: 

 acts as a living archive of five generations of New York City club dancers. The feature-length performance component of 

is a multi-generational collaboration with performers ranging in age from 29 to 80.

Celebrating and investigating their connections to the club scene from the 1970s until today, this work features Ephrat Asherie Dance ensemble members and three New York City club legends, Archie Burnett, Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune, and Michele Saunders. Audiences join the company in an exhilarating journey through deeply personal histories, rarely seen archival footage and, of course, decades of dancing through the culturally reflective styles of breaking, hip-hop, house, vogue, waacking, and hustle.

Initially set to premiere in October 2020, no one could have ever imagined that the very thing at the core of this work — the club — would be taken from us. Collaborating and dancing alongside club elders who lived through the crack epidemic, the AIDS crisis, and the globa pandemic is life-affirming beyond belief, their dancing bodies a testament to their resilience and fortitude. The pandemic kept all of us from gathering. Whether on or off the dance floor, 

is a reminder of how essential it is to connect to one another.

Ephrat Asherie Dance is a company rooted in African-American and Latine street and club dances. Dedicated to exploring the inherent complexities of these dances, Ephrat Asherie Dance investigates the expansive narrative qualities of various vernacular forms including breaking, hip-hop, house, and vogue to tell stories, develop innovative imagery, and find new modes of expression.

Making their West Coast debut, Music From The Sole is a tap and live music company that celebrates tap's Afro-diasporic roots, especially its connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music. Receiving great acclaim for their appearances at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and Tap in Rio, this brilliant company will perform their newest work, 

, commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim (NYC), that embraces a unique combination of tap, percussive dance, house, and Brazilian street dance.

Dance Theatre of Harlem Diaspora with Robert Garland, Dionne Figgins, Alicia Graf Mack, Tai Jimenez, and Melanie Person

In his first season as artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), Robert Garland celebrates the DTH diaspora with a program that celebrates DTH’s multifaceted founder Arthur Mitchell and his lasting impact as a coach, teacher, arts leader, and mentor. Four DTH alums—Dionne Figgins, Director, Ballet Tech; Alicia Graf Mack, Director, Juilliard School Dance Division; Tai Jimenez, Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem School; and Melanie Person, Co-Director, The Ailey School, and Director, Ailey/Fordham BFA—will coach DTH company dancers and participate in discussions moderated by Garland that explore how their time at DTH resonates in their work.

, choreography by Robert Garland. Performed at Works & Process, September 30, 2019. Photo: Robert Altman

Rotunda Dance Party: Kwikstep and Rokafella’s 

Since 2009, hip-hop legends Kwikstep and Rokafella have curated 

, a dance party that invites the community to freestyle to classic dance music. Without the pressure of competition or bar culture, the event allows dancers to organically engage in social exchange on the floor. Regularly held at the Nuyorican Poets Café, the party will come to the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda during the café’s renovation in conjunction with the museum’s 

 and presented by Works & Process. See popping, breaking, locking, uprocking, house, salsa, and hustle share the stage in a night spotlighting the music, dancers, and dances.

Rokafella and Kwikstep. Photo: B Fresh Photography

Vail Dance Festival - Music From The Sole's 

Led by award-winning Brazilian dancer/choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and bassist/composer Gregory Richardson, tap dance and live music come together in the acclaimed production 

 which joyously celebrates tap’s Afro-diasporic roots and connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music.

 was featured in a Works & Process at Lincoln Center video performance and will receive a Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation, with additional residency support by The Yard, Jacob’s Pillow, and Chelsea Factory. 

New Jersey Ballet, A New Era with Maria Kowroski, featuring Harrison Ball and Lauren Lovette

Join recently appointed New Jersey Ballet artistic director Maria Kowroski as she shares her vision for the company, and see excerpts from 

 by Harrison Ball and from a new commission by Lauren Lovette prior to its premiere. Ball, Kowroski, and Lovette illuminate their creative process in a discussion moderated by dancer and choreographer Emily Coates, a former member of New York City Ballet and currently Director of Dance Studies at Yale University.

Check out this in-process performance-presentation featuring the History of The Beatbox House.

This collective of world-champion beatboxers includes Amit Bhowmick, Chris Celiz, Neil “NaPoM” Meadows, Gene Shinozaki, and Kenny Urban. Through education, performance, and collaboration, the collective is rebranding the art as a new form of music, pushing the boundaries of the possibilities of the human voice. They were recently featured in the 

 and represented the U.S. State Department with a tour of Indonesia and Singapore through the storied American Music Abroad Program.

The Beatbox House is in residence at ArtYard in partnership with Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” to develop this new work, 

which will premiere on April 8 at Works & Process at the Guggenheim

. In addition to ArtYard, History of The Beatbox House has received Works & Process LaunchPAD residency support at Chautauqua Institution (2023) and Guild Hall William P Rayner Artist-in-Residence program (2023), as well as grant funding from New Music USA and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

 featuring The Beatbox House, commissioned by Works & Process, January 13, 2023. Photo: Works & Process / Diego Quintanar

The Joyce Theater - Music From The Sole's 

Tap, percussive dance, samba, house, and original live music come together in 

, an evening-length work from New York City-based Music From The Sole. Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim in 2020, the piece was first supported through a pioneering bubble residency in summer 2020. In this work, Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and bassist/composer Gregory Richardson lead eight dancers and a five-piece band in a performance that explores tap’s lineage and connections to other Afro-Diasporic forms. Conceived as a Carnival fever dream, 

y embraces shared roots across the diaspora to reflect on what shapes their cultural and artistic identity, and celebrates the joy, depth, and virtuosity of Black dance and music.

The Joyce’s presentation of Music From The Sole is a HARKNESS FIRST Joyce Theater debut, generously supported by The Harkness Foundation for Dance. 

18 Mount Morris Park West, New York, N.Y. 10027 

Join Harlem resident, MC and Rapper R.Q.Tek for a free four-part workshop to learn the fundamentals of building raps and the art of MCing. Culminating the workshops will be a chance for excelling students to perform on stage with R.Q.Tek on August 17 as part of Works & Process at Summer Stage in Marcus Garvey Park. The performance will feature LayeRhythm a play-based music, street dance, mc, improv jam, and jumping into the cypher will be The Missing Element fusing the world champion beatboxers of the Beatbox House and leading breakers, flexers, and krumpers.

Join us for a free dance workshop series with teachers from MasterZ at Work Dance Family, founded by legendary ballroom mother and Bed-Stuy native Courtney Washington. Learn Contemporary, House, Street Dance, and Hip-Hop. All levels welcome.

Herbert Von King Cultural Arts Center: Excerpts of It's Showtime NYC! 

 by Cal Hunt and Johnathan "Akuma" Moore and 

Saturday, January 13
4-5 pm
Free Performance!
It’s Showtime NYC for community and APAP conference attendees.

Including excerpt of Works & Process commission of 

by Cal Hunt Artistic Director and original composition by cellist/bonebreaker Johnathan “Akuma” Moore.

Music From The Sole is a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap's Afro-diasporic roots, particularly its connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music, and its lineage to forms like house dance and passinho (Brazilian funk).

, their work embraces tap’s unique nature as a blend of sound and movement, incorporating wide-ranging influences like samba, passinho, Afro-Cuban, jazz, and house.

 at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center on July 15th.

Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC): 

This fall the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) opens its doors, long envisioned as a major cultural institution and rebuilding keystone of the World Trade Center. The opening season’s programs reflect the dynamic energy of New York. Ahead of the new production of 

, premiering in summer 2024, members of the creative team, including co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and co-choreographer Omari Wiles, join us for a special in-process first look of the show. The directors and choreographer discuss their artistic process, and excerpts are performed.

, a PAC NYC production, is the fabulous reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic dance musical based on T.S. Eliot’s 

. Inspired by the Ballroom culture that roared out of New York City over 50 years ago and still rages on runways around the world, the production is staged and directed as a spectacularly immersive competition by Zhailon Levingston (

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Chicken & Biscuits

) and PAC NYC Artistic Director Bill Rauch (

). With all new Ballroom and club beats, runway-ready choreography, and an edgy eleganza makeover, this Jellicle ball trades feline for fierce.

By arrangement with The Really Useful Group.

Works & Process Events