On Friday, February 9th at 8pm, just a few days before Valentine’s Day, 2024 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow and interdisciplinary artist Lina Azalea Dahbour presents the first program in her “Blind Date” series—Tiny Conversation Hearts. This Winter, between phases of renovation, ISSUE returns to our 22 Boerum Pl. theater for a series of limited capacity Artist-In-Residence and Fellowship events.
Tiny Conversation Hearts asks four performers to complete a series of risky tasks: take a singular score (in this case, a newly commissioned score by choreographer Alexa West), go home by their lonesome, create a piece based on the score, and show up on the night of the event to perform their piece at the same time as another artist working in a different medium, with no knowledge of the other artist’s plans.
In an attempt to depart from the mono dynamic, algorithmically feasible pairings modern technology seeks to offer us, Dahbour has selected two dancers and two musicians with differing and distinctive voices to be paired in this first dance/music cross-genre “Blind Date” experiment. Conceptually oriented, multimedia dance artist Dominica Greene is paired with cathartic, aural channeler Nyhne; geometrically-minded movement investigator Emily Kessler is paired with sonic collagist Holy People.
Dahbour notes, “Tiny Conversation Hearts is a hopelessly romantic quest to find unexpected, chance-based artistic partnerships. What can we learn about our differences & samenesses from witnessing a kaleidoscope of score interpretations? What do we experience when improvisation lives in the overlap between interdisciplinary artistic monologues? Will any of the artists find creative love? Or will the night be filled with awkwardness and missed opportunities?”
The space will feature an installation of Alexa West’s score for audiences to interact with before and after the performances. The event will culminate with an artist talkback moderated by the curator.
Dominica Greene is a movement-based conceptual artist, dancer, and facilitator based in Brooklyn, New York. She values dance as one of the purest forms of expression, utilizing it as an energetic entity capable of affecting real and palpable change. Her company and freelance experience is extensive, having collaborated with, performed, and toured the work of many notable choreographers domestically and internationally. As a bi-racial, Black, Queer woman and art-maker, she is committed to dreaming up and worldbuilding alternate realities and more expansive futures with her BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community.
Emily Kessler is a multinational dance-based artist who was raised in the United States and Switzerland. Her choreographic work has been performed in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Singapore, and Vietnam. Collaboration being at the helm of her process, Emily created POGO in early 2020 to deepen her artistic endeavors with others. Through POGO she has released her first film, choreographed music videos, created work for stage and the outdoors, and curated and produced seasons of a dance showcase series for NYC-based artists. Her recent work has been presented by PAGEANT, Arts On Site, and the Locker Room. Additionally, Emily is a MOtiVE 2023 AiR and has been in residence at Mount Tremper Arts, Chapman Steamer Arts, Sky Hill Farm Studio, Utica Dance, Peaceable Barn, and the Neuberger Museum of Art. She graduated from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, earning a BFA in Performance and Composition and a minor in Art History.
Nancy Kim is an interdisciplinary artist, musician and designer based in New York. Under the alias Nyhne (pronounced— "nine"), they investigate the sonic architecture of emotion, hidden stories, and multigenerational pain, often unearthing layers from their Korean ancestry. Using the amplification of hand-crafted elements, voice, electronics, breath, and synthesis, they create tense and textural environments for catharsis. Through improvisation, their performances welcome chance and play, enabling pain to alchemize into an optimistic potential. Nancy has shown work at Arario Gallery, Reykjavik Art Museum, MIT Keller Gallery, Van Alen Institute and performed at The Glass House, Basilica Hudson, Opus 40, Trans Pecos, and many diy spaces. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and a Master of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are also certified in Integrative Hypnotherapy.
Holy People is the solo-music project of Leah Victoria, a narrative artist & experimental composer based in NYC. Leah’s practice is influenced by her connection to home, healing, and ancestral memory. Her debut LP, Jester to Her Majesty the People, was released in 2019.
Alexa West is a dance artist based in New York City. West studied both dance and sculpture, and makes performances that incorporate material sensibilities across the two disciplines. She trained at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance before receiving a BFA at the Cooper Union, and an MFA at the Milton Avery School of Art at Bard College. West’s work has been presented in both gallery and performance spaces around New York City and Houston, TX. West is a co-founder and co-director of Pageant, a performance venue in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently a Dance Research Fellow at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library.
