Choreographed by Jenny Boissiere in collaboration with dancers.
Dancers: Jacquelyn Batten, Madelyne Clark, Sara Crayne-Dedrick, Molly Gorin, Sarah Hillmon, Genna Mattana, and Jessica Robling
Creative Consultant: Rebecca Hutt
Show Logo, Flyer Design, and Event Design: Eric Vasquez - www.ericvasquez.net
Funding provided in part by:
Program Notes & Background
Thank you for coming to ReStart! Here’s some background information on this piece you are about to see:
I didn’t really want to make a piece about the pandemic. Frankly, I feel I’ll need more time to process what’s happened over the last 3 years. What I do know, is that we’ve had a lot of false starts and restarts and it’s felt emotionally and mentally challenging to keep up. It’s been difficult to hold on to intimate and professional relationships.
A lot of the time, I feel like the world around me has pressed fast forward, hurtling itself into constant conflict. We’ve already forgotten the changes we wanted in our work and artistic practices to preserve that status quo.
Personally, I want to savor each embrace, each moment we’re allowed to gather and dance or move together. I want to discover and cultivate joy and be a part of rebuilding communities from empathy and encouragement, rather than competition and scarcity.
This is a performance and an act of joy and healing.
Fort Washington Park provided me comfort and calm during the hardest parts of the pandemic. I loved walking under the George Washington Bridge and staring at the Hudson River. Lighthouses are symbols of hope and navigating through difficult times.
We created the piece with this site in mind. Our rehearsals here have been energizing and allowed us to connect with the community!
We’re thrilled to be able to present UPTOWN and hope you’ll connect with us after the performance and on social media (Insta: @danceboissiere // Facebook).
-Jenny Boissiere (Artistic Director/Choreographer)
About Jenny
Jenny Boissiere is a Washington Heights-based choreographer. Originally from New Orleans, her movement style reflects her background in modern dance, jazz, Black southern line dances and rhythms, and contact improvisation. Her work examines themes of power, dependence, empathy, and identity.
Jenny was selected for Doug Varone’s Choreographic Mentorship and Chen Dance Center’s New Steps Choreographer Series in 2017. She produced her first evening-length show, Reflections//Refractions: The Empathy Project in 2019. After a two-year hiatus, she created Running Into Joy in 2021. She is currently working on ReStart Project, outdoor dance work, and celebration for Fort Washington Park.
Jenny’s work has been supported by an NYC Artists Corp Grant (2021), two Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone’s Creative Engagement Grants (2019, 2022) and two Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Creative Engagement Grant (2019 and 2021). She is also an inaugural recipient of UMEZ and Mertz Gilmore Foundation’s Seed Fund for Dance in Upper Manhattan for Summer 2022.
Performers
Jacquelyn batten
Jacquelyn Batten (she/they) hails from East Spencer, NC and is a graduate of UNC Greensboro with a BFA in Choreography and Performance and an Arts Administration minor (‘18). Her work centers around Black movement, social theory and spirituality, using these ideas as tools to further understand herself and the world around her. She explores these concepts through movement vocabulary rooted in her modern, hip hop, jazz, and traditional African training. Besides being a well-versed choreographer and performer, she developed her own movement-based media platform entitled (soul)lection where she shares her work, dance journey, and other movement-based content. Jacquelyn is also a budding arts administrator, with hopes of one day curating and producing performance art. They are currently wrapping up their time as the Dance Programming apprentice at New York City Center, with the hopes of advancing their administrative career to the next level. Jacquelyn is excited to be in New York tacking her artistic pursuits, and looks forward to where this journey takes her.
Madelyne Clark
Madelyne Clark was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and grew up in Monroe, Louisiana, where she began her formal competitive dance training at Linda Lavender School of Dance. During her off seasons with Twin City Ballet, Madelyne spent her summers studying at Joffrey South Ballet Summer Intensive, Next Generation Ballet, and Regional Dance America’s National Choreography Intensive. Madelyne graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. She soon moved to New York to continue her training at The Ailey School. As a student in The Ailey School Scholarship Program, Madelyne has worked with renowned choreographers such as Omar Roman de Jesus, Earl Mosley, and Martha Nichols and was featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a member of the Ailey Student Performance Group, she had the opportunity to not only learn repertory by Alvin Ailey but also work with Ronald K. Brown and Tina Bush. Madelyne enjoys all styles of dance and exploring new movements through both improvisation and choreography of her own which has been been recognized and awarded through Regional Dance America (Monticello Award 2017). Madelyne is very excited to collaborate these fellow artists in the Restart Project.
Sara Crayne-Dedrick
Sara Crayne-Dedrick, Westchester NY, graduated magna cum laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2015. While at college, she performed works by Pam Tanowitz, Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin, Keith Thompson, Randy James, Kim Gibilisco, Paul Ocampo, and Julia Ritter. Her work has also been shown during the Rutgers Summer Series, annual student concerts, and ACDFA. She has had the privilege of dancing for Kelley Donovan, Monteleone Dance Collective, Tangent Dance under NACRE Dance Company and her own work throughout New York, New Jersey, and Boston.
Molly Gorin
Molly is a Brooklyn-based mover and native New Yorker. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2016 with a double major in dance and creative writing. Since then she has been making and performing contemporary dance and physical theater with a variety of emerging choreographers.
Sarah Hillmon
Sarah Hillmon is a native of Rochester, NY. There, she trained with Garth Fagan, Timothy M. Draper and was a member of the Rochester City Ballet. She graduated with a BFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she had the privilege of performing works by talented artists including Sidra Bell, Lucinda Childs, Gus Solomons Jr, and Charles Weidman. While in New York City, Sarah has danced for Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Suzanne Beahrs Dance, BodyStories, AMS Project, MATYCHAK and was a founding member of RedCurrant Collective.
Genna Mattana
Genna Mattana, from Syosset, New York, is a Brooklyn-based dance artist. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University with a BFA in Dance, where she performed in works by choreographers including Kyle Abraham, David Parker, and Pam Tanowitz. Since graduating, she has worked with David Dorfman Dance, Krissy and the Works, Taryn Vander Hoop, Jenna Riegel, Brush/McGrath (works), Nattie Trogdon, Katie Skinner, and DanceBoissiere.
Jessica Robling
Jessica Robling, Brooklyn NY, graduated from The University of Wisconsin Madison in 2019 with a BFA in Dance and Pilates Certificate. While at UW-Madison, Jessica has performed works by Kate Corby, Li Chiao-Ping, Chris Walker, Jin-Wen Yu, Michel Kouakou, Scott Ewen, Heidi Latsky, Brooke Smiley, and Anna Halprin. Since graduating, she has had the opportunity to work with choreographers Jin Wen Yu, Li Chiao Ping, Liz Sexe Dance, Kanon Sapp, and was a member of Nimbus2 Dance.
About DanceBoissiere
As a collective, DanceBoissiere’s goal is to:
Amplify the voices of artists who have lived female experiences in all their joy and complexities.
Disrupt the dance ecosystem to prioritize pay for dancers and choreographers.
Increase accessibility and understanding of dance theatre and contemporary dance.
Create loud, expressive, and innovative dance works.
Funding Information
This project is funded, in part, through a Seed Fund for Dance grant from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, thanks to the support of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
The ReSTART Project is made possible in part with funding from UMEZ Arts Engagement, a regrant program supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ) and administered by LMCC.
Thank You to Our Patrons!
Thanks to our fabulous community of donors (listed below and anonymous) for helping us to raise funds to help keep this performance free for the public.
DB Supporter
Lynn Becknell, Carolyn Hoehner, Elmo Vincent, Sharon Boissiere, Sofya Maslyanskaya
Friends
Jaycee Shindler, Miranda Suri
Helpers
Sheryl Hoehner, Emma Gorin, Anastasia Johnson, Michelle Ulerich, Erica Sperber, Olivia Melendez,
Anna Borsos, Cindy Brandle, Samantha Fahrbach
Special Thanks To…
Rebecca Hutt for her support, guidance, and frequent pep talks. I am so lucky to have you as a friend for going on 20 years.
Eric Vasquez for his superb graphic design skills as well as being a kick-ass husband and partner.
Jackie, Maddie, and Jessica - I am so lucky to have met the three of you in this process. I hope we can continue to work and create together.
Sara, Sarah, Genna, and Molly - I’ve learned so much from working with you four incredible people over the past five or more years. You continue to inspire me and I’m so lucky to have met you!
Leah Tubbs, Fellow uptowner and true weaver of community. Thank you for your continued support of my work.
Matthea Harvey for her pep talks, mentorship, and friendship. “We’re still learning.” and “Who Cares!”
Jamie Yasgur for being an amazing friend, watching so many videos, show day help, and being an OG DB member.
Support DanceBoissiere
If you’re moved by the work you see today, consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Your generosity goes towards our funding future performer pay, rehearsal fees, studio rentals, and administrative costs. Thank you for your consideration.
DanceBoissiere is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of DanceBoissiere must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.