This spring the performing arts series Works & Process ushered in the return of live performances. Beginning on March 19, under the guidance of the New York State Department of Health, performances produced by Works & Process will take place in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum. These will be among the first indoor performances in New York since venues closed due to pandemic a year ago, marking a milestone in the recovery of the city’s cultural sector.
A legend within the ballroom community and founder of the Kiki House of Juicy Couture, leader of The House of Balenciaga, Black trans femme Creative Director of Masterz at Work Dance Family Courtney ToPanga Washington creates a new work fusing street dance, street jazz, ballroom, and hip-hop.
Informed by her own experience being teased as a queer teenage personwho found refuge in dance, this new work conveys how her gender transition spurred transformative emotional, creative, and physical liberation. The dances she creates are a representation of resiliency, and through company outreach foster community and family in under-resourced areas of Brooklyn. This new commission will be the first time the company, traditionally self-funded, has received institutional support.
Intended to uplift, inspire, and model positive behavior will feature Courtney Ashley, Lamell “Jay Parel” Clemons, Jai’Quin Coleman, DeAndre Cousley, Ulises “ChaCha” Estevez, Makeesha Hill, Rasheed “NewBorn” Lucas Jr., Dashaun “DayDay” Peals, Brian Starke, and Courtney ToPanga Washington with music by DJ Byrell The Great.
