PRESS KIT 2016

Founded in 2011, Bryn Cohn + Artists is a New York-based contemporary dance company comprised of diverse collaborative artists from a variety of geographical and ethnic backgrounds. Known for their ferocious physicality, risk-taking worlds, and emotional performances, BC + A has been met with acclaim amongst artists, press and audiences throughout New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle.

Hailed as “groundbreaking, primal, graceful, flowing effortlessly, surreal and supernatural” (Brooklyn Buzz), the company has performed in premiere venues including Danspace Project in St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Dixon Place, The Martha Graham Theater, Judson Memorial Church, The Center for Performance Research, 92nd Street Y, The Theatre at Meydenbauer, Abrons Arts Center, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Salvatore Capezio Theater, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn Arts Exchange and in collaboration with the contemporary art galleries Foley Gallery and Castle Fitzjohns on two site-specific performance series.

The company has received awards and funding including The Alfred Z Solomon Charitable Trust, SILO Residency through DanceNOW and The Emerging Artists Residency through The Field. The company has been invited to perform in ReverbDance (both in New York and in the Boston Echoes Tour), Chop Shop, WestFest, DanceNOW, Split Bill Series, Stuffed, Pentacle’s Fall Farther, Upstart, Underexposed, and Young Choreographers dance festivals among others. Bryn Cohn + Artists biannually teaches master workshops at Peridance Capezio Center and has guest taught at Velocity Dance Center and Chop Shop Dance Festival. The company was represented by Pentacle Danceworks Inc. in the Gallery Roster.

In 2016, BC + A will be embarking upon our most ambitious season to date with the premiere and West Coast Tour of our newest work, HOME, along with the implementation of new educational, charitable and programming platforms. HOME will make its world premiere, in conjunction with BC + A’s most renowned work Skin, at The Los Angeles Theatre Center, followed by its East Coast debut at Gibney Dance Center. Teaching engagements include California Institute of the Arts, The Colburn School, Renaissance Arts Academy and No.1 Art House among others.

ABOUT BC + A

Bryn Cohn“A dancemaker who does not shy away from much” - DIY Dancer

Bryn Cohn founded and assumed the position of artistic director of Bryn Cohn + Artists in 2011. Cohn graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts in dance performance and composition under the direction of Stephan Koplowitz. She has been commissioned by Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Billy Bell’s Lunge Dance Collective (formerly of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and So You Think You Can Dance), Grand Valley State University, The Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program, California State University, Fullerton, the fashion designer Betsey Johnson on a site-specific installation and for The Youth America Grand Prix. Cohn is on permanent faculty for the Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program, under direction of Calen Kurka and Chris Hale, where she teaches composition, improvisation and contemporary techniques. She is the head of the modern department at Greenwich Ballet Academy. As a sought after educator and lecturer, Cohn teaches at Peridance Capezio Center, and has participated in master educational engagements at Broadway Dance Center (NYC), Gibney Dance (NYC), Loyola Marymount University (CA), CAPAS (NYC), Bayonne High School (New Jersey) and for the Michael Susten Dance Company (NYC). She created

C.O.N.N.E.C.T a goal-setting forum for dance artists in collaboration with creativity coach Elani Engelken. Cohn was one of twenty international artists invited to participate in The New Aesthetics Performance Intensive in a dance theatre collaboration conducted by Crystal Pite and Pol Hayvaert in Vancouver, B.C. She was selected to serve on The Massachusetts Cultural Council Choreography Fellowship Panel. Cohn has received scholarships to Bridge: Choreographic Dialogues at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv, the Bessie Schoenberg Choreographic Lab at New York Live Arts and Systems for Understanding Movement and Choreography, led by Susan Marshall. Cohn has performed in works by Ohad Naharin, Alex Ketley, Colin Connor and Barak Marshall, and in self choreographed solos Leak and Au Revoir Love.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

PRESS QUOTES“Turn off the lights, and the world suddenly becomes a very foreign place... The costumes are black, the score is ominous and the movement is fittingly fragmented and slithery.” The New York Times // 2014

“an emotional ride” Seattle Dances // March 2014

“Cohn’s choreography possessed immaculate shifts of texture and mood that were enthralling to watch…The smallest movement seemed to garner the greatest impact… What made the work so powerful was Cohn’s choreography paired with her performers’ highly responsive bodies, susceptible to these new twists and turns at any second.” DIY Dancer // 2014

“weightless and heavy all at once…intricate partner work between the four dancers erase the physical divisions...haunting, but consistently beautiful” Brooklyn Buzz // 2014

“…where fantasy meets tangible manifestations of real life.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle // 2014

“dynamic, striking... Ms. Cohn reached a remarkable level of sophistication.”Explore Dance // June 2014

“Innovative … Carefully coordinated strings of movement…one movement flows seamlessly into the next.” Vox Magazine // 2013

COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS2015Skin Evening Premiere // Danspace Project in St. Marks Church | New York NYAlfred Z. Soloman Charitable Trust RecipientSite-Specific Collaboration // Foley Gallery | New York NYMaster Workshop // Peridance Capezio Center | New York NYMaster Class // Loyola Marymount University | Los Angeles, CAMaster Workshop at Class Act Performing Arts Studio | Beacon, NY

2014Abrons Art Center | New York NYJazz at Lincoln Center | New York NYChop Shop: Bodies of Work // The Theatre at Meydenbauer | Seattle WAMaster Class at Velocity Dance Center | Seattle WAMaster Workshop // Peridance Capezio Center | New York NYReverb Dance Festival | New York NYInto The Dark Evening Premiere // The Center for Performance Research | Brooklyn NYBoston University Theater | MA

2013Site-Specific Collaboration // Castle Fitzjohns | New York NYJudson Memorial Church | New York NYGuest Company at Pushing Progress Showcase | New York NYWestFest Dance Festival // Martha Graham Theater | New York NYEmerging Artists Residency through The Field | New York NY

2012Pentacle’s Fall Farther // Ailey Citigroup Theater | New York NYReverb Dance Festival // Baruch Performing Arts Center | New York NY92nd Street Y | New York NYYoung Choreographer’s Festival // Symphony Space | New York NYUpstart Festival // Brooklyn Arts Exchange | Brooklyn NYUnderexposed Festival // Dixon Place | New York NYCool Festival // John Ryan Theater | Brooklyn NY

2011Split Bill Series // Triskelion Arts | Brooklyn NYMerce Cunningham Theater | New York NYManhattan Movement and Arts Center | New York NY

Commissions2015Artist In Residence | California State University, FullertonArtist In Residence | Grand Valley State UniversityYouth America Grand Prix | Lincoln CenterBayonne High School | New Jersey

2014Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program

2013Missouri Contemporary Ballet

2012Billy Bell’s Lunge Dance (formerly of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet + So You Think You Can Dance)Site-Specific Installation for fashion designer Betsey Johnson l Flagship Sephora Location

RACHEL ABRAHAMS Rachel Abrahams, a founding member of Bryn Cohn + Artists, is from Oyster Bay, New York. She attended the Long Island High School for the Arts and graduated in 2009 with a BFA in Performance and Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. Rachel has performed with Shen Wei Dance Arts in two world premiere site-specific pieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Park Avenue Armory. As a performer and teaching artist with BODYART, Rachel has collaborated on three New York seasons and tours to Texas. Rachel is currently a dancer in the off-Broadway show Fuerza Bruta, performing in New York City and touring throughout the world.

THE ARTISTS

JESSICA MALATA New Jersey native, Jessica began her professional training at Goucher College before relocating to New York to attend the Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program. She has trained with Calen Kurka, Chris Hale, Loni Landon, Bryn Cohn, Manuel Vignouelle and Gregory Dolbashian among others. She has performed in The REVERB Dance Festival, NYC10, and Peridance Presents in works by Calen Kurka, Trebien Pollard, Bryn Cohn and Kathy VanDereedt. While finishing at Rutgers University, Jessica is currently working as a freelance artist in NY.

YULIYA ROMANSKAYAYuliya Romanskaya is originally from the Ukraine and grew up in Los Angeles where she received her BFA from California Institute of the Arts. She was one of two students chosen to study abroad at the London Contemporary Dance School. Yuliya has performed works by Barak Marshall, Reggie Wilson, Rosanna Gamson and Pam Gonzales. In addition to dancing and teaching with Bryn Cohn + Artists, Yuliya choreographs and performs with collaborator Ashley Handel, most recently at Triskelion Arts and Movement Research.

KEVIN KELLER (COMPOSER)Kevin Keller’s first work for string quartet, Three Bagatelle, premiered by the Kronos Quartet at the 1986 Festival of New American Music. During the 1990s, Keller worked as Principal Composer for San Francisco’s Morrison Planetarium. He has been commissioned by Dwight Rhoden, Amy Marshall, Elisa Monte, Mariana Bekerman, Kathleen Dyer, Suzanne Kenney, Amy Seiwert, Ray Sullivan and Nicolo Fonte among others.

DAVID FERGUSONBorn and raised in North Carolina, David Ferguson is a graduate from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He has performed in works by Josè Limon, Brenda Daniels, Lucinda Childs, Merce Cunningham, Ming-Lung Yang, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Ashley Lindsey, Casey Noblett, Helen Simoneau, and Kimberly Bartosik. He attended Springboard Dance Montreal and Northwest Dance Projects Launch during the summer of 2015. He currently dances for Helen Simoneau Danse and Abarukus Dance as well as BC + A.

NIK OWENSNik Owens was born and raised in Altadena, California where he began gymnastics at age three and continued at a competitive level until seventeen. Nik graduated with honors from Wesleyan University with a BA in dance and a certificate in Environmental Studies. He has had the pleasure of working with Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Tiffany Mills Company, Nicholas Leichter, Tania Isaac, Vanessa Tamburi, The Dance Exchange, Gierre Godley’s Project 44 and Mersiha Mesihovic’s CircuitDebris. He currently dances for David Dorfman Dance, Helen Simoneau, Abdul Rasheed’s DSquared Dance Theater, Raja Kelly/The Feath3r Theory and Bryn Cohn + Artists.

WILL TOMASKOVICWill Tomaskovic, originally from Flemington, New Jersey, received a BFA in dance from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. He has performed in works by Brian Brooks, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Julie Bour, Stefanie Batten-Bland, Doug Elkins, and Banu Ogan. Will apprenticed for Keigwin + Company, and travelled to Istanbul for an immersive dance-theater collaboration with Julia Ritter Performance Group. In addition to BC + A, Will is a current member of ZviDance and 10 Hairy Legs as well as a teaching artist with Men in Motion, Inc.

TIM CRYAN (LIGHTING DESIGNER)Tim Cryan has worked at The Berkshire Fringe, Danspace Project, FlicFest, LaMaMa, and Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Dance Department at Long Island University, the resident lighting designer for the Fusionworks Dance Company (Deb Meunier, Artistic Director) and the Fiasco Theatre, and is on permanent faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

TECHNICAL COLLABORATORS

To construct worlds of humanity, reality + risk

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To investigate the edges of physical, imaginative + cognitive boundaries

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To collaborate with artists across different disciplines to build kinetic + multifaceted experiences

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To provide educational + charitable programming which promote acceptance + self-empowerment

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To partner with organizations to make dance more accessible within the public sphere + advocate the arts as a valuable and sustainable social necessity

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THE VISION

SKINSkin investigates how we physically and metaphorically “build” a person in a continuous cycle of creation and destruction in response to social castes, gender, sexuality and political systems. Featuring six mannequins, Skin creates an immersive world onstage as the performers cultivate their own identities in juxtaposition to the empty and emotionless physical forms. Acting as voyeurs in the space, the mannequins become part of our understanding of what it means to be human, observing the entire performance but lacking the ability to fully participate. This journey strips us of our fabricated spectacle and leaves us bare, in our own skin, to reveal a sacred truth about ourselves in conflict and harmony with our world. Premiere // June 2015Danspace Project in St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery l New York NYDancers // 6Running Time // 65 Minutes | Excerpt 10 MinutesMusic // Original Composition by Kevin Keller with additional artists Dustin O’Halloran, Eluvium + Pan SonicCostumes // Sebastian Arango*Skin was made possible due to support from The Alfred Z. Soloman Charitable Trust*

REPERTORY

INTO THE DARKInto The Dark confronts the reality of the ways we take risk and the trust, conflict and hope that arise to navigate the experience. The work examines what occurs when we surrender our certainties within a re-imagined world of darkness, in the places where chance meets fear and rescue. Featuring fully integrated scenic design, panels serve as continuously evolving architecture, reassigning meaning to recognizable structures such as prisons, mazes, and confessionals to elucidate the humanity that sits at the core of the piece.

Premiere // June 2014The Center for Performance Research l Brooklyn NYDancers // 4Running Time // 55 Minutes | Excerpt 10 MinutesMusic // Original Composition by Bita SharifSet Design // David Dean EbertCostumes // Sebastian Arango

ALLEGIANCEAllegiance is inspired by political clans, revolt and war. The potency of pack mentality enables the performers to tackle all that exists on the precipice of a looming battle frontier. Dense with raw, sculptured and cinematic imagery, motifs of radicalism and community permeate the movement and climate onstage.

Premiere // January 2014Jazz at Lincoln Center l New York NYDancers // 4Running Time // 20 minutesMusic // Ben Frost

“Stillness and motion offset by interesting and varied movement choices, and Skin is clearly invested with a lot of thought and work by Bryn Cohn and her talented dancers.” OFFOFFOFF

“...you had to hold your breath...the honest emotional connection made it so worth experiencing.” Brooklyn Buzz

IF YOU SINKIf You Sink examines archetypical models of relationships and the corresponding social constructions of power that exist.. Movement languages encompassing rhythmic nuances punctuated by highly articulated gesture and classical idioms are seamlessly woven into the subtleties of Chopin’s score. Sinking is embodied as an undercurrent in the fragile connection shared by the dancers, and a semblance of hope that operates in the face of weakness.

Premiere // May 2012 Symphony Space l New York NYRedeveloped 2014 for Chop Shop: Bodies of Work Dance Festival | The Theatre at Meydenbauer, Seattle WA Dancers // 2 Running Time // 8 minutesMusic // Chopin *Commissioned by California State University, Fullerton*

REPERTORY

SHELFWithin a highly charged and electric landscape, codependency ascends to its most extreme in Shelf. A shelf becomes a motif to evoke nostalgia and desire that is bred from radical loss. Disillusions of the present are echoed in rigorous and explosive attempts to return to the past. Recognizable human action illuminates an absence of what is certain, and the dissipating memory of the shelf that once was.

Premiere // December 2012Pentacle’s Fall Further at Ailey Citigroup Theater l New York NYDancers // 2Running Time // 10 minutesMusic // Tim Hecker + Pan Sonic

AU REVOIR LOVEA self choreographed solo by artistic director Bryn Cohn, Au Revoir Love is a glimpse into the departure from great romance. The impassioned and diverse movement palette reflects a rapid shifting from abandoned to sensual, bound to free, mournful to determined. We trail the vulnerability of this dancer, wrought with anxiety in her impulses and tethered to her self-induced affliction as she is finally compelled to say the three emancipating words, Au Revoir Love.

Premiere// May 2013Salvatore Capezio Theater l New York NYDancers// 1Running Time// 10 minutesMusic// Yann Tierson + Otis Redding

PRINTEDDrawn together by a series of provocative and penetrating mementos, each dancer identifies a tangible self-portrait within a larger communal print. Dissolving memories of intimacy, trauma and individualism are reflected in tangible impermanence of the movement and compositional structures.

Premiere // December 2011ReverbDance Festival at Baruch Performing Arts Center l New York NYDancers // 4Running Time // 9 minutesMusic // Loscil

“Cohn created a relationship drama in miniature to suggest an emotional ride beneath the surface… the back-and-forth of a romance showed off the darts, quirks, and quick transitions of Cohn’s choreography.” Seattle Dances

“…movement would arc gracefully beginning with slow movements that would suspend then release to rapid gestures… this was a strong statement and intelligently expressed.” Dance in New York City | Darrell Wood

UPCOMING

World Premiere // HOMEBC + A will be embarking on our most ambitious season to date with the world premiere of the company’s newest interdisciplinary work HOME in both New York and in the company’s first West Coast tour. HOME will make its debut at The Los Angeles Theatre Center on May 6th – May 8th followed by New York performances June 16th – June 18th at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in an immersive collaborative evening with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance. HOME is a pioneering adventure of dance, original music by esteemed composer Kevin Keller, scenic design and repurposed costuming by Sebastian Arango, rooted in familial dynamics and the pursuit of physical, emotional and spiritual manifestations of connection.

In the NYC premiere with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, interactive set pieces, incorporated by both companies in a pre-show exhibition and mid-show interlude as well as in two distinct works, enables our image of home to become amorphous while also serving as a thematic thread upon which we establish community.

The work draws upon ritualistic and traditional processes to elucidate home through interpersonal encounters, architectural environments and the pursuit of self and collective understanding. Commonly seen furniture to more abstracted items are interwoven into kinetic movement languages, and become quintessential to uphold the world in which both performers and audience members can tap into. Through continuously evolving structures that transform the space and the complex relationships developed amongst the performers, we come to understand that our concept of HOME is constantly shifting as we move through life. By examining utopian models of the “picture perfect” family in contrast to human realities of loss, celebration and love, the work provides a universal lens to reimagine and define our own notion of what it means to find home.

2016 Calendar 01 | 19 Work In Progress Showing at The Center for Performance Research01 | 23 Bryn Commission on Bayonne High School at Ailey Citigroup Theater02 | 13 – 02 | 14 Guest Company in Pushing Progress Showcase03 | 03 – 03 | 10 Silo Residency through DanceNow at Kirkland Farm04 | 01 – 05 | 01 Open Rehearsal Series04 | 14 “Take Dance Out of The Theater” Fundraiser04 | 25 – 05 | 01 Teaching Residency in CA05 | 06 – 05 | 08 Los Angeles Theatre Center Season including HOME + Skin06 | 16 – 06| 18 HOME at Gibney Dance in collaboration with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance

Communal outreach resides at the forefront of BC + A’s mission with the consistent endeavor to provide artistic, accessible and educational platforms that anyone, from any background, can connect to. From open rehearsals to lecture/demonstrations to opportunities to engage in our creative process, our desire is to disseminate self-empowerment concepts and collaborative mechanisms to our audiences and students that guide our company practice.

PERFORMANCESBryn Cohn and Artists is available for professionally presented performances in an array of venues from proscenium stages to site-specific work to museums + galleries. BC + A can travel as a full company or with selected performers to fufill presenters’ needs, showing between 10 to 120 minutes of work. COMMISSIONSBryn Cohn resets company repertory + creates new work for ballet and modern dance companies, universities and colleges as well as commercials and film. Past commissions include: California State University, Fullerton, Grand Valley State University, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Billy Bell’s Lunge Dance, Youth America Grand Prix, Bayonne High School + The Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program among others. Existing works can be tailored to accommodate specific number of dancers. EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY //Bryn Cohn + Artists’ pedagogical philosophy provides students of all ages and varying abilities the freedom to explore representations of who they are as individuals and as artists by providing an open and intimate environment to delve into technical and performative practices. BC + A teaches single classes, workshops, intensives and residencies as well as lecture/demonstrations for professional or non-professional college level and K-12 dancers.SAMPLE CLASSES //TechniqueClass begins with a somatic and imagery-filled improvisation emphasizing initiation points, texture and organic sensation in relation to gravity. Through physical and cognitive entry points, dancers are seamlessly led into momentum-driven sequences that challenge stability and discover limitless dynamic possibility. Accent, gesture and attention to detail are layered to hone each dancer’s unique voice and stylistic palette while maintaining active cognizance to form and anatomy. An eclectic array of music is used, from electronic to hip-hop to classical, as a vehicle to provoke thoughtful decision-making and rhythmic sensitivity.

PartneringClass breaks down the mechanics of partnering as a way to deepen visceral consciousness and to interface with one another with authenticity and vulnerability. Exercises examine variations of touch, momentum, weight bearing, manipulation, energy levels and counterbalance. Structured and improvisational prompts cultivate intimacy and connection while providing space to investigate one’s creative voice and the collective energy in the room.Repertory BC + A repertory incorporates fall and recovery, spatial patterning, intricate floor work and rigor with strong emphasis on focus and expressivity. Phrasework encourages an intuitive coupling between specificity and sweeping motion, shape and circularity, and the ability to morph from one physical state into the next. The dancers will not only learn material generated by BC + A but will also submerge into an experimental process based on movement, dialogue, writing, props and scenic design. CompositionChoreography classes supply dancers with the fundamental tools to construct dances based on spatial dynamics, time, movement invention, architecture and choreographic direction. Students are given prompts such as self-identity portraits, “my turn your turn” partnering strategies and methods of collaboration to build larger ensemble structures. Students will work individually and collectively to discover their directorial voices and transfer inspiration and creativity into complex and clear vision. After the creation stage, we will discuss the works in terms what we see and what meaning, theme, motif or narrative we may infer from our observations.

OUTREACH

CONTACT

Thank you for your interest in Bryn Cohn + Artists! For more information + booking inquiries, please contact us.

Bryn CohnArtistic Director

bryncohnandartists@gmail.com818 // 426 // 5600

Rachel AbrahamsDirector of Education + Outreach

rachel.bryncohnandartists@gmail.com

Yuliya RomanskayaGeneral Operations

yuliya.bryncohnandartists@gmail.com

KEEP IN TOUCH!

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*Photography by Jaqi Medlock, Karen Pomarico + Krista Bonura*