It's Showtime NYC!
(NY)
2024
It’s Showtime NYC! in its 10th year of activity, has become one of the largest street dance programs and companies in New York City. A program of the Bronx, NY based non-profit organization Dancing in the Streets, It’s Showtime NYC! provides performance and professional development opportunities to NYC’s self-taught street and subway dancers as a legal alternative to dancing in subway cars. It’s Showtime NYC! dancers have created a number of pieces and commissioned major new works from international dance makers such as Adesola Osakalumi (Bronx), Anne Nguyen (Paris) and Faustin Linyekula (Congo). The group were the first resident street dance company with monthly performances at The MET Museum’s 2018-2019 #MetLiveArts season, received commissions from Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Abrons Arts Center, the Shed, NOoSPHERE Arts, and HarlemStage, collaborated with the NY Philharmonic in a partnership with Casita Maria and Bill T. Jones at the Park Avenue Armory, and has been invited to perform at Summerstage, Jacobs Pillow, Lincoln Center, Wave Hill, Jamaica Performing Arts Center, Barclay’s, Apollo, Bryant Park Dance Series, Brooklyn Bridge Park. Program members participated in cultural exchanges at La Place – centre culturel hip-hop and Centre National de la Danse (Paris), and in Rio de Janeiro for Ocupação Desmistifique and in Belgium. In 2018 dancers were Gibney’s DiP Artist-in-residence. Other residencies included MANCC, The Anderson Center in Minnesota, Bethany Arts Community, Bridge Street Theatre, Governor’s Island, Herbert Von King Cultural Arts Center, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. In 2020 It’s Showtime NYC! was nominated for a 2020 Bessie Award for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer.
Pyramid
Visiting Artists | September 22 – October 4, 2024
Collaborators in Residence: Cal Hunt [Choreographer], Drew “Jumbie” Smart, Nazier “Bless” Morales, Anthony “Laiden” John, Quinn “Q” Brown, Christopher “Venxm” Brathwaite, Rheanna “WiildKard” Nance, Marie “Rogue” Borden [Performers], Johnathan “Akuma” Moore [Cellist]
It’s Showtime NYC!, a company of dancers with an acclaimed history of performing on New York’s streets and subways, joined MANCC in September. During this residency the company worked to further develop their latest work Pyramid, employing both original musical composition and dance to embody an artistic trade-off that animates each dancers’ daily struggles and triumphs as live building blocks of the pyramid. The collaboration between composer and cellist Jonathan “Akuma” Moore and each dancer investigates the notion, “This is how you sound to me.” As the pyramid deconstructs, choreographer and 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.
During the residency, It’s Showtime NYC! met with Farai Malianga, an Assistant Professor in the School of Dance, in the recording studio. Malianga generously offered his time and expertise to record some of Moore’s compositions for the company’s upcoming performances. The group also had the opportunity to participate in a vocal projection workshop with FSU Assistant Professor of Music Theatre, Alisa Hauser. In performance, the company vocalizes chants and dialogue on stage, and Professor Hauser was able to offer them tools and exercises to utilize the power of their vocal range and timbre.
The group also had a costume consultation with School of Dance Costume Shop Manager, Katrina Lundquist. The company took a tour of the shop and had the opportunity to ask questions about costumes, specific materials, and construction tips. School of Dance Lighting Designer and Full Professor Russell Sandifer also met with members of the company to consult on lighting the work.
Even through disruptions to their residency due to Hurricane Helene, the group continued to rehearse and dive deeper into their creative process. Their residency concluded with a high-energy masterclass led by Cal Hunt and Quinn “Qu” Brown, made possible with funding from the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation. 40+ students, faculty, and community members filled the studio to learn street styles flexN and Lite feet from masters in these forms. They were introduced to some basics of the styles as well as some of the history which derived from New York City. The 90-minute masterclass was followed by a 90-minute jam session that allowed participants to apply new techniques along with their own style.
It’s Showtime NYC!’s residency was supported by the Artist Communities Alliance (ACA) 2023-2024 Howard Gilman + Mertz Gilmore Pilot Consortium Program.
