MANCC Forward Dialogues

Artist Laboratory | August 11 – 24, 2024

With renewed support from the National Endowment for the Arts, MANCC hosted the third iteration of its early career artist laboratory, MANCC Forward Dialogues (MFD). First implemented in 2017, MFD is designed to support and catalyze the ideas of emergent practices by movement-based artists by providing access to a stimulating environment that encourages experimentation, exploration and collaborative exchange in a facilitated, process-oriented laboratory setting. This year’s 14-day laboratory was designed and co-led by interdisciplinary artist Yanira Castro, choreographer, performer, and video artist Makini, and executive director of Kelly Strayhorn Theater Joseph Hall. 

Based on nominations from field leaders nation-wide including U.S. territories and prior MFD participants from 2017 and 2019, movement-based makers based around the country were invited to apply for the lab with a chosen collaborator. The facilitators then selected seven artist pairs from the applications based on 1) their demonstrated commitment to artistic practice and experimentation, 2) their vision for the future of personal creative practice, 3) having an openness to discourse and collaborative inquiry, and 4) expressing a strong desire to be a part of a working lab with peers that prioritizes the generative exchange of ideas. 

The seven collaborative pairs of artists chosen for the 2024 MFD residency were: Antonius Tin Bui (CT) and Jeric Smith (WA), Benji Hart (IL) and Edrimael Delgado Reyes (PR), Caleb Dowden (LA) and HighHealDoula (LA), Majesty Royale (NC) and Graciella Ye’Tsunami (NY), Kimiko Tanabe (NY) and Nora Alami (IL), John Maria Gutierrez (NY) and Irisdelia Garcia (NY), and Rebecca Fitton (CA) and Emily Hansel (CA). 

The process-oriented lab fostered critical thinking through peer-showings, facilitated dialogue, reflective writing, explorations in the studio, and through documentation that assisted in the development, examination, and articulation of their nascent choreographic ideas. They attended guest lectures from David Thomson (Investing in Yourself: Supporting the individual to facilitate the artist) and Celeste C. Smith with Thomson (Making Money Work Together: Conversations for the field and for artists). The group also participated in an open conversation on collaboration, music, and sound design with FSU Assistant Professor Farai Malianga. The program, in turn, aids MANCC in developing relationships with the next generation of dance makers by learning about and supporting their evolving artistic practices. 

Outside of the studio, participants furthered their research through entry points, supported by MANCC’s Research Associate: 

• Hearing from Andrew Frank, Allen Morris Professor of History and Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center on FSU Campus, who specializes in the history of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. 

• Meeting with Nina Stark, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida, to discuss her research and work alongside coastal ecosystems.  

• Meeting with School of Dance Associate Professor Tiffany Rhynard regarding her research and documentary film work. 

• Meeting with School of Dance Chair and Professor Anjali Austin to discuss her history, research, and exhibit of her family’s quilts at the Museum of Fine Arts on FSU campus.  

• Observing a FAMU Marching 100 Band rehearsal. 

• Sharing ideas on crafting comedic performance with local artistic directors of Mickey Faust Theatre, Terry Galloway and FSU Professor Donna Nudd. 

• Engaging with the Special Collections Archive at FSU Strozier Library in search of ancient texts and herbal documentation. 

The laboratory culminated with a work-in-progress sharing from each collaborative pair of artists. 

MANCC Forward Dialogues was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

For more information on the 2024 MANCC Forward Dialogues, see Artist Participant Resource Packet PDF. 

Artist Laboratory | August 2 – 15, 2019

With generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, MANCC was thrilled to host the second iteration of its early career artist laboratory, MANCC Forward Dialogues (MFD). Piloted in 2017, this program is designed to support and catalyze the ideas of emergent movement-based artists by providing access to a stimulating environment that encourages experimentation, exploration, and life-long learning.

While MANCC has primarily served mid-career professional artists since its founding in 2004, this initiative aids in developing relationships with the next generation of dance makers by learning about and supporting their evolving artistic practices. In August 2019, MANCC Forward Dialogues hosted seven collaborative pairs of artists in a 14-day immersive lab. This year’s pairs included Chicago-based Joanna Furnans and Christine Wallers; Los Angeles-based DaEun Jung and Melody Shim; and New York City-based artists Beatrice Capote and Farai Malinga; Londs Reuter and Jacob Slominski; J. Bouey and Peter Louis ‘Tear-Drop’ Mercedes-Phipp; Ashley Yergens and Eli Tamondong; and Kim Savarino and Lai Yi Ohlsen. New this year, MANCC also hosted an emerging writer, Melanie Greene (dance artist and contributing writer for The Dance Enthusiast, Dance Magazine, and co-host of the Dance Union Podcast), and an emerging documentarian, Jessica Juachon (2019 MS in Public Interest Media and Communication, with a certificate in Digital Media Production, FSU). All 16 artists worked to further their practices within the larger group setting of the lab.

Movement-based makers were invited to apply based on nominations from field leaders nation-wide and prior participants from 2017. Selection, handled by the program facilitators, was based on 1) a demonstrated commitment to artistic practice, 2) a vision for the future of one’s creative practice, and 3) an openness to collaboration. As a means of fostering a sense of community and building relationships within and across the dance/performance field, each applicant was asked to propose one peer, or collaborator, to bring with them to MANCC. These collaborators, who ranged from performer, composer, visual artist, writer, scholar, Korean opera singer, and DJ, acted as thinking partners to develop ideas at and beyond their time at MANCC.

Facilitating the program were field-leaders in dance and performance: Yolanda Cesta Cursach, who is an independent curator and creative producer, Artistic Director at High Concept Labs, and former Curator of Performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Gesel Mason, a nationally recognized choreographer and faculty member in dance at the University of Texas at Austin; and Ishmael Houston-Jones, an award-winning choreographer, author, performer, teacher, and curator. Throughout the laboratory experience, participants had various opportunities to engage with and seek feedback from these three highly respected experts in the field. Additionally, New York City based writer, critic, and curator Eva Yaa Asantewaa led a one-day writing ritual for all participants.

Throughout MFD, participants engaged in a process-oriented lab that fostered critical thinking through peer-showings, facilitated dialogue, reflective writing, explorations in the studio, and documentation in order to develop, examine, and articulate their nascent choreographic ideas. They also had opportunities to further their research outside of the studio through tours at the Riley House Museum (a historic home that serves as an archive of Tallahassee’s flourishing African American community in the early 1900s) and The National Magnet Lab at FSU (magnetic research facility that is the largest and highest powered of its kind in the world) . The laboratory culminated with work-in-progress sharings from all of the artists.

MANCC Forward Dialogues was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the writing components, as part of MANCC’s Embedded Writers Initiative. Funding was also provided by the Sustainable Arts Foundation to support parent artists in residence.

Participant Resource Packet PDF

Artist Laboratory | May 15 – 25, 2017

As a part of its mission to raise the value of the creative process in dance, MANCC piloted a new program, MANCC Forward Dialogues (MFD), with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This new laboratory program was designed to support and catalyze the ideas of emergent movement-based artists by providing access to a stimulating environment that encourages experimentation, exploration, and life-long learning.

While MANCC has primarily served mid-career artists, this new initiative aids in developing relationships with the next generation of dance makers by learning about and supporting their evolving artistic practices. MANCC Forward Dialogues hosted nine collaborative pairs of artists in a 10-day immersive lab. Candidates were invited to apply based on nominations from field leaders nation-wide. Selection was based on 1) a demonstrated commitment to artistic practice, 2) a vision for the future of one’s creative practice, and 3) an openness to collaboration. As a means of fostering a sense of community and building relationships within and across the dance/performance field, each applicant was asked to propose one peer to bring with them, in cohort, to MANCC. Collaborators ranged from intellectual to artistic, including performers, composers, designers, writers, filmmakers, and dramaturgs, who acted as thinking partners to develop ideas at and beyond the time spent at MANCC.

Selecting the participating pairs and facilitating the program were field-leaders in dance and performance: New York City based writer and critic Eva Yaa Asantewaa; Curator of Performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Yolanda Cesta Cursach; and choreographer and Assistant Professor of Dance at University of Colorado-Boulder Gesel Mason. Participants engaged in a process-oriented lab that fostered critical thinking through peer-showings, facilitated dialog, reflective writing, explorations in the studio, and documentation in order to develop, examine, and articulate their nascent choreographic ideas.

MFD participants were provided the following resource packet at the beginning of the lab, which provides an overview of the intentions of the lab and schedule of activities as well as the bios and headshots of all the participant artists and facilitators.

Participant Resource Packet PDF