OBSERVATIONS: DANIELLE RUSSO & CHRISTOPHER-RASHEEM MCMILLAN

OBSERVATIONS: DANIELLE RUSSO & CHRISTOPHER-RASHEEM MCMILLAN

AN EVENING OF WITNESSING DANCE

SINCE THOU WAST PRECIOUS IN MY SIGHT, VOL. 2 and The Pew both use ritual, resistance, and desire as catalysts for locating the catharsis of grief between, in, and through the body. In Russo’s SINCE THOU WAST PRECIOUS IN MY SIGHT, VOL. 2, Kevin Shannon and Jaruam Xavier engage in a highly athletic duel confronting habits, desires, and grievances to submit. When cycles of will and expectation transcend into the ritualized, what is the endurance, the ceiling, the surrender of trust and conviction? She draws upon themes of original sin, obedience, penance, and absolution from her own experience with Catholic devotions. In Mcmillan’s The Pew, religious in nature, stages the black body as a site for resistance, regeneration, and reconstruction by mobilising the intertextual residue left behind by/in Talley Beatty's The Mourner’s Bench (1947). By investigating his own spiritual background and that of other black queer people, he created an autobiographical performance inspired by the embodiment of spiritual release that one can find in black religiosity and the evangelical church. The works together question presence and absence of religious iconography and martyrdom in the bodily archive.

As a choreographer, Danielle Russo has been presented nationally at American Dance Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and The Yard; and internationally in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden. Residency and fellowship awards have included C.N.N. - Ballet de Lorraine (FR), Danscentrum Jette (BE), Nadine Laboratory for the Contemporary Arts (BE), Independent Artists Initiative WUK (AT), Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation (US), LEIMAY (US), Mana Contemporary (US), Performing Arts Forum (FR), and Springboard Danse Montréal (CA), among others. She is a multi-year grant recipient of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs through the Brooklyn Arts Council, Carnegie, Dance/NYC, Harkness Foundation for Dance, One Brooklyn Fund, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Highlights include Armory Arts Week, Julian Schnabel’s Casa del Popolo, Governors Island, HERE Arts Center, The High Line Nine, Lincoln Center for Performing Arts at Damrosch Park, Moynihan Station, The Oculus at the World Trade Center, Place des Arts, and Solange Knowles’s Saint Heron. Her work concentrates on performance and interactive technologies for unconventional ‘stages’ and environments, frequently in the public realm. (For more information, please visit www.drpp.nyc.) Outside of her own devising, Danielle performed for several seasons with The Metropolitan Opera. She holds BFA in Dance and a BA in Anthropology from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and an MFA in Dance from Hollins University/ADF. As an educator, Danielle has served on faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, University of Iowa, CUNY Queens College, and The Joffrey Ballet School BFA and Professional Divisions. Most recently, she was appointed to the rank of Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University.

The interdisciplinary artist, choreographer and scholar Christopher-Rasheem McMillan is an assistant professor of dance theory and practice and of gender, women’s and sexuality studies at the University of Iowa. McMillan earned a BA from Hampshire College, an MFA in experimental choreography from the Laban Conservatoire, London and a PhD in theology and religious studies from King’s College London. In 2020, McMillan was appointed a fellow at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in Theology and the Arts, and he was named a Resident Fellow at New York University’s Center for Ballet and the Arts in 2021. Currently, he is completing a fellowship at the Center for Afrofuturist Studies. McMillan’s performance works have been featured at venues such as the Bates Dance Festival of Bates College, Providence International Arts Festival (PVD), the Dance Complex and Green Street Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts as well as in performance platforms such as the participatory event Beyond Text, London (2011). He has performed and collaborated with artist such as T. J. Dedeaux-Norris, Wendy Woodson, Netta Yerushalmy, Cathy Nicoli and Jonathan Gonzalez. His writing has appeared in multiple journals, including The Journal of Dance, Movement & Spiritualities, Liminalities and Contact Quarterly.

Kevin J. Shannon is a potter, dancer, and teacher living in Chicago. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland and is a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts. He received additional training from the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Paul Taylor, and Springboard Danse Montréal. After receiving his BFA from The Juilliard School, Kevin was invited to join Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. While a company dancer with Hubbard Street from 2007 to 2022, he had the privilege to perform works by Kyle Abraham, Aszure Barton, Alejandro Cerrudo, Peter Chu, Sharon Eyal, William Forsythe, Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, Robyn Mineko Williams, among many others. As an educator, he has led and programmed the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Summer Intensive and is currently a guest teacher for Hubbard Street’s main company and José Limón Dance Company. He has been a visiting artist for the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and has served as faculty for The Joffrey Ballet School, Gibney Dance NYC, Chicago Movement Collective, Youth American Grand Prix, and Peridance Center. In addition, Kevin is a certified IMAGE TECH for dancers™ teacher. Kevin is currently dancing with Flockworks Dance, Brian Brooks/Moving Company, and Danielle Russo.

Jaruam Xavier is a professional dancer of Brazilian heritage who has performed for numerous companies and choreographers in Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and the United States. He was a company member of Brazil’s preeminent Balé da Cidade de São Paulo from 2008 to 2018, where he was featured in the works of Mauro Bigonzetti, Alexander Ekman, Andonis Foniadakis, Itzik Galili, Francesca Harper, André Mesquita, Ohad Naharin, and Cayetano Soto. As a choreographer, he delves into the exploration of Anthropophagic Body Formation, a methodology he employs to articulate the assimilation of knowledge through the embodiment of dance and cultural hybridity. His works bear the influence of Candomblé, Capoeira, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, evident in their distinctive traits. He has received prestigious fellowships, scholarships, and grants, enabling him to conduct research on Capoeira and Candomblé, both African-Brazilian diasporic embodied practices. Jaruam has been actively involved as a teaching assistant for the Brazilian Cultural and Carnival, sharing his expertise and passion. In his artistic journey, he has collaborated with renowned programs such as the International Writing Program and the Grant Wood Art Colony at the University of Iowa, where he was also appointed rehearsal director for Flockworks Dance. Most recently, he was invited as an Artist in Residence at Art Omi and is working for Stephanie Miracle, Danielle Russo, and Kieron Dwayne Sargeant. Currently, he is an MFA candidate in Dance with a focus on Choreography at the University of Iowa.

@drpp.nyc, @ms_russo, @geekonfire413

Photo by Danielle Russo and M.SM.