Written by: Scott Lindberg of the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography
MANCC artist Joanna Kotze is among many dance artists whose creative work has been redirected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially slated to begin working in a MANCC residency in Spring of 2020 on her project in development, ‘lectric Eye, Joanna and the MANCC staff pivoted, supporting Joanna and her collaborators through new means as the pandemic permitted. This resulted in a solo residency, where Joanna and her collaborator/composer Ryan Seaton (who worked remotely) worked with MANCC Media Specialist Chris Cameron in December of 2020 to produce their collaborative dance film, Nothing’s changed except for everything, which premiered on mancc.org in January of 2022.Nothing’s changed except for everything is available to watch on mancc.org until February 12, 2022. Joanna and the MANCC staff will be hosting a discussion with selected School of Dance classes about the film in March of 2022 via virtual means.
Joanna returned to MANCC in December of 2021 to work on the evening length ensemble dance work, ‘lectric Eye, with her collaborators Wendell Gray II, Molly Heller, Symara Johnson, and Seaton. During this residency, Kotze worked with six students and alumni from Florida State University’s School of Dance to help develop this work by seeing what a larger version of her existing movement could offer, and shared the work in development, along with the completed film with students and faculty.Joanna and her collaborators were joined by writer and artist Lauren Slone, an FSU alum, at the invitation of Joanna, supported through the Embedded Writer Program. Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since 2015, the Embedded Writer initiative is designed to support the re-imagining of dance writing conventions to better respond to and engage with a wider range of ever-evolving contemporary forms.‘lectric Eye will premiere at The Space at Irondale, Brooklyn, NY, Feb. 9-12, 2022 at 7:30pm ET. There will be a live stream option to view ‘lectric Eye on Feb. 12, 2022 at 7:30pm ET (https://irondale.org/).Joanna’s residencies have been funded with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (Embedded Writer Program), and the Sustainable Arts Foundation for parent-artists.mancc.org/artists/joanna-kotze