Year: 2025-2026
DanceForce Member: Glenna Yu
Artists: Olivia Avanzato; Djahari Clark; Christy Funsch; Zay Thurgood; Glenna Yu
Audience: 25
County: Delaware

This project brings together five movement artists for a long-term, structured space to connect, exchange ideas, and support one another. Meeting once a month for five months beginning in July 2025, the group will gather in a central location, likely Delhi, to accommodate artists based throughout Delaware and Otsego County.

Each artist will take a turn leading a 2-3 hour exploration for each session, which could take the form of a choreographic experiment, an improvisation workshop, a discussion on resource-sharing, or a space to gather feedback on an ongoing project. The group provides dedicated time for artists to engage in whatever aspect of their practice feels most urgent. The focus is on fostering meaningful engagement and collaboration between the artists without the expectation of a public showing. Invited artists are required to commit to attend every meeting. Because this is a deeper commitment, artists are compensated for their time.

Multiple movement artists have expressed the desire to come together in community with other movers and have a dedicated, structured space – without having to be the one to lead and drive every meeting. This working group is designed to address this desire and the local dance community by building relationships between artists who may not often collaborate. The sessions will remain intimate to build deeper trust between the members, but the impact extends beyond its members, enriching the broader creative ecosystem by fostering deeper connections and collective knowledge-sharing.