Year: 2025-2026
DanceForce Member: Jim Self
Partnering DanceForce Member: Ivan Sygoda
Artists: Troy Lingelbach; Jim Self
Community Partners: Cherry Arts Space; Circus Culture; Hupstate Circus Festival
Audience: 240
County: Tompkins
DanceForce Project 2025/26 will be in two parts including a creative residency with Brooklyn based aerial dancer Troy Lingelbach, and June Dance 2026 performances at the Cherry Arts featuring Tompkins County artists.
Troy Lingelbach is an exceptional aerial dancer and burlesque artist whose work blends circus, storytelling and acrobatic dance forms. Troy’s past work chronicles journeys of discovery within the movement arts as well as investigations of gender and sexual expressions. The one week residency in Ithaca focuses on creating a new piece, (working title ‘Semilla’), and will take place in April 2026 as part of a co-hosting collaboration with HupState Circus’ residency program at Saltonstall Foundation. Circus Culture Ithaca will provide studios for trapeze work, and the new creation will be premiered at HupState Circus Festival in September 2026. Troy has a BFA in Musical Theatre, has also worked in cabaret and television, and has an excellent ability to tell compelling stories of growth and becoming, all while inventing exciting and daring new movement phrases that perfectly embody the narratives. Troy has brought brilliant and fresh innovations to Tompkins County as a Saltonstall ‘Circus Arts Resident’ in 2024, and a featured performer in 2024’s HupState Circus Festival. Ithaca will have the great pleasure of seeing a return of Troy’s ‘International Lover’ for June Dance 2025. It stands out in performance-art and dance/aerial presentations for its nuanced musicality and powerful, yet humble presence. It is ground breaking in the clarity and ease of expressing complex, exciting and dynamic material. The 2026 residency includes two informal showings and two workshops, reaching up to 100 people.
Showcasing Tompkins County talent, 4 -5 performer/choreographers will be selected from Ithaca’s own movement artists for June Dance 2026 at the Cherry – June 1-7, 2026. Choreographers and artists of different genres will be invited to present pieces on subjects of their choice. Works will include a wide range of ages and demographics. June Dance has had great success with participants from all age decades (20’s though 70’s). The exact lineup will be finalized by February of 2026. Two performances will host up to 140 people.
June Dance at the Cherry was born in 2021 as the world slowly emerged from the pandemic isolation. It continues to be a vital and diverse venue for movement artists of all persuasions to present their ideas, experiment, and engage with the public.
Troy Lingelbach’s residency and June Dance 2026 continues an active strategy of celebrating and supporting Tompkins County artists, while hosting guest movement artists of exceptional quality. Having Troy as a multiple-time visiting artist is one the best embodiments of this strategy. It allows for real, lasting and valuable relationships with the dance, circus, and performance-art communities that cannot be over-stated.