The MFA in Dance: Interdisciplinary Research at New York University program provides a laboratory for established artists, makers, and practitioners to reimagine and enact dance through a range of collaborative and self directed research, from the speculative to the practical.

SYMPHONY

ABOUT

In her new solo, SYMPHONY, marion spencer investigates the archive from her lineage and daily life, asking what we hold onto and why in a world of imminent climate catastrophe.

CREDITS

Choreography, performance, sound design and projection by marion spencer

BIOS

marion spencer is a Bessie-nominated artist living in Lenapehoking/Brooklyn. Through a weaving of artistic mediums including movement, sound and installation, marion’s works create poetic ecosystems within which to wonder, feel & dream, excavating the personal, the systemic, the unknown, the wild, the experimental, the cellular and the beautiful. Her work has been presented by Roulette Intermedium, Center for Performance Research, Danspace Project, Gibney, New Dance Alliance, Movement Research at Judson Church, Triskelion Arts, and more. She has been an artist in residence at The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Field Center, Amherst College, Mana Contemporary, Gibney, New Dance Alliance and more. marion also teaches Pilates and is a Craniosacral Therapist. She is a graduate student at NYU Tisch, earning her MFA in Dance: Interdisciplinary Research.

Paper Dragon: Five Elements Matrix

ABOUT

Xin Ying’s Paper Dragon: Five Elements Matrix is an interdisciplinary performance that incorporates movements and sounds into the five-elements-matrix, creating a new ritualistic form for all transplants who are uprooted from where their traditional rituals are rooted.

CREDITS

Created by Xin Ying
Collaboration with Eng Kian Ooi, Candice Wu, Bárbara Moreira da Silva

BIOS

Xin Ying, choreographer, principal dancer of Martha Graham Dance Company, Dance Magezine October 2020 cover star. In 2008 she received the China Dance Lotus Award. Her work was commissioned by Martha Graham Dance Company, Ballet West Academy, Ballet Arkansas, Colab Dance, Art Bath. Performed in Guggenheim Museum, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, Graham Center. As she completes her MFA at NYU, she has created a costume-trained GPT for Graham Company, MarthaBot. Her project Lamentation: Dancing the Archive, using volumetric film and AR tracking technology, received the Google Grant Award, it is set to premiere at Jacob’s Pillow in the summer of 2025. And Letter to Nobody, a collaboration with media that allows her to dance with Martha Graham, and which is receiving its world premiere during this season at The Joyce.

Eng Kian Ooi, born and raised in Malaysia, studied dance at Wichita State University, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. He has performed with various contemporary dance companies in New York and with national and international tours of “The King and I”

Bárbara, an interdisciplinary creator and researcher, investigates the connections between
macroscopic existence, creation, and the microscopic material body. She emphasizes the interplay of voice/music with dance and explores the significance of the gut microbiome and gut-brain axis in understanding bodily materiality. She is currently pursuing her studies in NYU’s Gallatin MA program. Program.

SF-native Candice Wu is a Chinese-American singer-songwriter, movement artist, and creative currently based in New York City. She hums and wiggles a whirlwind of identity crises and indecision intertwined with gratitude and acceptance. A curious traveler, beautiful people, experiences, and memories take shape in her music and movement. a Masters in Songwriting from NYU, she is set to release her first single later this Summer.