The Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant for Queer Women(+) Dance Artists supports new cutting-edge dance and movement-based performance work by self-identified women, gender-nonconforming, and non-binary artists.
“Folks who care about the art of dance—an art of the moving body in time and space—try to preserve its wonders against disappearance. In a society ambivalent about, and sometimes hostile to, both the body and its artistry, lovers of dance honor the body in all of its variations, its rich stories, its wisdom and creative expression. With this award, we seek to record and honor the creative innovation and labor of queer women dance artists. To acknowledge them as full humans and artists informed and nourished by love, by experience, and by culture. To support and revere our artists for exactly and completely who they are; so they know a fierce community of peers, elders, and ancestors has got their back; and to make our world a safer, more empowering place for queer artists and, in truth, for all artists and for all people.”
— Eva Yaa Asantewaa
ABOUT
The Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant for Queer Women(+) Dance Artists is a new $7,000 grant awarded to US-based artists for making cutting-edge dance and movement-based performance work. Women(+): The Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant employs an expansive definition of the word “woman." Queer|Art strongly encourages self-identified women, gender-nonconforming, and non-binary artists to apply. The 2020 grant is administered through Queer|Art by women(+) for women(+), including an intergenerational panel of judges from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Named in honor of visionary dance curator, critic, and educator Eva Yaa Asantewaa, the grant seeks to highlight the important contributions queer women have made to dance throughout history.
Applications for the Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant for Queer Women(+) Dance Artists were open August 21st – October 12th, 2020. Within the application process, funds can be requested to support work at any stage of development, from concept to presentation. Qualifying work may be dance and/or movement-based performance work of any format.
For questions, email Yaa Asantewaa Grant Manager Bree Breeden at bbreeden@queer-art.org.
SHANEL EDWARDS WINS THIRD ANNUAL
EVA YAA ASANTEWAA GRANT
FOR QUEER WOMEN(+) DANCE ARTISTS
Queer|Art is pleased to announce the winner of the Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant For Queer Women(+) Dance Artists, Shanel Edwards. Edwards will receive a $7,000 cash grant to support the development period of Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury, an archival choreopoem set to premiere in Summer 2021.
Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury ritualizes the mudanity of Black queer and trans experience by honoring and exploring practices of restoration. This choreo-poem captures moments outside of performance and centers rest in both bodies and spirits to counter the capitalistic structure of exhaustion. The development period will include three Black Queer and Trans movers recording where the mundane exists within themselves and around them. The documentation of the ritual recordings invites a process of discovery, connection, and self-restoration, and a cultivation of communal experiences.
Shanel Edwards, Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury, image still
Shanel Edwards, Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury, image still
Shanel Edwards, Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury, image still
Shanel Edwards, Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury, image still
About Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury by Shanel Edwards
In Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury, Edwards builds a collective of three Black queer and trans movers to create an archival choreopoem consisting of documentation that brings attention to mundane moments in these movers’ lives. The Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant supports the development of this multi-modal work that centers and ritualizes the mundanity of Black queer and trans experiences to express survival in ways that denounce capitalistic values of over-productivity and time scarcity.
The work evolves from a self-practice of Edwards who actively honors the mundane in their life as a ritual to support self-validation, rest, and liberation. To build the collective choreopoem, each mover will record the moments where mundanity exists for them: playing/stoop chilling/knitting/humming/silence/reading/filing nails/sitting by the ocean or river/nose picking/ear swabbing/brushing teeth/twisting hair/stillness/lotioning/laughing. These quiet moments of being call back rest and build a ritual guide through the subtleties of Black queer and trans survival. The movers will meet virtually to share findings, witness each other's process, provide expansive feedback, and locate commonalities and entry points in each other's experience. From this documentation ritual space, each mover will generate a transdisciplinary piece deepening their discoveries. The time spent documenting and gathering together to share and expand will facilitate the creation of movement sequences, songs, and poems that will make up the final choreopoem for presentation. With full autonomy over set design, attire, and how each mover's piece interacts with the collective choreopoem, this choreopeom is a culmination of each mover's discoveries.
Against a backdrop of horror, the mundane is almost a luxury will be presented in early Summer 2021 in a virtual platform. Live presentation and viewings will be subsequently scheduled depending on COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings.
2020 YAA ASANTEWAA GRANT FINALISTS
MurdaMommy
For Juke Town, an online multiplayer video game where characters can practice Chicago Footwork, socialize, and complete dance missions.
Anna Martine Whitehead
For FORCE! an opera in three acts, the story about women and femmes of color waiting to enter a prison and escape a memory-erasing mold.
Ogemdi Ude
For Dig/Hear/Sing/, a two-part project consisting of a book of dance scores and personal essays, and pop-up dance performances. The project explores death, loss, and mourning from a distinctly Black feminist perspective.
x senn_yuen
For The Dual Studies of Manic Transcendence, a dance-theatre piece, mockumentary, and archive that investigates the pitfalls of Western Medicine and the stigma of being a mentally ill, visibly Black person.
2020 YAA ASANTEWAA GRANT JUDGES
Torya Beard (New York) is a New York-based director, creative consultant/strategist, choreographer, and producer specializing in dance and theater. Her curvy professional path reflects a deep curiosity about and belief in the boundless possibilities at the intersection of creativity, artistic expression, and social justice. She studied dance at The University of Michigan and toured as a dancer with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, David Rousseve/Reality, The Kevin Wynn Collection, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Deeply Rooted Chicago Dance Theatre, the National Tour of Donald Byrd’s The Harlem Nutcracker, and was a featured dancer in the film “Idlewild.” She made her Broadway debut in "Disney’s The Lion King" (swing, dance captain, understudy Sarabi) and her favorite regional credit is "The Wiz," at Arkansas Repertory Theater. Torya’s passion for dance and theatre lead to 15-years in PR & Marketing as Owner/Creative Director of thatgirl006, Inc. Torya is Executive Director at A BroaderWay Foundation, Director of Original Tap House, Co-Founder of tall poPpy, Inc., Managing and Creative Director of Ayodele Casel's AyoLives, Inc., Arts Education Consultant for Excellence Community Schools, and serves on the Board of Directors for Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance.
Ni’Ja Whitson (California) is a Queer Nonbinary Trans multidisciplinary artist, Creative Capital and two-time "Bessie" Awardee, wound and word worker, referred to as “majestic” by The New York Times, and recognized by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. They engage transdisciplinarity through a critical intersection of the sacred and conceptual in Black, Queer, and Transembodiedness, site, science, body and spirit. Whitson is an 18th St. Artist in Residence (Los Angeles), Center for Performance Research artist in residence (NYC), featured choreographer of the 2018 CCA Biennial, 2018-2020 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Fellow, and invited presenter at the 2019 international Tanzkongress festival in Dresden, Germany. Their award-winning practice extends to conventional and experimental theatre, opera, and performance with recent commissions from Yale Dance Lab, Spoleto Festival (Omar an opera composed by Rhiannon Giddens, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite), EMPAC, and California African American Museum.
Leah Wilks (Brooklyn/ North Carolina) is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer originally hailing from North Carolina. She has taught and shared her work in a variety of locations including the American Dance Festival, Elon University, University of Michigan, Ponderosa Tanzland festival, Gibney Dance, the queer dance intensive Excessive Realness, the Hemispheric Institute’s Convergence - Toronto, and PROTEO|media+performance’s Post/Futures Festival. Most recently she has performed with real.live.people, BAND|portier, Sara Hook, Tommy DeFrantz/SLIPPAGE, Kristin Clotfelter/Studio C Projects, and in her own duet work with collaborator Mauriah Kraker under the moniker L+M. Leah holds an MFA in Dance and a certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she received the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for her pedagogical and mentorship work. She is also a gardener, musician, community organizer, elder companion, and writer. Leah’s current research revolves around thanatology (the study of death and dying practices), memory, queer systems of horizontal care, and the creation of monumental spaces through movement.
MEET OUR GRANT MANAGER
Bree Breeden is a freelance performing artist and teacher. She is from Cheraw, S.C. and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography from Montclair State in 2016. Currently, she is a dancer and the Managing Director for Proteo Media + Performance and dances with VON HOWARD PROJECT and MICHIYAYA Dance as well as other freelance performance projects. Bree has previously worked at Movement Research as Operations Associate and has worked with various NYC based dance companies providing administration support. She also choreographs and performs her own work which has been presented at Post/Future Performance Festival in 2020, Gibney Work Up program in 2019, at Embodied Spaces Festival in 2018, and at Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts dance talk series in 2016. She was awarded the Choreographic Excellence Award in 2015 and Outstanding Performer Award in 2016 from Montclair State University.
For questions related to the Yaa Asantewaa Grant, email Bree Breeden at bbreeden@queer-art.org.
APPLY
* Applications for the 2020 Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant For Queer Women(+) Dance Artists are currently closed. *
APPLICATIONS WERE OPEN - August 21, 2020
COMPLETE APPLICATION - October 12, 2020
AWARDEE ANNOUNCED - TBA 2021
***There is a $6 application fee***
Queer|Art uses the online application software SlideRoom to organize applications. SlideRoom charges applicants for the Eva Yaa Asantewaa Grant for Queer Women(+) Dance Artists a fee of $6 for each individual application. The fee does not profit Queer|Art.
What information does the application require?
Contact info, narrative bio, and headshot
Synopsis of project and strategy for presentation
Budget
Work samples (1-2 samples, no more than 7-10 minutes total)
2 professional references
CV
What is required in the synopsis and budget?
Synopsis:
1. Description of the project and the process by which it will be made. (Up to 800 words) *Required
2. What is your timeline for completing the work and strategy for its presentation? (Up to 400 words) * Required
3. Are there any additional aspects of this work you would like the judging panel to know? (Up to 400 words) *Not required
Budget (one page, uploaded as PDF):
Your budget should account for how the work will be made (you do not need to include presentation costs). If the cost of production exceeds the grant amount, please indicate within the budget any confirmed funding you have received or additional funding you anticipate that will enable you to complete this project.
ABOUT EVA YAA ASANTEWAA
Eva Yaa Asantewaa is Senior Curatorial Director of Gibney, New York’s acclaimed center for dance and social activism. She won the 2017 Bessie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance as a veteran writer, curator and community educator. Since 1976, she has contributed writing on dance to Dance Magazine, The Village Voice, SoHo Weekly News, Gay City News, The Dance Enthusiast, Time Out New York, and other publications.
Ms. Yaa Asantewaa joined the curatorial team for Danspace Project’s “Platform 2016: Lost and Found” and created the skeleton architecture, or the future of our worlds, an evening of group improvisation featuring 21 black women and gender-nonconforming performers. Her cast was awarded a 2017 Bessie for Outstanding Performer. As EYA Projects, she has begun partnerships with organizations such as Gibney, Abrons Arts Center, Dance/NYC, BAX, and Dancing While Black to curate and facilitate Long Table conversations on topics of concern in the dance/performance community.
She was a member of the inaugural faculty of Montclair State University’s MFA in Dance program and has also served on the faculty for New England Foundation for the Arts' Regional Dance Development Initiative Dance Lab 2016 for emerging Chicago-area dance artists. In May 2017, she served on the faculty for the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography's inaugural Forward Dialogues Dance Lab for Emerging Choreographers.
A native New Yorker of Black Caribbean heritage, Eva makes her home in the East Village with her wife, Deborah, and cat, Crystal.
YAA ASANTEWAA GRANT ARCHIVE
2019
2018