The Hybrid Lab: Conversations in Merging Dance Cultures at The Reach/The Kennedy Center 2022.
Amy O was invited by Marc Bamuthi Joseph to have a Social Impact/Office Hours Residency at The Reach, the newest space addition to The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. The invite happened in 2019 and as arrangements were being made to head to DC in 2020, covid-19 happened. Postponed to Fall of 2022, Amy O spent her week with dance artists Ardyn Flynt (LA) and Satori Folkes-Stone (NYC) reconnecting with “A Trio” as well as producing a studio version of The Hybrid Lab: Conversations in Merging Dance Cultures.
In collaboration with dani tirell (then Artistic Director of Dance Place DC and long time colleague) DC based artists were invited to share work and sit down for a conversation with each other as well as a few curator/arts administrators. Each artist merges forms both within and outside of Black social dance culture and participate and share their work within different performance contexts. The conversation centered around the specific context of The Kennedy Center as a historically PWI (predominantly white institution) and how this work can be in relationship with these spaces in a way that is true to the communities
Curated by Amy O’Neal and dani tirell
Facilitated by Amy O’Neal
Participating Dance Artists:
Holly Bass
Project ChArma
Chitra Moves
Lauren DeVera/The Lion’s Den
Amy O’Neal's “A Trio”