MeenMoves Presents
International Women’s Day of Dance
March 8, 2024 at 5:00pm
Riverview-Fisk Park in the Jersey City Heights
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HDC II
Sameena Mitta, Harkness Dance Center Mentor
“4th Wave”
Choreographed and performed by Angelina Alejo, Angelina Kwan,
Jesse Uppal, Mikaylah Arce, Tessa Slyz
Music composed and performed by Gracie Duggan
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MeenMoves
Sameena Mitta, Artistic Director
“Truth or Savagery”
Performed by Chelsea Hecht, Paulina Meneses
Music composed and edited by Stephanie Griffin (Excerpt from “For Joni” 2023)
Music performed by Tessa Brinckman: alto flute; Stephanie Griffin: viola; live recording by John Gurrin, and live recording of Arundhati Roy in Come September
Costume Design by Sarah Timberlake
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JENNIFERCHINdance
Jennifer Chin, Artistic Director
“Territories”
Choreographed and performed by Jennifer Chin
Original music by Sun Hee Kil
Costume by Patti Gilstrap
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Alexandra Williamson
Alexandra Williamson, Artistic Director
“Reelism”
Performed and choreographed by Alexandra Williamson
Music composed and performed live by Alan Murray
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COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
Led by Alexandra Williamson
Let’s learn the JIG!
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Alexandra Williamson
Alexandra Williamson, Artistic Director
“Rooting: A Suite of Sorts” Excerpt (2021)
Performed and choreographed by Alexandra Williamson
Music by The Bothy Band, “Fionnghuala”
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🕵️♀️ ABOUT THE WORKS
4th Wave is a dance piece choreographed by 92nd St Y Harkness Dance Center students with live musical accompaniment composed by Gracie Duggan. It is inspired by the waves of feminism and the movements that have paved their way. These young dancemakers are standing up – or rather dancing up – for what they believe in.
Truth of Savagery is a duet with music composed by Stephanie Griffin, text by Arundhati Roy and choreography by Sameena Mitta. It explores individuality and trust, conflict and safety, and the boundary between honesty and cruelty.
Alexandra Williamson will present two pieces rooted in traditional Irish dance and music. The first piece, Reelism, starts with a landscape, a soundscape, an abstraction. The piece then progresses to a swing, rise, and fall. We then build to be faster and more defined. If it were a painting: Water colors to pointillism to colored pencils. We’re interested in theme and variation, patterns, cycles, and palindromes. The second piece is an excerpt from Alexandra’s 2021 piece, Rooting: A Suite of Sorts.
Over the past 7 years Jennifer Chin has taken a deep dive into her past. Investigating her ancestral history and how it lives in her genes. In what way does it move her blood, flesh, and bone? The latest project is titled, A Love Letter, an homage to her Asian heritage and community. Spurred by the increase in racist attacks towards those of Asian descent, Jennifer is taking an expansive look at what it means to be AAPI. For International Women’s Day, she will present a solo extracting from her duet Trespass, the solo Territories creates the spaces in which one can feel either safe or caged. Both pieces are part of the project, A Love Letter.
👩🎨 BIOS
MeenMoves creates socially relevant, quirky, highly technical dance-theater works for stage and film. Under the artistic direction of Sameena Mitta, MeenMoves explores issues of race, religion and other questions of identity, focusing on the unique perspectives of those who check “none-of-the-above.” MeenMoves aims to reflect a diversity of worldviews on stage, offer audiences free or pay-what-you-can options, and present work in community-centered venues and other non-traditional settings to welcome audiences who may not otherwise turn to or have access to dance. Mitta has a diverse cultural background, holds an MA in Dance Creation from UQAM and is a Canadian immigrant to the US. Her work is stylistically informed by Cecchetti ballet, Limón, and physical theater. She advocates for diversity in dance and has sat on multiple dance juries in Canada and the USA. In process and product, MeenMoves aims to amplify the voices of underrepresented creatives of color, particularly those of Muslim women. MeenMoves has presented choreography at NJPAC, 92NY, Little Island, Judson Memorial Church, BAM Fisher, and at many other venues in the New York City area and around the world. In 2017 MeenMoves presented the evening-length alternative f(A)cts to sold-out houses at The Martha Graham Studio Theater. Current projects include Fe in collaboration with composer Stephanie Griffin (premiering in 2023); Struwwelpeter, a ten-year dance-film project based on the 1845 children’s book (premiering 2026); and the audience-engagement driven W(h)ine Pairings set to Nico Muhly’s Confessions (premiering in 2023). MeenMoves thanks Harkness Dance Center, Dance/NYC, Jersey City Arts and Trust Fund, DanceNJ, JCAC, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support. @meenmoves | meenmoves.com | fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/meenmoves
Jennifer Chin is a dancer, choreographer and teaching artist. She has performed and taught throughout the US and abroad, including Mexico, Guatemala, Edinburgh, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Finland, Croatia and Italy. She has been on faculty at The José Limón Institute, The Martha Graham School, Peridance, Montclair State University, and Brooklyn College. Her company has an ongoing collaboration with WADE (Wandering Avian Dance Experience), operating at the intersection of performing arts, activism, and social change. In addition, Ms. Chin choreographs for theater and opera and is a longstanding collaborator with MultiStages. LUMINOUSbody, transformative health and fitness, is her small business offering private lessons in yoga, pilates and fitness training. Follow her IG@jenchindance.
In 2021, Alexandra Williamson was awarded the Meg Hunt Artist In Residence, Wrangell Mountains Center, in the Wrangell- St. Elias National Park, Alaska. She has taught and performed at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and the Alaska Folk Festival. Alexandra attended Montclair State University receiving a BFA in dance and a minor in musical theatre. She studied Irish dancing with the Davis Academy. Alexandra attended the Morris County Academy for Visual and Performing Arts High School where she was encouraged to integrate modern and contemporary dance with traditional Irish step dancing. Alexandra currently dances for several companies and choreographers including Darrah Carr Dance, General Mischief Dance Theatre, DiMauro Dance Co., and Moe-tion Dance Theatre. She recently toured as a featured dancer with Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas. Alexandra is on faculty at Hofstra University and Montclair State University, has taught at Steps on Broadway, the School at Steps, Peridance Capezio Center, the Joffrey Ballet School, Kean University, and Bergen Performing Arts Center. Alexandra has performed on the TODAY Show and Good Morning America, Jacob’s Pillow, and has toured internationally, most recently at Project Arts Center in Dublin, Ireland.
Instagram: @Alexandra_Dances
👩🏫 SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
International Women’s Day of Dance is supported by public funds from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund.This event is made possible by support from the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs / Tourism Development.
This performance is wheelchair accessible. Please email info@meenmoves.com with additional access requests.