Repertory
MICHIYAYA’s you have to look through this to see me is a reimagination of intimacy and reclamation of queer femme and nonbinary sensuality. MICHIYAYA Dance processes the complexities of how we crave, sustain, and heal in relationship with one another as sensual beings. Without stigma from heteronormative sources, MICHIYAYA takes control of their dialogues in raw yet fanciful ways. It is a rewrite of how we belong together as our most authentic selves.
you have to look through this to see me was presented by Gibney in April 2022.
Artistic Direction: Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery
Choreography: Anya Clarke-Verdery in collaboration with the dance artists
Contextual Design: Mitsuko in collaboration with the dance artists
Performance: Alex Bittner, Bree Breeden, Joy Carlos, Alex Schmidt, and Alexandra Wood, with guest artist Gabriella Sibeko
Original Music & Sound Design: Billy Dean Thomas
Costume Design: Bones
Set Design: Christina & Riza Rodriguez
Scenic/Spatial Design: Alejandro Fajardo
Creative Advisor: Belinda Adam
Funding Credits: you have to look through this to see me was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC. Music for you have to look through this to see me was supported by New Music USA's Creator Development Fund.
33theyRooted is MICHIYAYA’s first-ever feature film. Choreographed and performed by MICHIYAYA’s six dance artists and directed by Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, 33theyRooted follows six stories of six women, each rich in personal, sensory, and cultural experiences. Emerging themes of the film include discovering queer identities, tapping into our inner children, and confronting anxieties. The film was co-directed and produced by Retrograde Studios.
33TheyRooted premiered at Cobble Hill Cinemas in February 2022.
Artistic Direction: Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery
Choreography: Anya Clarke-Verdery, Belinda Adam, Alex Bittner, Bree Breeden, Joy Carlos, Alex Schmidt, and Alexandra Wood
Contextual Design: Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, Belinda Adam, Alex Bittner, Bree Breeden, Joy Carlos, Alex Schmidt, and Alexandra Wood
Video Production: Retrograde Studios
Director of Photography: Jake Kruty
Music: AGF
Camera Operation: Jake Kruty, Garrett Parker, Jonathan Rodrigues
Lead Editor: Jake Kruty
Sound Designer: Jake Kruty
Production Assistants: Jonathan Rodrigues & Laura Witsken
Color Correction: Jake Kruty
Costumes: Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery
Film Runtime: 70 minutes
Funding Credits: 33TheyRooted was made possible in part by BRIC’s In-Kind Virtual Content & Technical Assistance Grant supported by the New York Community Trust.
“While weighted sky does not hold back on its criticism of the structures, systems, and evolving histories we are all subjugated to, its unabashedly honest evaluation feels in itself hopeful.”
weighted sky is a collaboratively built work between MICHIYAYA Dance Directors Anya and Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, slowdanger, and Baltimore based sound artist Abdu Ali, with original set pieces by Pittsburgh based sculptor Rob Hackett. The work explores the collapse of capitalism and white supremacist structures on the bodies of people, nationally and globally. It deconstructs hustle culture and seeks to create a process of active imagining for a queer future where we can thrive.
weighted sky was presented by the Andy Warhol Museum in November 2021.
Choreography: Anya Clarke-Verdery, Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, anna thompson, and taylor knight
Performance: Anya Clarke-Verdery, Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, anna thompson, taylor knight, and Abdu Ali
Soundscore: Abdu Ali
Sculptures: Rob Hackett
Costumes: Mad Recital
Funding Credits: weighted sky project is supported by the Opportunity Fund, Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative and The Pittsburgh Foundation A W Mellon Grant with residency support from the Space Upstairs. Special thanks to Unique Projects.
“[/wē/] does not favor heaven or hell, but presents a textured reality that transcends dark and light. It captures the complex existence of exploring a self you thought you knew. ”
/wē/ is a collective study on gender identity through a femme lens that rids the binary, embraces the inner self, and builds without walls. States of transcendence, embodiment, and autonomy are explored as MICHIYAYA interweaves thoughts, memories, and dreams.
/wē/ was co-presented by The Theater at the 14th Street Y in April 2019.
Artistic Direction & Choreography: Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery
Performance: Belinda Adam, Bree Breeden, Stephanie Carlos, Núria Martin Fandos, Hannah Seiden, Alexandra Wood, Alex Bittner, Aleixa Freire, Alex Schmidt
Live Sound: slowdanger
Lighting Design: Alejandro Fajardo
Projection Design: Jess Medenbach with Media Associate, Char Stiles
Funding Credits: /wē/ was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC.
“[fôr] is fresh, open, sensual, experimental. The hallmarks of both slowdanger and MICHIYAYA and together it becomes more than double.”
fôr is a bi-city multidisciplinary collaborative exchange between Pittsburgh based movement-sound duo slowdanger and MICHIYAYA Dance. The piece explored perspective and identity as a constantly shifting state of defining and destroying boundaries in space. This initiative examined how bridges can be built between national artistic communities through collaboration.
fôr premiered in December 2017 at CPR-Center for Performance and was presented by the Kelly Strayhorn Theater's Alloy Studios.
Choreography & Performance: Anya Clarke-Verdery, taylor knight, anna thompson, Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery
Sound: slowdanger
Lighting Design: Alejandro Fajardo
Funding Credits: fôr was made possible with support from the Opportunity Fund (PGH) and fiscal sponsor Unique Projects, Inc.
Spline explores various physical and psychological boundaries that are created within ourselves and by outside forces. MICHIYAYA Dance unfolds how these systems shape and form a person’s life. The life and voice of Co-Artistic Director Mitsuko Verdery's grandfather ‘Pampa’ serves as a vessel to dive deeper into boundaries connected to mental health and relationship navigation. The word spline is defined as a key fitting into the grooves of a wheel, integrally with the shaft to allow movement of the wheel. Spline maps out the turning and cyclical nature of these discoveries.
Spline premiered in March 2017 at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center.
Artistic Direction & Choreography: Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery
Dance Artists: Belinda Adam, Stephanie Carlos, Núria Martin Fandos, Aliza Russell, Hannah Seiden, Alexandra Wood
Sculptures: Saar Shemesh
Lighting Design: Barbara Samuels
Funding Credits: Spline was made possible with support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant; Triskelion Arts Space Subsidy Program made possible with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Heath Gallery.
Photos by Umi Akiyoshi Photography
Project V (5) focuses on five different states of being: neglect, manipulation, emulation, repercussion, and rehabilitation. These states reveal examinations of qualities such as contact, impact, perception, and communication. MICHIYAYA Dance explores the different forms that these states and qualities take in oneself and with others.
Project V (5) premiered in March 2016 at CPR-Center for Performance Research.
Artistic Direction & Choreography: Anya Clarke & Mitsuko Verdery
Dance Artists: Belinda Adam, Natsumi Sophia Bellali, Julia Discenza, Jacqueline Dugal, Núria Martin Fandos, Alana Ortiz, Marion Spencer, Blair Reavis-Tyler, Takako Yamanishi, Leal Zielińska
Musician/Composer: Florent Ghys
Annex Series
Our Annex series is a repertory initiative curating emerging choreographers with visual artists to create a new work with dance artists of MICHIYAYA.
Annex Volume III
Photo by Alexander Diaz
the body || d u s t
Choreography: Tushrik Fredericks
Visual/Conceptual Design: Tsohil Bhatia
Dance Artists: Alex Bittner, Joy Carlos, Alex Schmidt, and Hannah Seiden
Lighting Design: Connor Sale
the body || d u s t premiered in June 2023 at Gibney.
Funding Credits: Annex Volume III is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC. This performance is a part of Gibney’s POP series, a program supporting the dance community through subsidized theater rental.
Annex Volume II
innervisions
Choreography: Wendell Gray II
Sculpture: Quay Quinn Wolf
Dance Artists: Belinda Adam, Alex Bittner, Bree Breeden, Stephanie Carlos, Alex Schmidt, and Alexandra Wood
innervisions digitally premiered in November 2020 at CPR-Center for Performance Research.
It is both here and above here. A land where shoulder angels lie and spirits witness, but don't have full autonomy. The land is playful, yet monotonous. The space above is bright. Everything is visible, everything is felt. innervisions is the child under the guise who is looking to break the rules. It’s the patient questioning waiting to not be seen. It’s the everyday frustration of moving through this time. It's the quiet whisper in the back of the throat. It’s the dream of falling back. The loss of perfection and the tease of the sensual. The forbidden desire. Fighting temptation. The people are tired, many things on their mind. The public is caught in private, and maybe the real excitement is in the falling. Al-Kiram + Al-Katibun. 11:11.
Funding Credits: Annex Vol. II is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC.
“The work is deep, thoughtful, poetic, and meaningful all while maintaining a post-modern abstract charm that keeps the piece from taking itself too seriously. ”
Annex VolUME I
Both works for Annex Volume I was presented by NYU at the Jack Crystal Theatre in June 2018.
Palace. ii
Choreographer & Director: Rebecca Margolick
Dance Artists: Belinda Adam, Bree Breeden, Stephanie
Carlos, Núria Martin Fandos, Aliza Russell, Hannah Seiden, and Alexandra Wood
Music: Composed by Ivan Shopov with music from Cocteau Twins
Palace ii is a revision of a previous work created on DancePORT Derida in Sofia Bulgaria titled Palace. Palace. premiered at the Azaryan Theater at NDK in May 2018.
"There is a secret bond between slowness and memory, between speed and forgetting. A man walks down the street. At a certain moment, he tried to recall something, but the recollection escapes him. Automatically, he slows down. Meanwhile, a person who wants to forget a disagreeable incident he has just lived through starts unconsciously to speed up his pace, as if he were trying to distance himself from a thing still too close to him in time. In existential mathematics that experience takes the form of two basic equations: The degree of slowness is directly proportional to the intensity of memory; the degree of speed is directly proportional to the intensity of forgetting." - Milan Kundera
in one piece
Choreographer: Alexander Diaz
Dance Artists: Belinda Adam, Bree Breeden, Stephanie Carlos, Nuria Martin Fandos, Aliza Russell, Hannah Seiden, Alexandra Wood
Music: The Orb, Olan Mill, Masayoshi Fujita
Tell it so that you can find freedom
Share it so that you can find freedom
Not working through it to have a fixed result
Working through it to cleanse
