Walker Art Center Presents
Abby Z and the New Utility
Radioactive Practice
Wednesday–Saturday, May 15-18, 2024
8:00 pm
McGuire Theater
Radioactive Practice
Choreographer/Director
ABBY ZBIKOWSKI
Performers/Collaborators
INDYA CHILDS, FIONA LUNDIE, MYA McCLELLAN, JENNIFER MECKLEY, BENJAMIN ROACH, JINSEI SATO
Rehearsal Directors
FIONA LUNDIE, JENNIFER MECKLEY
Dramaturg
MOMAR NDIAYE
Lighting Designer
JON HARPER
Original Music
MATTHEW PEYTON DIXON
The performance runs approximately 60 minutes without intermission.
Please join us at Walker's Cityview Bar for a reception with the artists immediately following Wednesday's performance.
The creation of Radioactive Practice was supported in part by a commission from New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency program with additional support from the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to Council Member Corey Johnson, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, and the Shubert Foundation.
Radioactive Practice is a National Performance Network/Visual Artist Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by New York Live Arts, Dance Place, American Dance Festival, Wexner Center for the Performing Arts and NPN/VAN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org.
Radioactive Practice is commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. Additional commissioning funds provided by the Caroline Hearst Choreographer-In-Residence Program at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, Dance Umbrella’s Four by Four program, United States Artists Fellowship, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the Wexner Center for the Arts.
Accessibility Notes
Seating for this performance will be on the stage. The stage can be accessed by both wheelchairs and walkers.
Sensory Notes: The performance contains percussive sounds, and earplugs will be available at the entrance to the theater. Depending on seating location, some spotlights may be bright and direct at times.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.
Note from the Choreographer
Radioactive Practice is an exhibition demonstrating the infinite ways in which fully dimensional people (simultaneously stellar and flawed) can assemble, disassemble, reassemble, and labor furiously through space and time to find new potentials in their bodies and, in a utopic outlook, the world. And it’s never over. And it’s always messy. We live in messy times with lots of language to describe major themes tied to the current zeitgeist, but little space to address what falls through the cracks and lives beyond the bounds of what is easily put into words. Our minds, bodies and physical senses are disciplined far beyond the clear cut compartmentalized practices we have sought out to pursue, wreaking havoc on our abilities to codify through static systems and immobile infrastructure. Propulsion is needed. Where we are going can’t help but be attached to where we have been. To move forward, resistance is necessary and work is relentless. Radioactive Practice is our way of cross-training for those inevitable combustible circumstances.
–Abby Zbikowski
Special Thanks
This list can’t nearly cover all of the humans that have aided in the creation and then needed recreation of this work in response to the pandemic. Fiona, Jenn, Ben, Alex, Kashia, jinsei–you have successfully obliterated my expectations for what dance can be. Indya and Mya–thank you for throwing your whole selves into this wild work; your dedication and hardwork are inspiring. Thank you to all the collaborators who have worked on this project over its now 6 year journey. Thank you to Philip Bither for persevering in bringing us to the Walker Center and to Sherisa for all your wonderful organization! Big thanks to Wyatt, Elizabeth, and the whole tech team here at the McGuire Theater! Thank you to Lane Czaplinski and everyone at the Wexner Center for the Arts for giving us a home-base to work from in Columbus, OH. Thank you to Princeton for the additional residency support, rockstar Jodee at ADF, everyone past and present at Dance Place, and Dance Umbrella UK for working with us through all the uncertainty. A special thank you to my partner and dramaturg for the work, Momar Ndiaye, for always reminding me to see things in a new and ever-shifting light. My work is better as a result of your probing questions, nuanced eye, level-headedness and deep respect for the craft of making dances. And one last thank you again to dancer and company manager extraordinaire, Fiona Lundie. Your abilities as a human are unmatched and I am truly forever grateful for what you do to make this work possible.
Learn More
A short post-show Q&A moderated by Leslie Parker will follow the Friday evening performance.
A rigorous, highly physical exposé of identity and culture, Radioactive Practice has had a unique journey of exploration, fruition, destruction, and transformation, leading to its realization and continuing evolution on the stage. In this article for the Walker Reader, longtime dancer and rehearsal director, Fiona Lundie, invites you to peek into the history of this new dance work.
Please enjoy the playlist the company uses to warmup and mentally prepare for Radioactive Practice:
RADIOACTIVE PRACTICE WARMUP
Artist Bios
ABBY Z AND THE NEW UTILITY
Choreographer Abby Zbikowski created Abby Z and the New Utility in 2012 with dancers Fiona Lundie and Jennifer Meckley to experiment with the potential and choreographic possibility of the body being pushed beyond perceived limits, creating a new movement lexicon that triangulates dancing/moving bodies across multiple cultural value systems simultaneously. In 2016, Abby expanded the company to nine performer/collaborators for her first evening-length commission, as Fiona and Jenn took on the additional roles of rehearsal directors within the company structure and Fiona took on the role of company manager. “abandoned playground” premiered to a sold-out run at the Abrons Arts Center in New York in April 2017, leading to Zbikowski being honored with the Juried Bessie Award and was awarded the inaugural Caroline Hearst Artist in Residence at Princeton University, along with commissions from national and international organizations. Abby Z and the New Utility have been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Boston ICA, 92nd St Y, Movement Research at Danspace Project, Gibney Dance Center, Bard College, New York Live Arts, and the Fusebox Festival in Austin, TX, among others. In 2021 the company was granted residency support at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH to rebuild work post a year long pandemic shutdown. Currently, they are working out of Columbus and New York City with collaborators locally, nationally, and internationally.
ABBY ZBIKOWSKI (she/her) is a choreographer creating contemporary dance works that pay homage to the effort of living, tactics of survival, and the aesthetics produced as a result, utilizing the physical aspects and psyche-emotional experience of her rigorous training in African and Afro-diasporic forms, playing sports, and performing manual labor. She founded Abby Z and the New Utility in 2012 and received the 2017 Juried Bessie Award for her “unique and utterly authentic movement vocabulary in complex and demanding structures to create works of great energy, intensity, surprise, and danger.” In 2018 she received a “Choreographer of the Future” commission from Dance Umbrella UK and in 2020 a United States Artists Fellowship. She is an inaugural Caroline Hearst Choreographer-In-Residence at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, and current artist-in-residence at New York Live Arts. Abby has had past residencies at the Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, the STREB Lab for Action Mechanics, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. She is currently an Associate Professor of Dance at The Ohio State University, formerly at the University of Illinois, and on faculty at the American Dance Festival. She has taught at the Academy of Culture in Riga, Latvia; at Festival Un Pas Vers L’Avant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and studied at Germaine Acogny’s L’École de Sables in Senegal. Zbikowski has created commissioned work for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, as well as universities across the country.
MOMAR NDIAYE (he/him) is an international performer, choreographer, teacher, and videographer from Senegal. In 2017, he received his MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois and the Bruno Nettl Award for excellence in choreography. Ndiaye has created and toured staged dance performances and choreographed for music videos with his company “Cadanses” since 2004 and was a full-time dancer in the international dance company “Premier Temp” (2008-2014). Currently Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, Ndiaye's research focuses on the effects of Negritude, interculturalism, globalization, and colonialism on the “performance of daily life” in Senegal and Africa at large and its subsequent impact on traditional patrimonial dances and staged dance. This is Ndiaye’s second project with Abby Z and the New Utility.
FIONA LUNDIE (she/her) is a movement artist and cognitive scientist interested in what is vital about how and why we move: what form it takes and how it shapes our perspective. She has explored movement on land, air, fluid water, and frozen water all her life through dance from 3, skiing from 5, synchronized swimming from 8, flying trapeze, springboard diving and snowboarding. Lundie holds a BA in Cognitive Science (Dartmouth College) and MFA in Dance (The Ohio State University). She’s a founding member of Abby Z and the New Utility and performed with the STREB Extreme Action Company.
JENNIFER MECKLEY (she/they) attempts to emphasize the benefits of training in African American vernacular dance techniques through performing, teaching, and choreography. Moreover, her identity as a gay gender non-conforming person motivates the content for her work. Meckley obtained a BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University and an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University. She served as faculty at West Chester University, Cuyahoga Community College, Northampton Community College, and the University of Dayton. Meckley is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Ball State University and is a founding member of Abby Z and the New Utility.
BENJAMIN ROACH (he/him/she/her) is a movement artist and educator from Gallipolis, Ohio. In 2018 he received a B.F.A. in Dance from Ohio University. Following graduation, Benjamin completed an Artist internship with The Yard. She performed for the internal company Dance the Yard as well as Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre. In 2019 alongside Caitlin Morgan, Benjamin co-founded the multidisciplinary duo Piug Dance Theatre. The two have presented their comedic duets at various NYC venues. In addition to working with Abby Z and the New Utility, Benjamin is in collaboration with Ani Javian. Benjamin is currently on fellowship at The Ohio State University.
JINSEI SATO (he/they/she) was born in Japan and grew up in Taiwan. They participated in summer intensives at Backhaus Dance, ADF (2014, 2019), Jose Limón Dance, White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, and Peggy Baker Dance Projects. In 2016, Jinsei was awarded the Director’s Talent Scholarship Award to attend the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She attended Camping at Centre National de la Danse in France and worked with Damien Jalet and João Fiadeiro. They have since finished a BFA in Dance and have performed works by Jesse Zaritt, Sidra Bell, Bobbi Jene Smith, Kaneza Schaal, Doug Varone, and Juel D Lane.
INDYA CHILDS (she/her) is an emerging choreographer and dancer from Atlanta, Georgia. Her dance training began at the Price Performing Arts Center and The Atlanta Ballet. Later, she completed her B.A. in Dance from Kennesaw State University. In 2015, Dance Magazine recognized her as one of their "25 to Watch." Indya has also performed with professional dance companies such as Ballethnic Dance Company, T. Lang Dance, and Abby Z and the New Utility. She is the Operations Manager at the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, ME.
MYA McCLELLAN (she/her) is a versatile Chicago-based artist. She received a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021. McClellan has made her mark in diverse productions including works by Common Conservatory, Symbiosis Arts, Loud Bodies, and Peckish Rhodes Performing Arts Society. Her prowess extends to dance film, having been a resident artist at the Films that Move festival in 2018, 2021, and 2023. Notably, one of her projects earned selection at the 50th Annual Dance on Camera Festival. Today, Mya is an improviser, collaborator, and choreographer.
JON HARPER (he/they) is a NYC-based lighting designer and also the Chief Operating Officer of the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan. They have toured in the past as the lighting supervisor for Pilobolus, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, PS122, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. He is married to the inimitable Madeline Best, a lighting designer herself and Director of Operations at the Chocolate Factory Theater in Queens, with whom he shares a love for the dance community, and the distinct joy of parenting two amazing kiddos, Davey and Orson.
MATTHEW PEYTON DIXON (he/him) has been performing and writing music professionally since 16, first playing percussion with the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps. Matthew received a B.A. in Percussion Performance at the University of North Texas in 2009. He has accompanied and composed for dance at the University of North Texas (2007-2016), Texas Woman’s University (2010-2016), Denison University (since 2016), American Dance Festival (since 2016) and The Ohio State University (since 2018). Dixon tours extensively and has composed over 40 works for dance, has 7 solo albums, many album recordings with bands, and 4 volumes of poetry. This is his first collaboration with Abby Z and the New Utility.
Living Land Acknowledgement
The McGuire Theater and Walker Art Center are located on the contemporary, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Dakota people. Situated near Bde Maka Ska and Wíta Tópa Bde, or Lake of the Isles, on what was once an expanse of marshland and meadow, this site holds meaning for Dakota, Ojibwe, and Indigenous people from other Native nations, who still live in the community today.
We acknowledge the discrimination and violence inflicted on Indigenous peoples in Minnesota and the Americas, including forced removal from ancestral lands, the deliberate destruction of communities and culture, deceptive treaties, war, and genocide. We recognize that, as a museum in the United States, we have a colonial history and are beneficiaries of this land and its resources. We acknowledge the history of Native displacement that allowed for the founding of the Walker. By remembering this dark past, we recognize its continuing harm in the present and resolve to work toward reconciliation, systemic change, and healing in support of Dakota people and the land itself.
We honor Native people and their relatives, past, present, and future. As a cultural organization, the Walker works toward building relationships with Native communities through artistic and educational programs, curatorial and community partnerships, and the presentation of new work.
Walker Art Center Acknowledgments
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About the Walker Art Center
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To learn more about upcoming performances, visit 2023/24 Walker Performing Arts Season.