“When asked to support a multi-year May Day initiative celebrating the role of artists in society, in partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation, Times Square Arts Alliance and The Fire Ensemble – my first thought was Ms. K’s Double Dutch team. The braids of creative labor and tradition tended throughout NYC. I thought about Ms O’Mara’s School of Irish Dance, whose brilliant young artists I first saw do exquisite traditional Irish Step to a Princess Nokia song.  I thought about Sensei Hiro Kurashima and his Taiko drummers, Deirdra Braz and the Flexn & Litefeet dancers she tends from Brown University to Brownsville, NYC. I thought about Flor de Toloache, the all female mariachi band led by the indomitable Mireya Ramos. About Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York singing along with Troy Anthony to the words of Assata Shakur – it is our duty to fight for our freedom, it is our duty to win. I thought about the brilliant organizing, world making of Relative Arts and their indigenous futurist studio practice. With a team of young brilliant artists, we wove together these strands of performance practice into a May Day celebration at Times Square. The event launched Creative Labor, Creative Conditions, a national coalition and campaign championing artists as creative laborers, and the need to provide resources, compensation, and support to live and work.”

– Kaneza Schaal

 

PERFORMERS
Troy Anthony, composer, director, and theater-maker 
The Fire Ensemble, community-centered production company led by Troy Anthony
Deirdre O’Mara School of Irish Dance, Irish dance school 
Taiko Masala Inc, a traditional Japanese Taiko drumming troupe founded by Master drummer Hiro Kurashima
Flor de Toloache, Latin Grammy-winning, all-female Mariachi band
Ms. K’s Swagga Jumpers, Double Dutch professional World Championship team
Deidra Braz with Flexn & Litefeet Dancers, a dance troupe focusing on Flexing and Litefeet styles
Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, a Ukrainian chorus dedicated to secular and sacred choral music from Ukraine  
Relative Arts NYC, a community space, open studio, and shop that showcases contemporary Indigenous fashion and design in NYC’s East Village
The HawtPlates, a family singing group who create distinctive vocal works by breaking down folk and vernacular musical forms
Helga Davis, multidisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural convener 

STUDIO KNZ
Jonathan Kubakundimana, Lenyn Hernandez Marcia, Yasmin Pascall, Madeline Riddick-Seals, Clarissa Ligon, Cornell Nate Alston, Kiara Benn

PHOTOS
Laura Pedrick