Downtown Brooklyn Partnership chooses performance artists to rehearse at Cultural District plaza

October 23, 2020 Editorial Staff

Rebecca Oviatt performed with other dancers from Dancewave, a Brooklyn-based dance education organization. Dancewave was one of 17 performing arts organizations that have been selected as recipients of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s Rehearsal Residency Initiative. Photos: Ariana Hellerman

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The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership this week announced the first recipients of its Rehearsal Residency Initiative. The chosen performing arts organizations will use the space at the Plaza at 300 Ashland Place to rehearse throughout the fall, developing new work and perfecting ongoing pieces.

The 17 organizations that signed up to participate in the program represent a diverse range of cultural practitioners and arts groups, from Senegalese artist and cultural collective Babacar Top and Topdance Dance Company to the Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir to solo theater artist Kim Katzberg.

Argenis Taveras and the Jamal Jackson Dance Company.

The program is the first opportunity that many of these groups have had to come together in months – Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance’s orchestra, for example, have not played together since March.

“Downtown Brooklyn is home to some of the city’s most exciting cultural institutions and artists, many of whom have struggled to continue working through the pandemic,” said Regina Myer, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “By rethinking how we use public space, we can offer the cultural community a safe place to continue working, collaborating and producing the art that has made our neighborhood such a vibrant place to be over the years and for decades to come.”

Andaiye Akua and the BK Interdenominational Choir.

The Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency Initiative launched in August in response to the pandemic and its deep impact on NYC’s performing arts community. The lineup of participating artists and rehearsal projects features multiple artistic disciplines, including music, theater, performance art, dance, circus and film.

The recipients are Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Artichoke Dance Company, Babacar Top, BodyRa Movement, Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir, Dancewave, Dawn Drake & ZapOte, De Funes Dance, Emmanuele Phuon, Head & Company, HERE Arts Center with Taylor Mac and Matt Ray, Iris McCloughan, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Kim Katzberg, Pure Samba, Rob and Miss Jane, and ZCO Dance Project.