September 25, 2024 • 28 mins
Art House Productions is collaborating with Kenia Rosete Dance to bring a new modern dance series to Jersey City.
The show, titled “FOCUS,” will feature two to four artists per night, who will present their own original choreography. Each artists' piece is a bite-size performance that showcases the dancers’ creative, unique, and innovative voices.
Audiences can expect an easy, fun and inspiring evening. Easy in the sense that you can step into the space without having any prior knowledge of dance. Fun because of the variety of choreographic work you’ll get to experience. And inspiring as you can watch each artist create a world of their own before your very eyes
Jersey Arts speaks with Art House Productions’ Executive Director, Meredith Burns, and choreographer and producer, Kenia Rosete of Kenia Rosete Dance.
Thanks for listening!
- Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player.
The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com), where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and entertainment scene.
Discover Jersey Arts is presented by ArtPride New Jersey. The program was co-founded by, and is currently supported by funds from, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Additional support for JerseyArts.com content is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
- Subscribe to the Discover Jersey Arts' weekly e-newsletter to have stories delivered to your inbox.
- Follow and contact us @jerseyarts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (00:03):
This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're
listening to the Jersey ArtsPodcast.
Today we're talking dance.
Art House Productions iscollaborating with Kenya Rosete
Dance to bring a new moderndance series to Jersey City.
The show, titled Focus, willfeature two to four artists per
night who will present their ownoriginal choreography.
Each artist's piece or act runsabout 10 to 15 minutes in
(00:26):
length, so think of them asbite-sized performances that
showcase the dancers' creative,unique and innovative voices.
As producer Kenya Rosettiexplained to me, audiences can
expect an easy, fun andinspiring evening.
Easy in the sense that you canstep into the space without
having any prior knowledge ofdance, much like me.
(00:47):
Fun because of the variety ofchoreographic work you'll get to
experience.
And inspiring, as you can watcheach artist create a world of
their own before your very eyes.
Today I'm speaking with ArtHouse Productions Executive
Director, Meredith Burns, andChoreographer and Producer Kenya
Rossetti of Kenya RossettiDance.
I think you'll learn a lot fromthis one.
(01:08):
Check it out.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Let's start with you guysintroducing yourselves and what
you do.
Meredith Burns (01:19):
I am Meredith Burns and I am the Executive
Artistic Director of Art Houseand that means that I do a
little bit of everything.
I'm curating a season, I ampaying the bills, I am doing the
annual audit, I am grantwriting, I'm hiring, I'm doing
(01:41):
HR probably doing way too much,but I think every executive
director out there of a smallnonprofit, even a large
nonprofit, will relate to whatI'm saying.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:54):
Absolutely .
It's a huge undertaking.
So I think your audiencesreally appreciate what you're
doing, even if they don'tnecessarily understand what
you're doing.
They're reaping the benefits ofyour work.
So thank you for putting in allof that effort.
I know that nonprofit work isvery difficult and Kenia how
about you?
Kenia Rosete (02:12):
Hello, yes, and I'm like nodding my head because
I'm like, yes, nonprofit, veryimportant, yes, rewarding.
Hi, my name is Kenya Rosete andI'm the artistic director of
Kenya Rosete Dance and I, in avery different capacity but,
similarly to Meredith, do alittle bit of everything.
(02:34):
So I am the artistic directorand I manage my own company,
where, you know, choreograph andput together shows.
I am starting a producer rolealong with, which we'll get into
in a little bit with, alongwith Meredith, at Art House
Productions, I am a projectmanager for another
choreographer.
(02:54):
I work with anotherchoreographer, Alethea Pace, uh,
in putting together her work,and so, yeah, I dabble in a lot
of different things.
Grant writing is a big one andeverything, administration, as
you can imagine, but I also getto do a lot of the creative work
(03:14):
, which is, you know, thechoreographing, the dancing, the
imagining a piece and puttingall the things together in order
to come for it to come tofruition.
Essentially, that is, you know,in some sort of a presentation
to the audience.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:30):
There's no business like show business,
right, and it is a business.
So there's all of thisadministrative work that goes
into it, but all anybody wantsto talk about is the creative.
But that's true, I'm going tomake you guys focus on the
creative.
How do you pick and choose whatmakes it to your stage and how
did this particularcollaboration with Can you Reset
(03:51):
the Dance begin?
Meredith Burns (04:06):
production that happens every year tends to be a
new play but could be anexisting play.
This year we actually haveGruesome Playground Injuries by
Rajiv Joseph coming up this fall.
We also have our Comedy Fest,which happens every June, runs
for about five or six daysdepending on the year, our
Incubator New Play Festival,which is a nine-month program
for playwrights to launch abrand new play, first draft of a
brand new play, and thatculminates in a new Play Fest
(04:30):
every May.
Then we usually have some kindof summer program, which this
past year was Dinner en Blanc.
It was.
It's basically a big outdoorpicnic and lots of art infused
into that.
And then, you know, we justopened a brand new location in
(04:53):
Jersey City and we have beenworking to basically fill the
space with wonderful artsprograms.
We're truly multi-arts and manyyears ago we had a program
called your Move.
It was a modern dance festivalwhich essentially during the
pandemic, went by the wayside abit.
(05:13):
So we've been trying to bringback modern dance, contemporary
dance, for the past four yearsand we worked with Kenia in
March of this year on a programcalled In the Fold and it was
just really beautiful and wereally enjoyed working with
Kenia and that's a big thing forus.
That's really how we go aboutchoosing.
It really matters to us aboutthe kinds of collaborators that
(05:36):
we're working with.
Of course the art has to beamazing that's first and
foremost which it was but trulyit is about the type of person
that is kind of coming into ourspace and welcoming their
audiences and that really has tobe the right fit.
It really has to feelcollaborative and I think kind
(05:58):
that's a big part of sort of arthouses.
I think Ethos is that level ofcommunity connection.
So in thinking about, okay,we've got these core programs
but we're building out moreprograms, we really want to
figure out what are theseperforming arts series?
We approached Kenia.
We asked her would you beinterested in being a
(06:19):
co-producer on this modern danceseries?
That sort of morphed into Kenia, saying, you know, I'd really
like to focus more on thechoreography of what we're doing
.
And that sort of morphed intowhat we're doing now, which is a
, you know, contemporary dancechoreography, which will be a
series of choreographerspresenting work, probably with
(06:42):
small companies, two to fourdancers, and really launching
that as something that willcontinue.
So you'll be able to see thatmonthly and I think you know, I
think there actually is a bigcommunity here in Jersey City
that loves modern dance anddoesn't get to see enough of it.
And you know, back when we didyour move, it was very special
(07:07):
because we would host it over atthe Lowe's, jersey and Journal
Square, which had this like hugeproscenium stage, and that was
very fun for the dancers thatparticipated, because they don't
typically or very often get towork on a big proscenium stage.
Art House is not that, but weare setting up the space in such
(07:28):
a way that I think it's goingto feel large, also intimate and
, I think, kind of immersive forthe audience.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout how you know the thinking
behind how we're curating aseason, the kinds of programs
that we want to bring in, thekinds of collaborators that we
want to bring in, the kinds ofcollaborators that we want to
work with, and, yeah, and howKenia and Art House and me
(07:51):
connected.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (07:52):
I think that's fantastic.
This is probably the second orthird interview where someone
has told me how important beingkind is, and it's just so
refreshing to hear because Imean, I don't know, we live in a
difficult world right, andthere's a lot of contentious
conversations that happen daily.
So to hear artists saying oneof their prime concerns when
(08:14):
working with someone else is howkind they are, I just think
it's really it's good to hear.
It's reassuring for the peoplewho are coming to see you and
for the people who may want towork with you in the future.
So being kind is wonderful.
I want to circle back.
You just said that while it'snot like a large proscenium, it
(08:34):
is still a large yet intimateproduction.
And can you remind me how largeyour house is?
What is?
Meredith Burns (08:42):
your capacity, how large your house is.
What's your capacity?
Our max capacity is like 125.
But that really depends on it'sa modular space, so it really
does depend on the amount of,you know, room that we're
allocating for the artist toplay on.
So what I meant by that that issort of large and intimate, is
(09:10):
the way that we're setting upthe room for Kenia's series is
that it's going to be in athrust configuration, so meaning
there'll be audiences on threesides and it just has that very,
I think, sort of immersive.
Every seat will be a great seatand yeah, and we'll most likely
in that configuration, fitaround 75 seats.
So get your tickets becausecould sell out at that number?
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:32):
I hope it does, and I really loved your
explanation, your verbalexplanation of a thrust, while I
was watching Kenia give me thehand gesture as to what it looks
like.
Thank you for that.
I really wish our audiencecould see that as well as hear
it, but I was entertained.
So thank you, that's a nicesegue.
(09:53):
So, Kenia, I'm going to ask youa question now.
I would really love to hearjust about your background as a
dancer and when you first fellin love with it.
How did you fall in love withit?
Kenia Rosete (10:12):
Yeah, that's, it's a good question and I feel like
you know, when I saw thequestions early on earlier today
, I was like, oh yes, I feellike when did I fall in love
with dance?
You think that I would knowlike the specific moment or
something right.
But I feel like my story isvery similar to a lot of other
dancers and movers, where I wasprobably in love with it and
doing it before I knew what Iwas doing, that's for sure.
(10:34):
I can tell you all the reasonswhy I love it and I think it's
something that, as I continue toget into the space and really
fine tune my technique andbecome, you know, dancer,
capital D, you know, whateverthat means.
(10:54):
I started to understand more ofthe reasons, like I keep finding
more reasons why I love danceand I keep falling in love with
it over and over again.
Dance, and I keep falling inlove with it over and over again
.
But it really is about movement.
It's moving, it's a type of artmedium I guess you can call it
right Like it's a type of artthat is primarily done through
movement, and I realized that Iam a person, as you saw, even
(11:18):
when Meredith was speaking andeven as I'm talking, I'm like
moving.
It's just the way that I I kindof understand myself being in
the world.
It makes me comfortable beingin the world and it's a way in
which I can communicate, it's away in which I can express
myself and it's a way in which Ican connect.
(11:38):
I realized that that's the wayin which I'm able to connect
with, whether it's mycollaborators, my dancers, my
audience.
It's yeah, it's beautiful inthat sense.
I was thinking about a littlebit about that question and what
came to me actually was Irecently had a memory pop back
(11:58):
into my head about when I fellin love with choreography and I
and I do have a moment.
I didn't realize it again atthe time, but I was taught I was
having a conversation withsomebody else and we were
talking about likechoreographing and this popped
into my head and I realized, wow, I was in high school and I put
(12:22):
together my first what.
I didn't know at the time whatit was, but it was a multimedia
essentially show and it had alot of collaborators in it too,
and at the time I put togetherthere was a poet that came on
stage and did a little bit ofspoken word.
I had two live singers and thenthere were two dancers and I
(12:42):
was one of them and I fell inlove with it because I think
it's sort of the theme that'ssort of emerging in our
conversation right now.
It's the collaborative nature ofit.
I love being able to collaboratewith people and I love being
able to think of something, havea vision, and in the process of
figuring out how to get it tocome to fruition, to something
(13:08):
that is tangible, that we canshare with an audience, is
exciting and stressful, ofcourse, and there's all these
other things around it, but itreally, at the core of it, is
exciting and then it gives me achance.
I think the way that I like towork when it comes to
choreographing or even in myother jobs that are
administrative.
(13:28):
I like to be able to workcollaboratively and invite
people into a process and createa space where people can step
into it and bring a little bitof themselves into the process
as well.
And I think, going back intowhat Meredith was talking about,
(13:48):
when Meredith and Art Houseapproached me and said, hey,
what do you think about doing adance series?
And the first thing was I wouldlove to work with you, and that
was the thing because of theexperience that I had through In
the Fold.
And then the second thing was,you know, being able to create a
space to share with artists andwith audience, and I think
(14:13):
that's really what I'm excitedabout with this series.
Gina Marie Rodrig (14:17):
Collaboration is a skill in and of itself.
Not everybody knows how to playwell together, you know.
So I like that.
That's something you appreciateabout the art form.
I'm sitting here with pain inmy back trying to figure out how
I can get in the right positionand I'm just thinking, as
(14:38):
you're speaking and talkingabout movement and fluid
movement, I'm like, oh, maybe Isit in a chair too often during
the day and I should be doingmore of what you're doing.
I actually not that this isabout me, but I will say real
quick I tried taking a salsalesson recently, knowing that I
am not a good dancer and I wastalking with Meredith about this
(15:00):
earlier.
I do not have musical abilitiesright, so I was trying to
understand what was happening inthe salsa class and it just it
was not intuitive for me.
I was not understanding what.
Oh my gosh, the teacher keptasking me something.
He was saying where's the count?
That's what he kept saying, andall I kept thinking was I don't
(15:20):
know, are you going to show meor teach?
me, I don't understand what thismeans.
I really I think I talked toomuch about my musical
inabilities, but, um, I saw thatyou are teaching.
Is it a free salsa class comingup?
Kenia Rosete (15:36):
sure, this is for Kenia, obviously yeah, Meredith,
you're welcome it'd be amazingif I was right like right very
surprising maybe we'll do alittle pop-up, we'll prepare,
Meredith, and read the class thefirst five minutes.
(15:57):
Yes, no, I am.
I'm really excited about thatbecause you, you, the keyword
here is free.
It's a free salsa class, so Ireally hope people sign up, and
maybe right now that you weretalking, it made me think about.
Hopefully, it being free alsomeans that people would be
willing to give it a try, evenif it's something that they feel
like maybe they're not great atit or they're unsure about it.
(16:20):
I can't tell you how many timespeople tell me that they're like
oh, I have no rhythm, I have.
You know, I can't hear themusic.
Or I have two left feet, youknow, and I just like listen and
I smile and just come to aclass and, trust me, like I'm
going to give a very.
Maybe this is a silly example,but you ever watch a baby and
(16:44):
you play music and they've never, I mean, even if they watch you
move.
I mean they've never beentaught anything and they wiggle,
they'll bounce, they'll jump.
So we all have it in us.
I truly, truly believe that weall have it in our bodies in
some form or another to move toa beat.
(17:06):
It's just how you access it isdifferent.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (17:09):
Let's take that right back to focus.
You can tell me, I guess,because we were just talking
about how everyone kind oflearns differently or interprets
movement and dance differentlyhow do you find yourself
choreographing a piece and, inparticular, focus?
What can audiences expect fromfocus?
Kenia Rosete (17:31):
That's a good question.
So I think the first thing, orat least like the thing that I'm
really excited about in thesort of the way that I'm going
about curating the differentartists that are coming into
this program, is being able toshowcase a lot of different
styles of movement, a lot ofdifferent styles of dance, a lot
(17:51):
of different styles ofchoreography.
And I think Most of the time Icould be wrong about this, but
most of the time when peoplehear the word dance, they think
immediately ballet, they thinksome of the more codified
versions of dance that arepromoted in commercial spaces.
(18:12):
Or you can think and go thecommercial route and start
thinking about hip hop and allthese other entertainment based
like, really, you know,commercial ways of movement.
So, focus, I'm excited to bringin artists that will approach
movement in very different ways,that will approach choreography
(18:33):
in very different ways.
For example, this in in Octoberthe October 10th date that's
coming up I'm bringing in aperson who prefers to be
referred to as director.
She's coming in and she'sdirecting music and movement and
she's primarily a musician, butshe's bringing in collaborating
(18:54):
music and movement together inher piece.
So that's going to be, you know, one way in which they're
presenting work, and then wehave all these other different
types of duets and solos andways and material in which
people will present to theaudience, and so that's, yes,
that's one of the ways in whichkind of connecting it back to
(19:18):
what we were talking about inlike everybody's individual way
of moving Focused, is going tosort of be able to bring that
out and give a variety to theaudience.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (19:29):
Each performer.
Are they then choreographingtheir own individual piece or
are you overseeing?
What is your input into theoverall piece?
Let me say it that way, that'sa great question.
Kenia Rosete (19:42):
That's a great question, no, so essentially,
this is a shared program, whichmeans that we're presenting
different artists, so they willcome in and they will present
their own choreography.
The way that I'm coming intothis and Art House is coming in,
that we're collaboratingtogether is in being able to
reach out to different artists,invite them into the space to
(20:06):
show work, and so in that way,we're curating the program in
terms of you know what piecesare coming into each
presentation.
Essentially, does that kind ofmake sense?
Does that answer the question?
So everybody's choreographing.
Like we're bringing inchoreographers, they're each
choreographing their own pieces,and then I will be I'm one of
(20:27):
the choreographers that will bepresenting in the October date
as well, presenting one littlesection of my own choreography
from In the Fold.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (21:11):
I do understand that.
Meredith Burns (21:11):
And that leads me to ask and maybe this is a
Meredith question for theartists listening, is there a
way for them website or a waythat artists can get involved
with you, that they can be onthe lookout to be kind and be
one of those collaborators withArt House?
You know, for this particularprogram, I think Kenia's really
reaching out to the dancecommunity and specifically to
these innovative choreographersand they're bringing in the
dancers that they love to workwith.
So that's how we're producingthis particular program.
(21:34):
But you know, for other artistsout there listening ways to get
involved at Art House,listening ways to get involved
at Art House, you know theIncubator New Play program.
That is an open call for allplaywrights.
That call just closed the 1stof September.
So we'll be announcing thecohort for the 2024-2025
(21:54):
Incubator program shortly in thenext two weeks.
Our comedy fest is also an opencall, so that we begin, you know
that open call, in December andthat goes through March of 2025
.
And then we announce our full,our full lineup in May and the
(22:14):
fest kicks off in June.
We also have JC Fridays, whichis a quarterly arts event in
Jersey City.
It's a it's a free arts eventin almost every neighborhood in
Jersey City and that reallyencourages artists and
businesses and galleries to worktogether potentially and to
(22:36):
really I love it.
Kenia is like doing themovement.
Again I love it.
(23:04):
Kenia is like doing the movementand you know it's really a way
to, I think, highlight what'shappening locally, here and
regionally.
And then if you're interestedin sort of you know, curating a
series, similar to how you know,Kenia is working with Art House
to co-curate a series, reachout.
Our email addresses are on ourwebsite so it's very easy to
find contact information for us.
And if you have an idea for acomedy series or a film series
because we have a wonderful,beautiful screen and incredible
10K projector please reach out.
Or if you just have somethingthat is sort of artistic in
nature but you might not thinkis a fine art, as an example,
(23:25):
art House co-curates a burlesqueperformance with a very popular
burlesque performer andproducer around here, lillian
Bussell, and that happens on amonthly basis.
So we are always sort of tryingto find things that we feel you
(23:45):
know that I think fit withinthe arts umbrella and within the
performing arts, but we're alsovery much open to things that
are not necessarily on the nose.
Fine arts related?
Kenia Rosete (23:57):
I don't know if this was part of your question,
but if some artists want, somechoreographers want, to get in
contact about presenting work atFocus, again, we're trying to
make this a series that will behappening, you know, hopefully
on a monthly basis, continuingon.
Right now we have October andNovember dates scheduled and
(24:18):
then we'll see about the newdates in coming up in 2025.
But if they want to do that,then they can get in contact
with me at my via my email or mywebsite or my Instagram.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (24:31):
I think that's great and I'm glad to
hear that you are both so openand willing to take, you know,
take these ideas from incominghopefully incoming artists.
I could probably talk to youguys forever about this, but
they don't let me do that, soI'm going to ask you one last
(24:53):
question and then I'm going tolet you go for the day.
We appealed, I think, to theartists who are listening.
But for those who perhaps don'tperform themselves, or who are
not artists themselves but wantto take part, or who want to be
an audience member, how wouldyou entice folks to visit you,
Perhaps folks who have neverbeen to Art House Productions
(25:15):
before?
Meredith Burns (25:16):
Well, first off, art House is in this fantastic
new space in downtown JerseyCity, right off of Marin
Boulevard, right next to thePATH station.
You know there's parking in thebuilding if you prefer that, or
there's.
You know lots around our spaceas well and you know, I think
when you walk into Art House itis really it's a warm
(25:39):
environment.
You know there's a concessionstand, there's a gallery, so you
also get to enjoy visual art ifyou're coming to see the
performing arts.
And then the theater spaceitself is really top of the line
.
It's an intimate space, as aswe discussed, but but it's, it's
really fantastic.
(26:00):
You know we've got just justtop of the line equipment and
and, yeah, the seats are supercomfortable.
I got to shout out these K modelseats, basically the ems of
theater chairs, and yeah, Ithink you know, if you enjoy
being in a lively communityatmosphere, if you're looking
(26:22):
for sort of maybe I don't know,not your traditional date night,
come.
If you're looking to meet newfriends and have new experiences
and see local artists and seeinnovative choreography, learn
about as Kenia was talking aboutmovement in a new way, come and
check this out.
I think it's really impressivewhen you see dancers in this way
(26:45):
.
I think dance is very moving,but it's it can sometimes, you
know, if you watch dance.
Um, if you watch this kind ofdance, I think the sort of like
contemporary movement in a video, I don't think it translates, I
really think you have to be inthe room.
So, uh, I I think come have awonderful, emotional, fun
(27:09):
experience at art house.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (27:11):
I think everything you said there was
really compelling, but you hadme at comfy seats.
Meredith Burns (27:16):
I'm not going to lie.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (27:17):
It really is huge.
No, it's a huge point.
Broadway can't even offercomfortable seats.
Truly yeah, rivaling Broadwaywith their state-of-the-art
seating accommodations.
Art House Productions will beintroducing their new dance
series, focus, on October 10thand November 14th at 7.30 pm.
(27:37):
For more information on theFocus series and more at Art
House, be sure to visitArtHouseProductionsorg.
And for more of Kenia's salsaseries and upcoming work, please
visit her website atKeniadancecom.
That's K-E-N-I-A dance dot com.
If you liked this episode, besure to review, subscribe and
(27:59):
tell your friends.
A transcript of this podcast,links relevant to the story and
more about the arts in NewJersey can be found at
JerseyArtscom.
The Jersey Arts Podcast ispresented by Art Pride New
Jersey, advancing a state ofcreativity since 1986.
This show was co-founded by,and currently supported by,
funds from the New Jersey StateCouncil on the Arts, with
additional support from theNational Endowment for the Arts.
(28:21):
This episode was hosted, editedand produced by me, Gina Marie
Rodriguez.
Executive producers are JimAtkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez,
and my thanks to Meredith Burnsand Kenia Rosete for speaking
with me today.
I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez forthe Jersey Arts Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're
listening to the Jersey ArtsPodcast.
Today we're talking dance.
Art House Productions iscollaborating with Kenya Rosete
Dance to bring a new moderndance series to Jersey City.
The show, titled Focus, willfeature two to four artists per
night who will present their ownoriginal choreography.
Each artist's piece or act runsabout 10 to 15 minutes in
(00:26):
length, so think of them asbite-sized performances that
showcase the dancers' creative,unique and innovative voices.
As producer Kenya Rosettiexplained to me, audiences can
expect an easy, fun andinspiring evening.
Easy in the sense that you canstep into the space without
having any prior knowledge ofdance, much like me.
(00:47):
Fun because of the variety ofchoreographic work you'll get to
experience.
And inspiring, as you can watcheach artist create a world of
their own before your very eyes.
Today I'm speaking with ArtHouse Productions Executive
Director, Meredith Burns, andChoreographer and Producer Kenya
Rossetti of Kenya RossettiDance.
I think you'll learn a lot fromthis one.
(01:08):
Check it out.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Let's start with you guysintroducing yourselves and what
you do.
Meredith Burns (01:19):
I am Meredith Burns and I am the Executive
Artistic Director of Art Houseand that means that I do a
little bit of everything.
I'm curating a season, I ampaying the bills, I am doing the
annual audit, I am grantwriting, I'm hiring, I'm doing
(01:41):
HR probably doing way too much,but I think every executive
director out there of a smallnonprofit, even a large
nonprofit, will relate to whatI'm saying.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:54):
Absolutely .
It's a huge undertaking.
So I think your audiencesreally appreciate what you're
doing, even if they don'tnecessarily understand what
you're doing.
They're reaping the benefits ofyour work.
So thank you for putting in allof that effort.
I know that nonprofit work isvery difficult and Kenia how
about you?
Kenia Rosete (02:12):
Hello, yes, and I'm like nodding my head because
I'm like, yes, nonprofit, veryimportant, yes, rewarding.
Hi, my name is Kenya Rosete andI'm the artistic director of
Kenya Rosete Dance and I, in avery different capacity but,
similarly to Meredith, do alittle bit of everything.
(02:34):
So I am the artistic directorand I manage my own company,
where, you know, choreograph andput together shows.
I am starting a producer rolealong with, which we'll get into
in a little bit with, alongwith Meredith, at Art House
Productions, I am a projectmanager for another
choreographer.
(02:54):
I work with anotherchoreographer, Alethea Pace, uh,
in putting together her work,and so, yeah, I dabble in a lot
of different things.
Grant writing is a big one andeverything, administration, as
you can imagine, but I also getto do a lot of the creative work
(03:14):
, which is, you know, thechoreographing, the dancing, the
imagining a piece and puttingall the things together in order
to come for it to come tofruition.
Essentially, that is, you know,in some sort of a presentation
to the audience.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:30):
There's no business like show business,
right, and it is a business.
So there's all of thisadministrative work that goes
into it, but all anybody wantsto talk about is the creative.
But that's true, I'm going tomake you guys focus on the
creative.
How do you pick and choose whatmakes it to your stage and how
did this particularcollaboration with Can you Reset
(03:51):
the Dance begin?
Meredith Burns (04:06):
production that happens every year tends to be a
new play but could be anexisting play.
This year we actually haveGruesome Playground Injuries by
Rajiv Joseph coming up this fall.
We also have our Comedy Fest,which happens every June, runs
for about five or six daysdepending on the year, our
Incubator New Play Festival,which is a nine-month program
for playwrights to launch abrand new play, first draft of a
brand new play, and thatculminates in a new Play Fest
(04:30):
every May.
Then we usually have some kindof summer program, which this
past year was Dinner en Blanc.
It was.
It's basically a big outdoorpicnic and lots of art infused
into that.
And then, you know, we justopened a brand new location in
(04:53):
Jersey City and we have beenworking to basically fill the
space with wonderful artsprograms.
We're truly multi-arts and manyyears ago we had a program
called your Move.
It was a modern dance festivalwhich essentially during the
pandemic, went by the wayside abit.
(05:13):
So we've been trying to bringback modern dance, contemporary
dance, for the past four yearsand we worked with Kenia in
March of this year on a programcalled In the Fold and it was
just really beautiful and wereally enjoyed working with
Kenia and that's a big thing forus.
That's really how we go aboutchoosing.
It really matters to us aboutthe kinds of collaborators that
(05:36):
we're working with.
Of course the art has to beamazing that's first and
foremost which it was but trulyit is about the type of person
that is kind of coming into ourspace and welcoming their
audiences and that really has tobe the right fit.
It really has to feelcollaborative and I think kind
(05:58):
that's a big part of sort of arthouses.
I think Ethos is that level ofcommunity connection.
So in thinking about, okay,we've got these core programs
but we're building out moreprograms, we really want to
figure out what are theseperforming arts series?
We approached Kenia.
We asked her would you beinterested in being a
(06:19):
co-producer on this modern danceseries?
That sort of morphed into Kenia, saying, you know, I'd really
like to focus more on thechoreography of what we're doing
.
And that sort of morphed intowhat we're doing now, which is a
, you know, contemporary dancechoreography, which will be a
series of choreographerspresenting work, probably with
(06:42):
small companies, two to fourdancers, and really launching
that as something that willcontinue.
So you'll be able to see thatmonthly and I think you know, I
think there actually is a bigcommunity here in Jersey City
that loves modern dance anddoesn't get to see enough of it.
And you know, back when we didyour move, it was very special
(07:07):
because we would host it over atthe Lowe's, jersey and Journal
Square, which had this like hugeproscenium stage, and that was
very fun for the dancers thatparticipated, because they don't
typically or very often get towork on a big proscenium stage.
Art House is not that, but weare setting up the space in such
(07:28):
a way that I think it's goingto feel large, also intimate and
, I think, kind of immersive forthe audience.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout how you know the thinking
behind how we're curating aseason, the kinds of programs
that we want to bring in, thekinds of collaborators that we
want to bring in, the kinds ofcollaborators that we want to
work with, and, yeah, and howKenia and Art House and me
(07:51):
connected.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (07:52):
I think that's fantastic.
This is probably the second orthird interview where someone
has told me how important beingkind is, and it's just so
refreshing to hear because Imean, I don't know, we live in a
difficult world right, andthere's a lot of contentious
conversations that happen daily.
So to hear artists saying oneof their prime concerns when
(08:14):
working with someone else is howkind they are, I just think
it's really it's good to hear.
It's reassuring for the peoplewho are coming to see you and
for the people who may want towork with you in the future.
So being kind is wonderful.
I want to circle back.
You just said that while it'snot like a large proscenium, it
(08:34):
is still a large yet intimateproduction.
And can you remind me how largeyour house is?
What is?
Meredith Burns (08:42):
your capacity, how large your house is.
What's your capacity?
Our max capacity is like 125.
But that really depends on it'sa modular space, so it really
does depend on the amount of,you know, room that we're
allocating for the artist toplay on.
So what I meant by that that issort of large and intimate, is
(09:10):
the way that we're setting upthe room for Kenia's series is
that it's going to be in athrust configuration, so meaning
there'll be audiences on threesides and it just has that very,
I think, sort of immersive.
Every seat will be a great seatand yeah, and we'll most likely
in that configuration, fitaround 75 seats.
So get your tickets becausecould sell out at that number?
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:32):
I hope it does, and I really loved your
explanation, your verbalexplanation of a thrust, while I
was watching Kenia give me thehand gesture as to what it looks
like.
Thank you for that.
I really wish our audiencecould see that as well as hear
it, but I was entertained.
So thank you, that's a nicesegue.
(09:53):
So, Kenia, I'm going to ask youa question now.
I would really love to hearjust about your background as a
dancer and when you first fellin love with it.
How did you fall in love withit?
Kenia Rosete (10:12):
Yeah, that's, it's a good question and I feel like
you know, when I saw thequestions early on earlier today
, I was like, oh yes, I feellike when did I fall in love
with dance?
You think that I would knowlike the specific moment or
something right.
But I feel like my story isvery similar to a lot of other
dancers and movers, where I wasprobably in love with it and
doing it before I knew what Iwas doing, that's for sure.
(10:34):
I can tell you all the reasonswhy I love it and I think it's
something that, as I continue toget into the space and really
fine tune my technique andbecome, you know, dancer,
capital D, you know, whateverthat means.
(10:54):
I started to understand more ofthe reasons, like I keep finding
more reasons why I love danceand I keep falling in love with
it over and over again.
Dance, and I keep falling inlove with it over and over again
.
But it really is about movement.
It's moving, it's a type of artmedium I guess you can call it
right Like it's a type of artthat is primarily done through
movement, and I realized that Iam a person, as you saw, even
(11:18):
when Meredith was speaking andeven as I'm talking, I'm like
moving.
It's just the way that I I kindof understand myself being in
the world.
It makes me comfortable beingin the world and it's a way in
which I can communicate, it's away in which I can express
myself and it's a way in which Ican connect.
(11:38):
I realized that that's the wayin which I'm able to connect
with, whether it's mycollaborators, my dancers, my
audience.
It's yeah, it's beautiful inthat sense.
I was thinking about a littlebit about that question and what
came to me actually was Irecently had a memory pop back
(11:58):
into my head about when I fellin love with choreography and I
and I do have a moment.
I didn't realize it again atthe time, but I was taught I was
having a conversation withsomebody else and we were
talking about likechoreographing and this popped
into my head and I realized, wow, I was in high school and I put
(12:22):
together my first what.
I didn't know at the time whatit was, but it was a multimedia
essentially show and it had alot of collaborators in it too,
and at the time I put togetherthere was a poet that came on
stage and did a little bit ofspoken word.
I had two live singers and thenthere were two dancers and I
(12:42):
was one of them and I fell inlove with it because I think
it's sort of the theme that'ssort of emerging in our
conversation right now.
It's the collaborative nature ofit.
I love being able to collaboratewith people and I love being
able to think of something, havea vision, and in the process of
figuring out how to get it tocome to fruition, to something
(13:08):
that is tangible, that we canshare with an audience, is
exciting and stressful, ofcourse, and there's all these
other things around it, but itreally, at the core of it, is
exciting and then it gives me achance.
I think the way that I like towork when it comes to
choreographing or even in myother jobs that are
administrative.
(13:28):
I like to be able to workcollaboratively and invite
people into a process and createa space where people can step
into it and bring a little bitof themselves into the process
as well.
And I think, going back intowhat Meredith was talking about,
(13:48):
when Meredith and Art Houseapproached me and said, hey,
what do you think about doing adance series?
And the first thing was I wouldlove to work with you, and that
was the thing because of theexperience that I had through In
the Fold.
And then the second thing was,you know, being able to create a
space to share with artists andwith audience, and I think
(14:13):
that's really what I'm excitedabout with this series.
Gina Marie Rodrig (14:17):
Collaboration is a skill in and of itself.
Not everybody knows how to playwell together, you know.
So I like that.
That's something you appreciateabout the art form.
I'm sitting here with pain inmy back trying to figure out how
I can get in the right positionand I'm just thinking, as
(14:38):
you're speaking and talkingabout movement and fluid
movement, I'm like, oh, maybe Isit in a chair too often during
the day and I should be doingmore of what you're doing.
I actually not that this isabout me, but I will say real
quick I tried taking a salsalesson recently, knowing that I
am not a good dancer and I wastalking with Meredith about this
(15:00):
earlier.
I do not have musical abilitiesright, so I was trying to
understand what was happening inthe salsa class and it just it
was not intuitive for me.
I was not understanding what.
Oh my gosh, the teacher keptasking me something.
He was saying where's the count?
That's what he kept saying, andall I kept thinking was I don't
(15:20):
know, are you going to show meor teach?
me, I don't understand what thismeans.
I really I think I talked toomuch about my musical
inabilities, but, um, I saw thatyou are teaching.
Is it a free salsa class comingup?
Kenia Rosete (15:36):
sure, this is for Kenia, obviously yeah, Meredith,
you're welcome it'd be amazingif I was right like right very
surprising maybe we'll do alittle pop-up, we'll prepare,
Meredith, and read the class thefirst five minutes.
(15:57):
Yes, no, I am.
I'm really excited about thatbecause you, you, the keyword
here is free.
It's a free salsa class, so Ireally hope people sign up, and
maybe right now that you weretalking, it made me think about.
Hopefully, it being free alsomeans that people would be
willing to give it a try, evenif it's something that they feel
like maybe they're not great atit or they're unsure about it.
(16:20):
I can't tell you how many timespeople tell me that they're like
oh, I have no rhythm, I have.
You know, I can't hear themusic.
Or I have two left feet, youknow, and I just like listen and
I smile and just come to aclass and, trust me, like I'm
going to give a very.
Maybe this is a silly example,but you ever watch a baby and
(16:44):
you play music and they've never, I mean, even if they watch you
move.
I mean they've never beentaught anything and they wiggle,
they'll bounce, they'll jump.
So we all have it in us.
I truly, truly believe that weall have it in our bodies in
some form or another to move toa beat.
(17:06):
It's just how you access it isdifferent.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (17:09):
Let's take that right back to focus.
You can tell me, I guess,because we were just talking
about how everyone kind oflearns differently or interprets
movement and dance differentlyhow do you find yourself
choreographing a piece and, inparticular, focus?
What can audiences expect fromfocus?
Kenia Rosete (17:31):
That's a good question.
So I think the first thing, orat least like the thing that I'm
really excited about in thesort of the way that I'm going
about curating the differentartists that are coming into
this program, is being able toshowcase a lot of different
styles of movement, a lot ofdifferent styles of dance, a lot
(17:51):
of different styles ofchoreography.
And I think Most of the time Icould be wrong about this, but
most of the time when peoplehear the word dance, they think
immediately ballet, they thinksome of the more codified
versions of dance that arepromoted in commercial spaces.
(18:12):
Or you can think and go thecommercial route and start
thinking about hip hop and allthese other entertainment based
like, really, you know,commercial ways of movement.
So, focus, I'm excited to bringin artists that will approach
movement in very different ways,that will approach choreography
(18:33):
in very different ways.
For example, this in in Octoberthe October 10th date that's
coming up I'm bringing in aperson who prefers to be
referred to as director.
She's coming in and she'sdirecting music and movement and
she's primarily a musician, butshe's bringing in collaborating
(18:54):
music and movement together inher piece.
So that's going to be, you know, one way in which they're
presenting work, and then wehave all these other different
types of duets and solos andways and material in which
people will present to theaudience, and so that's, yes,
that's one of the ways in whichkind of connecting it back to
(19:18):
what we were talking about inlike everybody's individual way
of moving Focused, is going tosort of be able to bring that
out and give a variety to theaudience.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (19:29):
Each performer.
Are they then choreographingtheir own individual piece or
are you overseeing?
What is your input into theoverall piece?
Let me say it that way, that'sa great question.
Kenia Rosete (19:42):
That's a great question, no, so essentially,
this is a shared program, whichmeans that we're presenting
different artists, so they willcome in and they will present
their own choreography.
The way that I'm coming intothis and Art House is coming in,
that we're collaboratingtogether is in being able to
reach out to different artists,invite them into the space to
(20:06):
show work, and so in that way,we're curating the program in
terms of you know what piecesare coming into each
presentation.
Essentially, does that kind ofmake sense?
Does that answer the question?
So everybody's choreographing.
Like we're bringing inchoreographers, they're each
choreographing their own pieces,and then I will be I'm one of
(20:27):
the choreographers that will bepresenting in the October date
as well, presenting one littlesection of my own choreography
from In the Fold.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (21:11):
I do understand that.
Meredith Burns (21:11):
And that leads me to ask and maybe this is a
Meredith question for theartists listening, is there a
way for them website or a waythat artists can get involved
with you, that they can be onthe lookout to be kind and be
one of those collaborators withArt House?
You know, for this particularprogram, I think Kenia's really
reaching out to the dancecommunity and specifically to
these innovative choreographersand they're bringing in the
dancers that they love to workwith.
So that's how we're producingthis particular program.
(21:34):
But you know, for other artistsout there listening ways to get
involved at Art House,listening ways to get involved
at Art House, you know theIncubator New Play program.
That is an open call for allplaywrights.
That call just closed the 1stof September.
So we'll be announcing thecohort for the 2024-2025
(21:54):
Incubator program shortly in thenext two weeks.
Our comedy fest is also an opencall, so that we begin, you know
that open call, in December andthat goes through March of 2025
.
And then we announce our full,our full lineup in May and the
(22:14):
fest kicks off in June.
We also have JC Fridays, whichis a quarterly arts event in
Jersey City.
It's a it's a free arts eventin almost every neighborhood in
Jersey City and that reallyencourages artists and
businesses and galleries to worktogether potentially and to
(22:36):
really I love it.
Kenia is like doing themovement.
Again I love it.
(23:04):
Kenia is like doing the movementand you know it's really a way
to, I think, highlight what'shappening locally, here and
regionally.
And then if you're interestedin sort of you know, curating a
series, similar to how you know,Kenia is working with Art House
to co-curate a series, reachout.
Our email addresses are on ourwebsite so it's very easy to
find contact information for us.
And if you have an idea for acomedy series or a film series
because we have a wonderful,beautiful screen and incredible
10K projector please reach out.
Or if you just have somethingthat is sort of artistic in
nature but you might not thinkis a fine art, as an example,
(23:25):
art House co-curates a burlesqueperformance with a very popular
burlesque performer andproducer around here, lillian
Bussell, and that happens on amonthly basis.
So we are always sort of tryingto find things that we feel you
(23:45):
know that I think fit withinthe arts umbrella and within the
performing arts, but we're alsovery much open to things that
are not necessarily on the nose.
Fine arts related?
Kenia Rosete (23:57):
I don't know if this was part of your question,
but if some artists want, somechoreographers want, to get in
contact about presenting work atFocus, again, we're trying to
make this a series that will behappening, you know, hopefully
on a monthly basis, continuingon.
Right now we have October andNovember dates scheduled and
(24:18):
then we'll see about the newdates in coming up in 2025.
But if they want to do that,then they can get in contact
with me at my via my email or mywebsite or my Instagram.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (24:31):
I think that's great and I'm glad to
hear that you are both so openand willing to take, you know,
take these ideas from incominghopefully incoming artists.
I could probably talk to youguys forever about this, but
they don't let me do that, soI'm going to ask you one last
(24:53):
question and then I'm going tolet you go for the day.
We appealed, I think, to theartists who are listening.
But for those who perhaps don'tperform themselves, or who are
not artists themselves but wantto take part, or who want to be
an audience member, how wouldyou entice folks to visit you,
Perhaps folks who have neverbeen to Art House Productions
(25:15):
before?
Meredith Burns (25:16):
Well, first off, art House is in this fantastic
new space in downtown JerseyCity, right off of Marin
Boulevard, right next to thePATH station.
You know there's parking in thebuilding if you prefer that, or
there's.
You know lots around our spaceas well and you know, I think
when you walk into Art House itis really it's a warm
(25:39):
environment.
You know there's a concessionstand, there's a gallery, so you
also get to enjoy visual art ifyou're coming to see the
performing arts.
And then the theater spaceitself is really top of the line
.
It's an intimate space, as aswe discussed, but but it's, it's
really fantastic.
(26:00):
You know we've got just justtop of the line equipment and
and, yeah, the seats are supercomfortable.
I got to shout out these K modelseats, basically the ems of
theater chairs, and yeah, Ithink you know, if you enjoy
being in a lively communityatmosphere, if you're looking
(26:22):
for sort of maybe I don't know,not your traditional date night,
come.
If you're looking to meet newfriends and have new experiences
and see local artists and seeinnovative choreography, learn
about as Kenia was talking aboutmovement in a new way, come and
check this out.
I think it's really impressivewhen you see dancers in this way
(26:45):
.
I think dance is very moving,but it's it can sometimes, you
know, if you watch dance.
Um, if you watch this kind ofdance, I think the sort of like
contemporary movement in a video, I don't think it translates, I
really think you have to be inthe room.
So, uh, I I think come have awonderful, emotional, fun
(27:09):
experience at art house.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (27:11):
I think everything you said there was
really compelling, but you hadme at comfy seats.
Meredith Burns (27:16):
I'm not going to lie.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (27:17):
It really is huge.
No, it's a huge point.
Broadway can't even offercomfortable seats.
Truly yeah, rivaling Broadwaywith their state-of-the-art
seating accommodations.
Art House Productions will beintroducing their new dance
series, focus, on October 10thand November 14th at 7.30 pm.
(27:37):
For more information on theFocus series and more at Art
House, be sure to visitArtHouseProductionsorg.
And for more of Kenia's salsaseries and upcoming work, please
visit her website atKeniadancecom.
That's K-E-N-I-A dance dot com.
If you liked this episode, besure to review, subscribe and
(27:59):
tell your friends.
A transcript of this podcast,links relevant to the story and
more about the arts in NewJersey can be found at
JerseyArtscom.
The Jersey Arts Podcast ispresented by Art Pride New
Jersey, advancing a state ofcreativity since 1986.
This show was co-founded by,and currently supported by,
funds from the New Jersey StateCouncil on the Arts, with
additional support from theNational Endowment for the Arts.
(28:21):
This episode was hosted, editedand produced by me, Gina Marie
Rodriguez.
Executive producers are JimAtkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez,
and my thanks to Meredith Burnsand Kenia Rosete for speaking
with me today.
I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez forthe Jersey Arts Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!