Program A
Thurs & Sat, March 19 & 21
Carol Nolte
"HOPE"
About the Work: This happened on a very dismal and sad 2026 Sunday morning.
Bio: CAROL NOLTE/DANCE COLLECTIVE (Artistic Director) founded WestFest 15 years ago as a response to the financial strain of the recession, offering choreographers free or low-cost performance opportunities at the Westbeth Artisits’ Residence, her home for the last 35 years. She has also created over 50 dances for her award-winning company Dance Collective. Recently, her work has been seen at Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon. She has also co-founded and produced three dance festivals, DanceBLITZ, Taos Dance 2000, and, currently, WestFest. She graduated from Brown University with honors in American Civilization and took an advanced degree in dance at The New School. www.dancecollectiveny.com
congruency dance collective | tess majewski
"human sacrifice"
Bio: tess majewski (they/them) is a mover and choreographer from portland, or. their dancing has focused primarily on hip hop, tap, modern, improvisation, and choreography. they co-founded congruency dance collective in 2022, a portland-based tapfusion dance company, and they currently dance with imge dance company. tess has been dancing for over two decades and continues to be fully obsessed with it.
Sophia Nielsen
"Sketches 1-7" (excerpt)
About the Work: Sketches 1-7 is anything and everything you want it to be. For me, it's an exploration of childhood and nostalgia; of indulging in play and the not-so-serious; of connection and the absence of it -- and everything else that has quietly moved me.
Bio: Sophia Nielsen is a dancer, choreographer, and scientist. She will graduate from NYU this spring with a BFA in Dance and Biology. She has performed works by Kayla Farrish and Yasmeen Godder, among others, and choreographed several pieces, including Sketches 1-7, which premiered at the Jack Crystal Theater this fall. She seeks to create raw, emotionally resonant movement that asks what bodies can hold, express, and offer one another. Her research in cognitive neuroscience and developmental genetics informs her approach to dance -- as a site of inquiry, where movement reveals answers to questions we didn't know to ask.
Stephanie Saywell
"Your Silence Is Killing Me"
Bio: Stephanie Saywell (she/her) is a NYC-based choreographer, performer, clown, dramaturg, devised-theatre maker, and published poet. She holds a Certificate of Completion from the Dell' Arte International School of Physical Theatre's Professional Training Program, plus two BAs from Bard College (Dance & Written Arts). Saywell is a graduate of Doug Varone's DEVICES choreography mentorship program and a recipient of both the Ana Itelman Prize for Choreography and the Streb GO! Commissioning Program for Emerging Artists. Her work has been presented by Streb, WestFest, NYLA, CreateART, Gibney, Movement Research, Triskelion Arts, Mark Morris, Green Space, BAAD!, and Bard College, among others. www.stephaniesaywell.com
MNiverse | Mayu Nakaya
"Misalignment"
About the Work: Misalignment explores the subjectivity of being with others. Experiences often diverge, yet sometimes shift like interlocking gears, forming fleeting connections and moments of harmony. The work reflects both the challenges and joys of living alongside others.
Bio: Mayu Nakaya is a New York–based contemporary dance artist from Japan. She has worked with artists across the U.S. and Japan, drawing inspiration from diverse creative voices. Beginning ballet at age three, she graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan High School of Arts and earned her degree from the University of Tsukuba’s Dance Laboratory. She trained at The Ailey School from 2019–2021. Mayu founded the creative platform “MNiverse,” guided by her belief that one of contemporary dance’s most powerful values emerges in moments when audience and performers alike feel their hearts race and resonate through embodied live art.
Not A Dance Company | Payge Lecakes
"getting up to fall back down again"
About the Work: When one’s well-being is dependent on their ability to provide capital value to a society that does not, in turn, value the work that they do, how can this influence their personal stability and the stability of their connections with those who are in the professional field alongside them?
Previous collaborators: Jade Bowen-Jean, Maggie DeFrees, Amil Giunti, Kylie Grossman, Hannah Howell, Ciana Jao, Libby McKenzie, Victoria Serra, Alicia "Honey" Williams
Bio: Not A Dance Company (dir. Payge Lecakes, they/themme) is a New York-based movement arts collective whose work critically analyzes societal patterns, constructs, and impacts through performance as independent movement artists within a communal structure. NADC has participated in such residencies as Green Space’s D.I.G. (‘25-’26) and Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company's STUDIO TO STAGE (‘25), has performed as part of Dancing Beyond (‘24, ‘25) and the Uptown Rising Performance Series (‘21, ‘23, ‘24), and has contributed dance films at Dance Source Houston’s Barnstorm Dance Fest (‘25) and the Dance is Activism Film Festival (‘21, Awarded ‘Best Choreography).
Isaac Martin Lerner
"Third Person Scenario" (excerpt)
About the Work: This is the opening solo to my work “Third Person Scenario” set to premiere at 3AM Theater September 25th.
Bio: Isaac Martin Lerner is a choreographer based in New York City. As a performer, he has worked with companies such as The Bang Group, Kizuna Dance, Dual Rivet, and Greyzone Dance. His work has been presented by The Nuvu Festival, Arts on Site, Dance Canvas, 3AM Theater, and Adelphi University. He’s known for bringing his choreographic eye to interdisciplinary work with companies such as Des Moines Metro Opera, Westconn University, and The Curtis Institute. In 2024, he founded Working Title Dance Theater, set to premiere its first evening-length work “Third Person Scenario” in the fall of 2026.
cs movement projects
"Where It Thins"
About the Work: A slow degradation of composure.
Original work created with artists from Connecticut College in October of 2025.
Bio: cs movement projects, co-founded and directed by Claudia-Lynn Rightmire and Simon Thomas-Train, creates rigorously physical and relational performance work at the edges of strain and tenderness. Since 2021, the company has presented pieces in Florida, Massachusetts, and New York City, and developed works at Roger Williams University, East Carolina University, Connecticut College, and others, alongside national teaching engagements. Their work leans into fragility, humor, and failure as generative forces, cultivating spaces of shared responsibility and attention. Their performances have been described as “a wildly energetic, exhausting display of physicality, strength, and duality” by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Program B
Fri& Sun, March 20 & 22
Carol Nolte
"HOPE"
About the Work: This happened on a very dismal and sad 2026 Sunday morning.
Bio: CAROL NOLTE/DANCE COLLECTIVE (Artistic Director) founded WestFest 15 years ago as a response to the financial strain of the recession, offering choreographers free or low-cost performance opportunities at the Westbeth Artisits’ Residence, her home for the last 35 years. She has also created over 50 dances for her award-winning company Dance Collective. Recently, her work has been seen at Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon. She has also co-founded and produced three dance festivals, DanceBLITZ, Taos Dance 2000, and, currently, WestFest. She graduated from Brown University with honors in American Civilization and took an advanced degree in dance at The New School. www.dancecollectiveny.com
Louise Benkelman & Tommy Seibold
"Silent Lips"
About the Work: The inspiration for “Silent Lips” came from Victor Borge’s comically virtuosic piano playing, and eventually developed into a series of waltzing vignettes paired with multiple melodies from composer Franz Lehar. The name "Silent Lips" is the English translation of one segment of music ("Lippen Schweigen"), commonly known as The Merry Widow Waltz.
“Silent Lips” was the second duet created by Louise & Tommy (first performed in 2018), and this performance is an excerpt of the original 12 minute duet.
Bio: LOUISE BENKELMAN, from Helena, MT, graduated magna cum laude with honors from Roger Williams University (Rhode Island). Aside from her work as a company member of The Bang Group, she explores solo choreography, and frequently creates with Tommy Seibold. Louise has recently collaborated with Marcus Schulkind, Deborah Lohse, Amber Sloan, and others. Her choreographic commissions include venues such as Arts On Site, Judson Memorial Church, West End Theatre, WestFest Dance Festival, Gibney, Actors Fund Arts Center, and more. She proudly serves on the board of Queen City Ballet Company (Helena, MT), and is a community director/curator at Arts On Site (NYC).
Derek Crescenti
"Trailing"
Bio: Derek Crescenti is a creative artist whose work is shaped by his experiences performing with choreographers Chase Brock, Donald Byrd, Daniel Gwirtzman, Larry Keigwin, Mark Morris, David Parker, and Megan Williams, as well as with repertory company 10 Hairy Legs. He is a rehearsal associate and stager for Donald Byrd and Larry Keigwin, and has presented original works at the LVDE SpringUP Dance Festival (PA), Men in Dance Choreographer's Showcase (WA), and the Seattle International Dance Festival. Derek holds a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from the University of Washington, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Montclair State University.
Jackie Dodds
"Specifically Oranges"
Music: “SOTRS” by Caterina Barbieri, “Dorothy - Myd 10th Anniversary Version” by Polo & Pan, Myd, “Tobi Thwarted” by Clark, “Go To" by Drew Deur ft. Shota Renwick & Jack Nissen (Chordless Jazz Trio)
About the Work: "Specifically Oranges" is a solo dance exploring comfort and unfamiliarity. Using oranges—particularly juggling—as metaphor, it reflects balancing emotions and responsibility. A hand-to-heart motif and arms branching like trees embody comfort. The work examines oversharing, exhaustion through interaction, and a persistent desire to be understood.
Bio: Jackie Dodds is a Brooklyn-based movement artist and performer with a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from East Carolina University. She has trained internationally in Kenya and Amsterdam and performed across New York at festivals and venues including Bloom Emerging Artists Showcase, GroWorks, Snapshots Dance Exchange, Sparks Theater Festival, Westfest, Somasoup, University Settlement, and Steps on Broadway Industry Showcase. This past year, Jackie solo-traveled through four countries exploring dance and culture, completed a residency at Lake Studios Berlin developing her work Specifically Oranges, and performed in a science-based sound and movement study at Trinity Laban in London.
Sophia Perone
"Book One (excerpt)"
About the Work: This excerpt from Book One reimagines its first two sections, “EGG” and “creature comfort.” “EGG” explores fertility, potential, and fluid identity—the body as a vessel of becoming. “Creature comfort” examines primal instinct, where gesture and proximity forge bonds rooted in raw behavior rather than social convention and expectation.
Bio: Sophia Perone (she/her) is a New York–based choreographer and movement artist currently working at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). Her choreographic work has been presented at Baltimore Theater Project, Peridance Center KnJ Theater, Palm Springs International Dance Festival, and Judson Memorial Church, among other venues and festivals nationwide. Through her work, Sophia seeks to ignite inspiration and provoke thought, challenging conventional norms. She views dance not merely as performance, but as a catalyst for political discourse, societal development, community building, and cultural preservation.
Limón2 | Miguel Miranda
"Pukllay"
About the Work:
Pukllay comes from the Quechua language, meaning “to play.”
In the Andes, it is a way to remember, to celebrate, to honor what still breathes among us.
The stage becomes a living landscape.
Images appear and fade, carrying traces of places that once existed.
Bodies form a shifting organism,
where individuality softens
and a shared pulse takes hold.
Pukllay is an offering to my ancestors
and to distant, unseen communities
whose voices rarely reach the surface.
From that silence and its weight arise
sharpness, grotesque beauty, and urgency
Bio: Originally from Peru, Miguel Miranda is a New York City based multidisciplinary dance artist and choreographer. He earned his BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Montclair State University in 2023. Miguel has since worked as a freelance performer for numerous acclaimed projects, in addition to his performance work for Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More NYC and Emursive’s Life and Trust. His choreographic work has been presented at New York City Center Theater, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, 92nd Street Y, WestFest, The Tank NYC, the Alexander Kasser Theater, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and the American College Dance Association (ACDA), among others.
Emily Jerant-Hendrickson
"Caged"
About the Work: Inspired by the reactive states of the human mind, “Caged” looks at how we oscillate between awareness and avoidance, captivity and escape, and the uneasy pull of coping mechanisms that can feel safer than freedom.
Bio: Emily Jerant-Hendrickson is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher currently on faculty at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Emily has performed with David Parker and The Bang Group, little house dance, Lorraine Chapman the Company, Marcus Schulkind, Boston Dance Theater, Shura Baryshnikov, Jenna Pollack, and Ilya Vidrin. She has had the pleasure of performing at venues and through organizations such as b12 festival in Berlin, World Music/CRASHarts, The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston Lyric Opera, The Yard, Boston Center for the Arts, The Museum of Fine Arts, APAP at City Center, 92NY, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, and The Martha Graham Theater, among others. Emily has presented her own work at b12 festival in Berlin, Arts on Site NYC, Manhattan Movement Arts, Gibney Dance Center NYC, SPACE Gallery, Green Street Studios and The Boston Conservatory. Emily holds a BFA in dance from The Boston Conservatory.
Yaroque Dance Theatre | Shelby Green
Where It Thins
Rehearsal Director: Belleza
Bio: Yaroque Dance Theatre is a New York City based contemporary dance company founded by choreographer Shelby Green in 2024. The company creates bold, theatrical work blending contemporary dance, dance theater, camp, comedy, and emotional depth. Committed to immersive world building, every costume, prop, and set is built in house from 100% secondhand materials. Fiscally sponsored by New York Live Arts, Yaroque presented its first sold out evening length production at The Chain Theatre in 2025. In its first season, the company earned BroadwayWorld nominations for both choreography and costume design, reflecting its distinctive artistic voice.
Ally Ng
"DOWNPOUR"
About the Work: What do you choose to show people? What do you choose to hide from people? The piece explores how one manages internal chaos in a world that doesn’t slow down. In an attempt to gain control, we switch between two modes of living, presenting an idealistic version of ourselves while our true self suffers behind a mask, which proves to be unsustainable. The realization and acceptance that no one can really fix our problems but ourselves comes with an overwhelming sense of loneliness and helplessness, all you can do is laugh.
Shout out to my amazing cast, thank you for your hard work and dedication!
Bio: Ally Ng is a Chinese American artist originally from Philadelphia, PA, beginning her training at the Philadelphia Dance Academy. Her studies continued at the Kansas School of Classical Ballet before she moved to San Francisco to train in the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. Graduating in May 2026 with a BFA in Dance from New York University, she has had the opportunity to train with companies such as GALLIM, Dual Rivet, KOMOCO, Whim W’Him, Dutch National Ballet, and others. Through performance and creation, she seeks to craft and collaborate on work that is sensory, embodied, and deeply alive in the present moment.
Westbeth's programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Council. Sponsored by the Westbeth Artists Residents Council.
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