UPCOMING PLAYTIME

CHELSEA FACTORY x The Playground NYC

KAYLA FARRISH

Kayla Farrish/Decent Structures Arts is an emerging company combining filmmaking, storytelling, dance theater performance, and sound score. The company has been commissioned by Gibney Dance Inc (2020-2022), Louis Armstrong House Museum (2020),  Danspace Project Inc (2019), Pepatian and BAAD! (2018), and beyond.  Her  residencies include Gallim Women + Residency (2021),  Gibney Spotlight: New Voices, Barysnikov Arts Center, Arts On Site (2020), Keshet Makers Space Experience, BAX Space Grant (2019), Pepatian Dance Your Future (2018), and Chez Bushwick (2017).  Her live performance and films show at Judson Church, Danspace, Jacob's Pillow,  New York Live Arts,  Joe’s Pub,  BAAD!, film festivals, and beyond.  In 2021  she created  “Broken Record”  with Brandon Coleman for Little Island Festival, “Rinsing” film, co-directed Melanie Charles “Y’ll D’nt Care Abt Black Women” Film,  Saul Williams’ “People Above the Moon” Solo for The Motherboard Suites at NYLA, “Roster” outdoor Performance- Four/Four Open Air Series with Melanie Charles, and Martyr’s Fiction Feature Film. In 2022, she releases  feature film “Martyr’s Fiction”, and will collaborate with Belinda McGuire, The Clarice Presents “BlackLight Summit”,  Kenyon Adams, Louis Armstrong House, Lincoln Center/Kyle Abraham,  Triskelion,  and others. She is currently a rehearsal director at Sleep No More NYC and adjunct faculty at NYU Tisch.

NORBERT DE LA CRUZ III

Norbert De La Cruz III was born in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He is a NY and LA-based freelance contemporary dance artist.

Trained classically in Cecchetti and Vaganova, his movement practice is shaped by his contemporary sensibilities, an eclectic training background, performance experience, and learned embodiments from  Gabriella Foundation in LA, LA County High School for the Arts, Marat Daukayev School of Ballet, and at The Juilliard School where he received his BFA in dance. He has performed professionally as a soloist in the Metropolitan Opera production of Aida, Aszure Barton & Artists in Germany & Austria (Blue Soup & Busk), Balletto Teatro di Torino (Italy), Sydney Skybetter & Associates, Santa Clarita Ballet’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lustig Dance Theatre, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Gallim (Lacoste Promo), and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. He represented the Juilliard School at Kodak Theatre’s first annual Dizzy Feet Foundation Gala in Hollywood, CA.  As a dancer, Norbert has performed works by choreographers José Limón, David Parker, Adam Hougland, Johannes Wieland, Ohad Naharin, Aszure Barton, Jerome Robbins, Larry Keigwin, Jiri Pikorny, Hernando Fernando Magedan, Spenser Theberge, Jeremy McQueen, Camille A. Browne, Dwight Rhoden, Desmond Richardson, Lightfoot & Leon, Crystal Pite, Alonzo King, Zachary Tang, Gregory Dawson and Jirí Kylián.

Norbert was further mentored by esteemed Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) Directors, Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty.  His choreographic career was further recognized through the kind support of the Jerome Robbins Foundation’s NEW Essential Works Grant (2012), commissioning his first large-scale ballet, “Square None” (2012) with ASFB. He was a finalist of Hubbard Street’s National Choreographic Competition (2013), a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Award under the choreography fellowship (2012), Alvin Ailey New Directions Choreography Lab (2013), finalist for the Joffrey Academy of Dance’s 2014 Choreographer of Color Award, and a recipient for the 2015 National Choreographic Initiative choreographer in Irvine, CA.  He was recently selected for the 2017 and 2018 Spring  Sessions at the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet, where he created his “Lunar” and "Traces" ballet working alongside Juilliard Composer, Nathan Prillaman. He has since been commissioned to create and premier new works for companies such as Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, Joffrey Academy of Dance, James Sewell Ballet, Tulsa Ballet II, Barak Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Florida, Attack Theatre, Ballet X, and Periapsis Music & Dance.

Additional honorable mentions include the Asian Arts Alliance Jadin Wong Award, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival, and Dance Magazines Top 25 to watch in 2016.  Working as a freelancer, Norbert is currently pursuing his MFA in dance at Hollins University Graduate Program.

OMRI DRUMLEVICH

Omri Drumlevich was born near Jerusalem, Israel. He graduated from The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance High School in 2010 and joined the Batsheva Ensemble in 2010 and was invited to dance for The Batsheva Dance Company between 2012-2017, during this years he produced and created for the annual “Batsheva Dancers Create” Projects. Omri Is a certified Gaga teacher and has been teaching Gaga and repertoire by Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal internationally. In 2017 Omri was invited to be an Israeli Visiting Artist in Princeton University as a Junior lecturer in dance by The Israel Institute. In Princeton he created and performed his solo performance “Far” in support of the Lewis Center for the Arts. Omri has been showing and making his work in venues such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern art, Suzanne Dellal, Tel Aviv City Hall, The Lewis Center for the Arts and more. Currently based in NYC.

OUR SESSIONS

THE PLAYGROUND NYC HOSTS SEASONAL SESSIONS OF DANCE PLAYTIME FOR MOVERS OF ALL LEVELS AT A DISCOUNTED RATE.

OUR SESSIONS ALLOW DANCERS TO EXPERIENCE VARIOUS CHOREOGRAPHIC STYLES AND IDEAS, ENGAGE WITH A CREATIVE COMMUNITY, AND GATHER RESOURCEFUL INFORMATION AND INSPIRATION FROM THE ARRAY OF CHOREOGRAPHERS LEADING THESE SESSIONS.

THE PLAYGROUND NYC OFFERS VARIOUS PRICE POINT:

2 HOUR SESSIONS : $6 CLASS FEE

3 HOUR SESSIONS : $10 - $15 CLASS FEE

4 HOUR SESSIONS : $15 - 20 CLASS FEE

AFTER DARK SESSIONS : $10 CLASS FEE

PAST SESSIONS

WE’NE HELD WORKSHOPS WITH THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS AND COMPANIES:

Fernando Hernando Magadan

Frances Chiaverini

Francesca Harper

Fluct- Sigrid Lauren

Göteborg Opera

Glo ATL-Laurie Stallings

Hubbard Street

Jermaine Spivey

Jon Rua

Kate Wallich- The YC

kidd pivot

Kyle Abraham | Abraham In Motion

LA Dance Project

Lee/Saar

Sonya Tayeh