DANCEVISIONS

The Performance Garage provides the DanceVisions Resident Artist with mentorship, marketing, publicity, box office, and a $10,000 stipend. Included in their support is video documentation, photography, and light design for their three-performance season when they premiere their new residency choreography.

Currently DanceVisions Residents are chosen by invitation only. At present only one resident per year is selected. A panel of nationally known local choreographers and directors review the applications in the summer and selections are made in the Fall. Most years the resident artist premieres their work in May over the course of three performances at the Performance Garage.

PRESS

Oct. 10, 2023 • Thinking Dance, written By Shayla-Vie Jenkins:
Talking About Blackness, Ballet, and a Hard Won Empowerment

Oct. 04, 2023 • Broad Street Review, written by Melissa Strong:

When Yesterday Meets Tomorrow: Being Black in Ballet Today

Jul. 19, 2023 • The Dance Journal:

Meredith Rainey is named as the Resident Artist for the 2023-2024 DanceVisions season

excerpt from (In)Visible

ABOUT MEREDITH RAINEY

Picture this: 15-year-old, African American teenager living in Fort Lauderdale with my single mother, sister and, on occasion, my brothers. Having the fortunate experience of witnessing my girlfriend dance. She was rehearsing a solo that she would be performing to audition for aposition in the Dillard School of the Performing Arts. Now, not knowing anything about dance I said to her after she finished dancing, “That was really nice.” She then asked if I had any suggestions I then said (with great hubris), “Well, you know when that high note in the music came, maybe you should have kicked instead of going to the floor.” This was my first choreographic act. Soon after this episode I applied for Dillard School of the Performing Arts myself, after some persuasion from my girlfriend and my guidance counselor. I got in and took ballet, Graham technique and jazz, as well as the other mandatory courses. Every class was a new and exciting challenge. I felt a new found energy and possibility with every new step. At the top was ballet. I was really drawn to the rigor, discipline and the dedication to constant improvement. Needless to say, the ballet stuck.

“Awareness has grown about the compromised position of Black bodies inhabiting white spaces... I am that kid who grew up poor and in the projects of Fort Lauderdale. My path into ballet was more accident than intention. Showing potential for dance I chose ballet, not because of cachet or innate interest, but because it seemed more challenging, technically. And I was conditioned well by the meager circumstances of life to never shy away from a challenge."

DanceVisions began in 2017 with the aim of developing more seasoned work from the selected choreographers by having the time, space, and support for thoughtful and mentored creation.

Below are our selected artists and the work they created while in the DanceVision program.