Danielle Russo Performance Project (DRPP) is a co-operative of diverse artists who design interdisciplinary performances for non-traditional stages. At home in Brooklyn, DRPP primarily occupies public spaces—architectural, historical, and politically-charged environs—using performance and experiential technology as mechanisms for mutual storytelling and social activism, alike. Its mission is to provoke critical, socially conscious dialogue between artists and the general public by providing open performances, creative workshops, and interactive programming. With an emphasis on the intersection of local arts and public access, our work aims to bridge existing gaps between the arts and the larger, multi-cultural milieu that is New York City.
For more information, visit drpp.nyc.
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ANTUAN BYERS PERFORMER
Antuan Byers (he/him) is a dancer, creative entrepreneur, and arts activist based on Lenapehoking (Manhattan, NY). He is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, and holds a certificate from the Parsons School of Design. Antuan has cultivated artistic partnerships with brands such as Acura, Barney’s NY, Brooklinen, Nike, Jaguar, and Urban Outfitters, and global modeling campaigns including ASICS and Capezio, and is represented by Stetts Modeling Agency NYC. Antuan has performed with the Washington National Opera Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, has been a guest artist with KEIGWIN + Company, and performed the solo work “Grey” by Kyle Abraham at New York City Center. After touring internationally with Ailey II, he returned to Lincoln Center to rejoin the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, where he is a frequent performer. Antuan is currently a fellow in The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron of the Arts Creative Arts Residency Program where he is a thought partner to Bebe Miller. He is the proud Founder/CEO of Black Dance Change Makers, a platform designed to unite and uplift Black-identifying dancers, through leadership, education, service, and community building.
JASON COLLINS PERFORMER
Jason is originally from Defreestville, NY, and has been performing with Danielle Russo Performance Project since 2014. He is also a dancer and the creative producer of Pam Tanowitz Dance. He has assisted Tanowitz with creations for Dance Theater of Harlem, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, and Royal Ballet. Jason has also danced with The Bang Group, Dylan Crossman, Ryan McNamara, Christopher Williams, The Metropolitan Opera and was featured in the Bessie award-winning performance of Merce Cunningham’s centennial celebration, Night of 100 Solos, at Brooklyn Academy of Music. He studied at Walnut Hill School for the Arts and holds a BFA from Juilliard
CHRISTINE FLORES PERFORMER
Christine Flores (she/her) is a dancer with DRPP, and a company member with Pam Tanowitz Dance, Nicole Von Arx, and Company XIV. Also, she has had the pleasure of performing in the companies of Peter Chu, Chase Brock Experience Caleb Teicher, Dylan Crossman Dans(c)e, Emma Portner, and Isodoc Dance Group. BFA in Dance from the New World School of the Arts.
HENRY HOLMES MOBILE APP LEAD DESIGNER
Henry Holmes (they/them) is a creative technologist, interaction designer, and choreographer based in Brooklyn. Their work as a liaison between communities of people and the digital systems on which they rely has borne fruit in a wide variety of software and experiences, including proximity-aware museum tours, audio described guides for the visually impaired, durational live projections, and novel interfaces for creative movement exploration. These projects have involved close collaboration with such organizations as the National Park Service, Google Creative Labs, 92nd Street Y, Heidi Latsky Dance, the Iñupiat people of northern Alaska, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Gibney Dance Center, and Visual Country, among others. In the past several years, Henry worked with Heidi Latsky Dance and Google Creative Labs to support an augmented reality audio experience that blended live performance with pre-recorded audio served through Google’s proprietary SoloKit framework; they were hired by the Dance Education Laboratory at 92Y to conceive and build a dance education mobile app for their community in the public school system, a product that has since gained exposure in a larger national community of educators and students; they led the design and configuration of an “Indoor Exhibit Module” for the National Park Service mobile platform to provide an intuitive audio description interface for visitors to parks across the country; they worked closely with Ralph Appelbaum Associates to design and install an immersive audio tour experience for a new Boris Yeltsin museum in Yekaterinburg, Russia; they helped to expand a mobile dictionary for the Iñupiat people of Alaska with an illustrated vocabulary study module, collaborating directly with the community to address the nuances of various dialects and perspectives. Most recently Henry has been employed as a senior interaction design engineer at Triplelift.
JENNY LAI COSTUME DESIGNER
Under the label “NOT,” designer Jenny Lai creates custom performance wear for musicians and dancers that push the boundaries of interdisciplinary performance. Her work has been seen around the world including her collaboration with South African photographer Chris Saunders that culminated in exhibitions at the Museum of African Design in Johannesburg and Design Indaba in Capetown; violinist Leila Josefowicz for BBC PROMS 50; and Nouveau Classical Project for Lincoln Center Atrium. Recent performance projects include Shen Wei Dance Arts (Brooklyn Academy of Music), DRPP (Governors Island), Madboots Dance (Joyce Theater), and producing a Butoh performance at the concept gallery, The Community in Paris, France. In 2016, Lai co-founded Flying Solo, a designer-collective store in SoHo. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.
DANIELLE RUSSO PROJECT DIRECTOR, PRODUCER & CHOREOGRAPHER
Danielle Russo (she/her) is a choreographer, dancer, dance educator, and artivist based in Lenapehoking (now commonly called New York City). She has been presented nationally at the American Dance Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and The Yard; and internationally in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden. Residency and fellowship awards have included C.N.N. - Ballet de Lorraine (France), Danscentrum Jette (Belgium), Nadine Laboratory for the Contemporary Arts (Belgium), Independent Artists Initiative WUK (Austria), Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation (NYC), LEIMAY (NYC), Mana Contemporary (NJ), Performing Arts Forum (France), and Springboard Danse Montréal (Canada), among others. Local highlights have included Armory Arts Weeks, Brooklyn Historical Society, Julian Schnabel’s Casa del Popolo, Governors Island, HERE Arts Center, La MaMa, and Moynihan Station, to name a few. She is a multi-year grant recipient of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs through the Brooklyn Arts Council, Carnegie Corporation, Dance/NYC, Harkness Foundation for Dance, One Brooklyn Fund, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. She and her work have been featured by The Creators Project (c/o Vice), American Dance Guild, and World Dance Alliance. In 2016, her commission for the Los Angeles-based No)one. Art House caught the attention of Solange Knowles, who prompted a reprisal of the evening-length work with her affiliate arts organization, Saint Heron. Most recently, she was commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera’s Dancers, Chorus, and Orchestra for NYC Open Culture and Damrosch Park. She has over 11 years of experience spearheading and directing large-scale site-specific and installation art productions in the public realm.
Since 2016, Russo produces the “Care to Dance” music and movement improvisation jam, supporting non-profit organizations and advocacy groups making urgent appeals. 100% of all proceeds are directed at recipients such as the ACLU, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Houston Food Bank, New York Civil Liberties Union, One Warm Coat, Planned Parenthood, and RAICES.
Russo is faculty at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, The Joffrey Ballet School, and CUNY Queens College, where she teaches choreography for site-specific dance and immersive dance theater, as well as lectures on dance history and critical theory with an emphasis on art activism. She has also taught numerous workshops at international institutions and festivals across Europe, Scandinavia, and North and Central Americas. Outside of her own choreographic and teaching practices, she has performed several seasons with The Metropolitan Opera.
VANESSA VARGAS PERFORMER
Vanessa Vargas is a Venezuelan dancer, journalist and educator. Her dance research combines theory and practice, examining live arts through cultural studies. As a dance educator and scholar, Vanessa has lectured and facilitated workshops merging theory and practice. Her choreographic work has been presented in New York and internationally, including Venezuela, Argentina, Perú, México, and Spain. She has been performing since 2002 in her hometown Caracas, being part of the permanent cast of Taller de Danza de Caracas, The National Dance Company of Venezuela, collaborating with other choreographers in the meantime. She is based in Brooklyn since 2014, and has continued collaborating with choreographers and performing artists. She has facilitated performances at MoMA since 2014 for exhibitions and artists including: Lygia Clark, James Lee Byars, David Lamelas, Yoko Ono, Simone Forti’s “Dance Constructions” as a part of the exhibition “Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done” and Haegue Yang “Handles”.
El Puente and Red Hook Initiative are community centers focused on social and environmental justice.
EL PUENTE PARTNERING ORGANIZATION
Founded by Luis Garden Acosta in 1982, El Puente is a community-based human rights institution that promotes leadership for peace and justice through the engagement of its members in the arts, education, scientific research, wellness, and environmental action. El Puente is home to The Global Justice Institute which hosts practitioners from across New York City for frameworks and modules focusing on arts for social justice, cultural sustainability and community organizing (Green Light District), participatory action research, leadership development, social entrepreneurship, environmental advocacy, climate change, and more. It is the co-founder of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, leading a diverse community coalition to limit the activities of radioactive and hazardous waste storage facilities located in Williamsburg. It is the first community organization to be published by The American Journal of Public Health in its 3-year asthma study regarding climate change effects, involving 5,000 of its Southside Brooklyn residents. Through the Latino Climate Action Network, El Puente seeks to empower Latinos (Puerto Rico and stateside) to build community sustainability through holistic preparedness plans that integrate climate change strategies in the context of culture, education equity, and social justice.Additionally, El Puente is Brooklyn’s most comprehensive Latinx center for art and culture, providing pre-professional arts education in dance, drama, voice, filmmaking, studio/public art, photography and Hip-Hop. El Puente integrates an “arts for social change model” in which the arts are the primary vehicle for personal and social transformation.
RED HOOK INITIATIVE PARTNERING ORGANIZATION
In 2002, Red Hook Initiative (RHI) was created as a community health project supported by a local hospital. In 2010, RHI was relaunched as a youth development and community center committed to social justice and sustainability. RHI utilizes participatory action research (PAR) to provide a platform for local residents to define neighborhood issues and propose solutions, allowing the organization to better understand and respond to challenges facing youth and community members. RHI has partnered with The Public Science Project to implement PAR projects over the past 3 years. The RHI Youth Leadership Program serves 125 high students, and provides its participants paid, year-round training and work experiences ranging from social work to social justice activities.
Photograph by Whitney Browne, featuring Christine Flores.