NYC Partners Open Call: Dance Artists, Companies/Collectives + Dance Film Instructor ? China–USA Dance Exchange Intensive Program (Fall 2026)

NYC-based Dance Artists, Dance Film Instructor, and Companies for a 2026 China–USA Exchange (Workshops + Co-Creation)

ELSEHERE is recruiting NYC based dance artists, choreographers, companies/collectives, and one dance film instructor to join a two week China–USA Dance Exchange Intensive (Fall 2026). We are assembling NYC host partners to lead masterclasses, exchange sessions, and optional co-creation studio blocks with a visiting cohort connected to Peng Yu Contemporary Dance Company and dance artists from China.

Professional fees are provided. This call is also a long term partnership pathway toward a recurring annual program and future cross border commissions. Selection will follow a formal curatorial review, shortlist, and live alignment call prior to confirmation.

 

Program Overview

ELSEHERE is assembling NYC based partners for a two week international exchange intensive in Fall 2026 (Aug–Sep window, dates TBC). The program centers on studio practice, method exchange, and cross cultural dialogue within the NYC dance ecology. This is both a teaching and artistic exchange, designed to support future collaboration beyond the initial program.

Program formats may include: technique or repertory based workshops, improvisation and embodied research labs, facilitated exchange sessions (practice + dialogue), and optional co-creation blocks.

 

Who We Are: ELSEHERE x Peng Yu Contemporary Dance

ELSEHERE is an international arts nexus and production platform operating across development, production, commissioning, publishing, and cross-border partnership. Working with artists, researchers, institutions, and presenting contexts across China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan (and expanding), ELSEHERE builds pathways for practices to move between languages, institutions, and cultural contexts with clarity, context, and care. Alongside producing and co-producing projects, ELSEHERE designs public-facing programs including Clinics, Labs, Open Calls, and editorial initiatives, supporting long-term artistic development, circulation, and future commissions.

 

Our partner, Peng Yu Contemporary Dance Company (Shenzhen, China, founded 2017), operates as both a company and an infrastructure builder for contemporary dance. Through multiple theaters, studios, and creation bases across Guangdong and Yunnan, it sustains an ecology for improvisation based choreography, cross disciplinary experimentation, and co creation platforms. The company is currently expanding its international collaborations to develop overseas studio networks and to support residencies, workshops, dance film initiatives, and events including the Wuwu International Dance Festival, making this exchange an entry point into a long term transnational partnership pipeline.

 

Two Tracks Open

Track A: NYC Dance Workshop Partners (Individuals + Companies/Collectives)

We are seeking NYC based practitioners working in contemporary dance, improvisation, choreography, embodied research, and interdisciplinary performance.

Possible roles include:

Paid masterclass or workshop leadership

Exchange sessions with dialogue and practice sharing

Optional co-creation studio blocks with the visiting cohort
 

Track B: Dance Film / Screen Based Movement Instructor (1 position)

We are also seeking one NYC based instructor focused on dance film or screen based movement practice, including:

Dance film direction, choreography for camera, or dance film making

Movement cinematography, editing for dance, screen based documentation as form

Hybrid performance for camera, archive and digital presentation

The goal is to offer the cohort an intensive bridging movement practice and screen language.
 

What We Value

We are especially interested in partners who offer:

Strong pedagogy and clear structure that can translate across cultures

A commitment to care, rigor, and mentorship for early career artists

Practices that challenge inherited hierarchies and cultivate plural aesthetics

Interest in long term transnational collaboration beyond a single program
 

Fees and Honorarium

Selected partners will be compensated per session / per workshop (rate structure confirmed during alignment). After initial review, shortlisted artists/companies will be invited to a program alignment call to discuss workshop scope, schedule, and your proposed fee. Final compensation will be determined based on scope and partner proposed rates, and confirmed in writing upon selection.

 

Long Term Partnership Pathway

This exchange is designed as a starting point for an ongoing relationship. Selected partners may be considered for:

Annual recurring exchange programming

Future commissions and co-productions

Residency or lab invitations

Cross border presentations and touring pathways through ELSEHERE’s network

Institutional partnerships, touring pathways, and potential commissioned projects (subject to separate agreements)

 

Review and Selection

Submissions will be reviewed jointly by ELSEHERE and Peng Yu Contemporary Dance Company. Shortlisted partners will be invited to a live online conversation to align on pedagogy, exchange format, and collaboration fit. Decisions will be made based on artistic rigor, teaching clarity, cross cultural communication readiness, and alignment with the program’s exchange objectives.

 

How to Apply / Express Interest

For more information please visit: www.elsehereglobal.com/open-calls/nyc-partners-open-call

Rolling review. Early inquiries encouraged. With priority review for submissions received by March 20, 2026

Please submit via our contact form and select “Partnership and Collaboration”:

https://www.elsehereglobal.com/contact

To help us review, please include:

Short bio or company overview

Links to work (video, documentation, website)

Teaching/workshop focus or dance film approach

General Aug–Sep availability window

a proposed session idea (title + 2–3 sentences + preferred format + rate range, if you wish)

If you’re interested but timing is uncertain, you can still submit. We keep a shortlist for future exchange cycles.

 

Stay Connected

For program updates, documentation, and future open calls, follow @elsehereglobal on Instagram.

Questions: info@elsehereglobal.com