Neighbors 5

created and performed despina and regina

music live and recorded julian rozzell

Continuing a long term exploration of site specific works, Despina Stamos and Regina Nejman, have created a series of concise duets inspired by their own shared proximity and distance. 

Ms. Stamos, a dancer of Greek heritage, and Ms. Nejman who grew up in Brazil, negotiate a common ground as they explore the various spaces that have brought them together.

Join them as they create an energetic conversation  through movement that will be performed both live and online. 

As these are free lunchtime performances, please bring your lunch.

June 28+29th

12:30-1:30pm

Anita’s way 135 west 42nd 

 

the modern dance awareness society is a collaborative, improvisational, site-specific dance project begun in 1998 by despina sophia stamos and wen-shuan yang. To date, tmdas has produced 28 works that have been performed in spaces outside of dance venues. tmdas invites dance colleagues to work collaboratively on short term site projects. Many thanks to Regina Nejman of Regina Nejman & Company for co-creating this season’s Neighbors 5, Chashama for their support and Julian Rozzell for his music.

 

bios

Regina Nejman grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is based in NYC where she has been creating her own choreography since 1993 and created Regina Nejman & Company in 1997. Her work has been presented by LaMama Moves, Jacob’s Pillow, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo, Symphony Space, The 2002 and 2005 New York International Fringe Festival (where Regina received the Outstanding Choreography Award for the premiere of The Velocity of Things), DTW, Danspace Project, Merce Cunningham Studio, Dança em Foco, and other venues. Her Company toured to Brazil in 2006 and 2007 (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) where the company received standing ovations. She has received support from The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Greenwall Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council/Creative Engagement 2020 and MCAF; Meet the Composer; space grants from 92nd StY, Queens Museum of Art/ToPaz, Abrons Arts, Joyce Theater Artist-in-Residence and DTW Outer/Space. Regina received commissions from Princeton University Program in Theater and Dance twice, New Jersey City University, The Yard, and a Dixon Place Mondo Cane Commission. In 2012, Regina created Architecture Runway through a space grant @chashama's ‘Anita's Way’. Regina taught dance at Princeton University, Wesleyan University, Harvard Summer Dance, NYU Common Hour Class, LaGuardia Performing Arts High School among others. Regina is a Teaching Artist at CAE and a per diem dance teacher at NYCDOE. Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times described Regina as “a modern dance choreographer with a piquant imagination and visual sense to match” and “teeming with life”. Deborah Jowitt of the Village Voice described “the intriguing dance sequences” and Tobi Tobias mentioned “postmodern tactics can benefit from an infusion of the color, pulse, and spirit Nejman absorbed in her native Brazil. Regina received her BA from SUNY/ Empire State College and her MFA in Dance at Hunter College. In 2020, Regina dived into filmmaking, inspired by the work of Maia Deren, creating Pandemic which premiered at Dixon Place TV on November of  the same year. In April 2022, Regina premiered her thesis project Slaying the Dragon/ dances created during the time of the pandemic combining both mediums in an immersive gallery-type walk-through performance at Hunter College.

website: https://reginanejman.com/

blog: https://reginanejmancompany.blogspot.com

facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/reginanejmancompany

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginanejman/

 

 

Despina Sophia Stamos is a dancer/choreographer/ Pilates instructor (https://tmdas.org/somaflux/) living/teaching/making in NYC since 1989. Her work has been presented at such venues as Dance Theater Workshop, PS122, PS1 and in Brazil, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Puerto Rico and Italy.

From 2006- present, Stamos collaborates with refugees and local dancers in Athens, Greece in a project titled passTRESpass. Since passTRESpass 2016 , we have annually produced a transnational dance dialogue performed with and for refugees in New York City and Athens, live-streamed at Anita’s Way in the bustling heart of Times Square.

Stamos performed with Chen and Dancers, Hikari Baba Dancers, Anahi Galante, Fly by Night, the National Caravan Theater, Felix Ruckert, Simone Forti, Zendora Dance Theater, Aspasia Yaga, Wendy Osserman Dance Theater, Blum Dance Theater, Marija Krtolica, Vanessa Walters, the Daisy Spurs, Time Lapse Dance, Abigail Levine, Daria Fain, Mikerline Dance Company and the Missile Dick Chicks.

In 2019, Stamos co-created “Displaced Herstories and the Persistence of Bodily Memory” with Marija Krtolica and Florence Benichou, a dance inquiry into hysteria and performance.

She continues to dance with the Hungry March Band and the Stamos is founding member of the modern dance awareness society (tmdas.org) and a cofounder of Chashama.

 

Julian Rozzell is a resident of New York City, residing in Brooklyn, NY. An accomplished actor, he recently performed in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Merry Wives at The Public Theater. Most recently he was in the TONY nominated Skin of our Teeth at Lincoln Center. Julian enjoys performing and is proud to be the "soundsmith" in NEIGHBORS.