PROGRAM / CREDITS
Featured Artists: Anna Bauer, Adrian José Flores, Saraswati Nandini Majumdar, Sarah Smith + Gabbi Melton
Producers: EG Gionfriddo and Eliot Gray Fisher, ARCOS (@arcosdance)
Production Stage Manager: Ciceley Fullylove
Lighting Designer: Bill Rios
Application Reviewers: Kaitlyn B. Jones, Angelica Monteiro
Guest Respondents: Alexandra Bassiakou Shaw, Magdalena Riley, Januibe Tejera De Miranda
Lighting equipment provided by:
2-brotherslighting.com
512-507-0981
by Saraswati Nandini Majumdar + Venese Alcantar
Music: Saraswati Nandini Majumdar
Performers: Venese Alcantar, Saraswati Nandini Majumdar
Empty Beat brings into conversation centuries-old, evolving South Asian music traditions with the comparatively new movement modality of contact improvisation (CI). The piece explores concepts of time, and how we may think of improvisation as both an aesthetic endeavor and a radical political stance. In Hindustani music, time is understood to be non-linear, relative, and subject to deconstruction, rather than teleological or fixed.
“We are interested in the small rituals and everyday moments of improvisation through which we experience the push and pull of our relationships, our histories, and time as revisionary.”
Program Notes
The drone instrument is a tanpura.
The first song:
Bagiya me tamashe ko nahi aya dilbar mera.
Jal bich kamal, kamal bich kaliya. Tapar bhavara mandarayo re.
In the garden, there’s a commotion. Hasn’t come, heart-capturer of mine.
In the water, a lotus. In the lotus, a bloom. On that a bee, hovering...
The second song:
Dir dir tadim tanana dere na, ta dare dani tadim dim tanana tananananana.
Tana dir dir tana dir dir tadim dim tanana, ta dim dim tanana dere na ta dare dani.
Dha kitatak dhum kitatak gadigan tak thunga kran dha dha, dhagit ta kit tak kit tak gadigan ghin taran ta dha.
This one is made up of nonsense utterances.
The time cycle is called Addha, which means 'half.' It's sixteen beats played so it sounds like eight.
Follow: @snandininama
. . .
by The Clubhouse
Sarah Smith + Gabbi Melton
Music: “Genesis” by Grimes, “IDORU (Modeselektor Remix)” by Grimes/Modeselektor, “Oblivion” by Grimes
Sound Design: Eliot Gray Fisher
Video Animation: The Clubhouse
Performers: Dani Albert, Ella Gross, Bailey Head, Jalani Miller, Alexis White
Sarah Smith and Gabbi Melton make up the punk duo The Clubhouse, whose “The Tale of the Swamp Witch” is a hybrid of video, animation, and live performance, The work is a queer fairytale exploring themes of otherness, rejection, transformation, community, and rebirth.
“Cannibalizing the classic fairytale and reimagining it to include queer representations of femininity, love, and chosen family feels especially poignant in this era of extreme political pressure towards homogenizing the population.”
Sound Design: Eliot Gray Fisher
Video Animation: The Clubhouse
Performers: Dani Albert, Ella Gross, Bailey Head, Jalani Miller, Alexis White
Sarah Smith and Gabbi Melton make up the punk duo The Clubhouse, whose “The Tale of the Swamp Witch” is a hybrid of video, animation, and live performance, The work is a queer fairytale exploring themes of otherness, rejection, transformation, community, and rebirth.
“Cannibalizing the classic fairytale and reimagining it to include queer representations of femininity, love, and chosen family feels especially poignant in this era of extreme political pressure towards homogenizing the population.”
Follow: @theclubhouse_atx
. . .
INTERMISSION
. . .
by Anna Bauer
with Celeste Camfield
Music: “Anji” by Simon & Garfunkel performed by Tom Littlejohn, “Wind Chimes With Light Wind” by Mind Amend, “Long, Long, Long” by The Beatles, “A Lot Has Changed (Rough Trade Session)” by Weyes Blood; Audio recordings by Jairus Carr, Iris Goetsch, Anna Bauer, Allison Bauer, and Melissa Sanderson
Sound Design: Anna Bauer
Performers: Anna Bauer, Celeste Camfield
“delicates” is a movement study in clothing. The work experiments with different ways of donning and shedding this external layer of our physical presentation. Clothes play a pivotal role in how we present ourselves and how we are perceived.
“Perception is a topic I consider and stress over frequently in my own life: how I hope to appear to others, how clothing frames my body, how clothing presents my gender. ‘delicates’ attempts to transform this source of stress into a source of creativity within movement and connection between Celeste and me.”
Follow: @anna_bauer151 , @egg.t.h.o.t
Website: annabauerdance.com
. . .
by Adrian José Flores
Music: “Intro/Illusions” by Adrian Flores and Kinder, “Jarabe Tapatío” (trad.) folklorico dance, “Ego Death” by Adrian Flores and Kinder, “Cuento de Tambores” by Pauza (Yoyi Lagarza Piano Mix) and Adrian Flores Mix, “Huapango/Cumbia Mix” by Adrian Flores, “Luz De Mi Estrella” by Ratchetón, “Danza Mexica” live ceremonial drum (Huehuezozoque) by Mario Ramirez
Musician: Mario Ramirez on the Huehuezozoque drum
Performers (in order of appearance)
AJ: Adrian Flores
Spirit Guide: Mario Ramirez
Folklórico: Rachel Rivera and José Dominguez
Afro Influence: Lashay Martin, Wayne Martin, Valondria Lavender
Huapango: Bryan Serrano, Anthony Partida
Cumbia: Crystal De La Rosa, Wilgene Carvajal, Valentina Reyes
Danza Mexica: Mario Ramirez, José Dominguez, Katya Guzman, Sarah Mendez
“
“Experience how the term ‘mestizo’ no longer resonates, and was a colonialist ideology to separate us from our Indigenous counterparts, to forget who we are.”
Follow: @adrianjflores_
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
ANNA BAUER
Anna Bauer is a person living in Austin, Texas, and wearing the hats of choreographer and dancer. She holds a BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University and currently dances for the KDH Dance Company and Allysen Hooks Projects. She creates her own work as well and frequently collaborates with fellow Austin artist Jairus Carr. In 2024, her pieces performed at Austin Dance Festival, RAD Fest Midwest Dance Festival, and Texas Dance Improvisation Festival. She also attended residencies with Keshet Makers Space Experience, Whirlwind Dance Company, and Homeport Art House. Right now, Anna's work investigates things like nuance, puzzles, and clothes.
Anna Bauer is a person living in Austin, Texas, and wearing the hats of choreographer and dancer. She holds a BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University and currently dances for the KDH Dance Company and Allysen Hooks Projects. She creates her own work as well and frequently collaborates with fellow Austin artist Jairus Carr. In 2024, her pieces performed at Austin Dance Festival, RAD Fest Midwest Dance Festival, and Texas Dance Improvisation Festival. She also attended residencies with Keshet Makers Space Experience, Whirlwind Dance Company, and Homeport Art House. Right now, Anna's work investigates things like nuance, puzzles, and clothes.
ADRIAN JOSÉ FLORES
Born in El Paso, Adrian José Flores is a movement director based in Austin with a BA in Film from UT. He marries his passion for music and dance by creating films that reflect the culture and climate of today's world. AJ collaborates with local artists on live shows and music videos for major stages, such as ACL and SXSW. He immerses himself in foundational styles of movement: Vogue, Hip Hop, Latin, House, Memphis Jookin, Jersey Club, Baltimore Club, Chicago Footwork, and Afro dance styles. AJ hosts movement exploration classes that cultivate safe spaces where students feel challenged and undergo individual transformational processes.
Born in El Paso, Adrian José Flores is a movement director based in Austin with a BA in Film from UT. He marries his passion for music and dance by creating films that reflect the culture and climate of today's world. AJ collaborates with local artists on live shows and music videos for major stages, such as ACL and SXSW. He immerses himself in foundational styles of movement: Vogue, Hip Hop, Latin, House, Memphis Jookin, Jersey Club, Baltimore Club, Chicago Footwork, and Afro dance styles. AJ hosts movement exploration classes that cultivate safe spaces where students feel challenged and undergo individual transformational processes.
THE CLUBHOUSE
The Clubhouse is an open-ended dance/film/mixed-media outlet founded by Sarah Smith and Gabbi Melton in 2024. In their first year, they produced three short dance films: I Made You This, Midnight Snax, and Run The Heartbeats, and are currently in process of their fourth film, The Swamp Witch Returns. Through their creative process, they’ve discovered that there is a unique tenderness to a project that is covered in the artist’s fingerprints. DIY is the ethos of The Clubhouse. Combining references that are handmade, nostalgic, digital, and symbolic, they aim to produce work that is simultaneously familiar and disruptive.
The Clubhouse is an open-ended dance/film/mixed-media outlet founded by Sarah Smith and Gabbi Melton in 2024. In their first year, they produced three short dance films: I Made You This, Midnight Snax, and Run The Heartbeats, and are currently in process of their fourth film, The Swamp Witch Returns. Through their creative process, they’ve discovered that there is a unique tenderness to a project that is covered in the artist’s fingerprints. DIY is the ethos of The Clubhouse. Combining references that are handmade, nostalgic, digital, and symbolic, they aim to produce work that is simultaneously familiar and disruptive.
ANNA BAUER
Saraswati Nandini Majumdar is a musician in the North Indian ‘Khayal’ style, who performs, collaborates, and teaches. She is also a writer and continues to train in dance, including in Kathak and Contact Improvisation. Her work explores the intersections between sound, movement, text, and performance, and gender, race, and class, as well as the meaning of improvisation as not only aesthetic practice but also politics and philosophy for life. As an improvisational artist, Nandini seeks connections with other dancers, musicians, and writers from around the world. She recently finished a Ph.D. at UT-Austin.
Saraswati Nandini Majumdar is a musician in the North Indian ‘Khayal’ style, who performs, collaborates, and teaches. She is also a writer and continues to train in dance, including in Kathak and Contact Improvisation. Her work explores the intersections between sound, movement, text, and performance, and gender, race, and class, as well as the meaning of improvisation as not only aesthetic practice but also politics and philosophy for life. As an improvisational artist, Nandini seeks connections with other dancers, musicians, and writers from around the world. She recently finished a Ph.D. at UT-Austin.
ARCOS is committed to relational, rather than transactional, practices of sharing resources, knowledge, and care in artmaking. ARCOS Presents awardees receive financial support, including an artist stipend, production budget, studio rehearsal space, technical inventory access, and performance venue. Additionally, mentorship provides awardees creative thought-partnering, production and technical support, and community outreach guidance.
![Kelly Goetz: Menstruator / Ciceley Fullylove: Rhythm & Grooves (2024)]()
![Angelica Monteiro: Narratives of the Migrant Body (2023)]()
![Michael J. Love: Dope Fit! (2019)]()
![anxious 20yr olds: This Isn't New (2017)]()
Past ARCOS Presents awarded artists include:
- Kelly Goetz for Menstruator and Ciceley Fullylove for Rhythm & Grooves (2024) at CRASHBOX
- Angelica Monteiro for Narratives of the Migrant Body (2023) at Motion Media Arts Center
- Interdisciplinary tap artist Michael J. Love for The Auralvisual Mixtape Collection, Part II: Dope Fit! (2019) at Carver Museum and Cultural Center
- University of Texas at Austin alums anxious 20yr olds (Gianina Casale, D’Launa Lawson, Oluwaseun Samuel Olayiwola, Lizzette Chapa, Hunter Sturgis) for This Isn’t New (2017) at Museum of Human Achievement
This project has been financed in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program.