Discipline: Interdisciplinary Art – movement

Will Rawls

Discipline: Interdisciplinary Art – movement
Region: Brooklyn, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 2013

Will Rawls is taking Balkan folk dance to an international space station. Well, kind of. That’s the setting that the choreographer envisions for his wildly imaginative performance The Planet-Eaters at NYC’s Chocolate Factory Theater. During his MacDowell residency, Rawls explored the murky borderline between traditional and contemporary dance, which he likens to listening to a long distance radio broadcast in outer space. The Planet-Eaters combines his research with the Gusle Folk Ensemble in Serbia and his experience performing at places like Dance Theater Workshop and The Guggenheim Museum. A collaboration with musician Chris Kuklis, the show will incorporate dance, music, and storytelling. Listen to Rawls talk about the strange evolution of The Planet-Eaters from MacDowell’s Nef Studio.

Rawls is a performer, independent choreographer, and curator based in New York City. Since 2006, he has collaborated with Kennis Hawkins as the performance art duo Dance Gang. His work has appeared at Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, The Brooklyn Museum, The Emily Harvey Foundation, Tanzquartier Wien (Vienna), Mount Tremper Arts, and Williams College.

Studios

Nef

Will Rawls worked in the Nef studio.

Nef Studio, the first entirely new studio built after 1937, was donated by esteemed photographer, explorer, author, and MacDowell Fellow Evelyn Steffanson Nef in 1992. Endowed funds for the studio’s maintenance in perpetuity and an annual Fellowship for photographers were given in addition to funds for construction. Mrs. Nef said she had known about MacDowell all her…

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