DIGITAL: Talk it Out: devynn emory

With devynn emory, Joseph M. Pierce, jumatatu m. poe, and Emily Johnson, moderated by Gilbert T Small II

About devynn emory

devynn emory is a mixed Lenape/Blackfoot transgender choreographer, dance artist, bodyworker, ceremonial guide, acute care and hospice nurse currently working as a COVID-19 nurse in NYC. emory’s performance company devynnemory/beastproductions draws from their multiple in-between states of being, holding space for liminal bodies bridging multiple planes of transition. their formal dance training pulls on mathematical and mapped scores to support bodies decolonizing and bleeding human truths, opening peep holes and revelations for collective performers and audiences. they are currently working on a trilogy centering medical mannequins processing transitional mediumship. deadbird (1) and it’s touring public altar can anyone help me hold this body can be accessed online at www.deadbird.land, Cindy Sessions(2) will preview at the Leslie Lohman Gala, Poetry Project, and premiere at Gibney in June 2022 followed by boiling-rain (3) which are interactive storytelling projects with an elder mannequin holding a collection of grandmother wisdom. as a healer they have dual licenses in “western” and “eastern” bodywork and run a private practice sage-massage that offers end of life consultation, channeled counseling and hands on care modalities in conversation with thresholds. you can find their work at devynnemory.com.

About Joseph M. Pierce

Joseph M. Pierce is Associate Professor in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature at Stony Brook University. His research focuses on the intersections of kinship, gender, sexuality, and race in Latin America, 19th century literature and culture, queer studies, Indigenous studies, and hemispheric approaches to citizenship and belonging. With SJ Norman (Koori of Wiradjuri descent) he is co-curator of Knowledge of Wounds. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

About jumatatu m. poe

I am a choreographer and performer based between the mid-atlantic and Durham who grew up dancing around the living room and at parties with my siblings and cousins. My early exposure to concert dance was through African dance and capoeira performances on California college campuses where my Pan-Africanist parents studied and worked, but I did not start “formal” dance training until college with Umfundalai, Kariamu Welsh’s contemporary African dance technique. My work continues to be influenced by various sources, including my foundations in those living rooms and parties, my early technical training in contemporary African dance, my continued study of contemporary dance and performance, my movement trainings with dancer and anatomist Irene Dowd around anatomy and proprioception, my sociological research of and technical training in J-sette performance with Donte Beacham. Through my artistic work, I strive to engage in and further dialogues with Black queer folks, create lovingly agitating performance work that recognizes History as only one option for the contextualization of the present, and continue to imagine options for artists’ economic and emotional sustainability.

About Emily Johnson

Emily Johnson is a Yup’ik artist who makes body-based work. She is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. Emily is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim and United States Artists Fellow, and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award. She is based in Lenapehoking / New York City. Emily is of the Yup’ik Nation, and since 1998 has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances function as portals and care processions, they engage audienceship within and through space, time, and environment — interacting with a place’s architecture, peoples, history and role in building futures. Emily is trying to make a world where performance is part of life; where performance is an integral part of our connection to each other, our environment, our stories, our past, present and future.

Her choreography and gatherings have been presented across the areas currently called United States and Australia. She choreographed the Santa Fe Opera production of Doctor Atomic, directed by Peter Sellars in 2018. Her large-scale project, Then a Cunning Voice and A Night We Spend Gazing at Stars is an all-night outdoor performance gathering taking place amongst 84 community-hand-made quilts. It premiered in Lenapehoking in 2017, and was presented in Zhigaagoong (Chicago) in 2019. Her new work in development, Being Future Being, considers future creation stories, present joy, and architextures of the overflow.

Emily hosts monthly ceremonial fires on Mannahatta in partnership with Abrons Arts Center and Karyn Recollet. She was a co-compiler of the document, Creating New Futures: Guidelines for Ethics and Equity in the Performing Arts, serves on Creative Time’s inaugural Think Tank, and is part of a consortium developing the First Nations Performing Arts Network.

About Gilbert T Small II

Gilbert T Small II is a dancer, choreographer, dramaturg, and rehearsal director. He started his formal training at the Baltimore School for the Arts and holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Upon finishing his education, he was invited to join Ballet British Columbia as a collaborator and movement artist. Over the ten years, he worked with some of the leading choreographers of today. He has also worked with Sidra Bell, Zoe Scofield, and Kyle Abraham. Gilbert is currently the Curatorial Director of Training and Rehearsal Director of the Gibney Company.

Talk It Out!, Gibney’s lively digital talk show, features celebrated moderators and curated guests from the best of the arts.

Gibney encourages people with disabilities to attend online offerings, and we welcome the opportunity to make this event more accessible. This event features live ASL interpreters and live captioning. If you have any questions or additional access needs, please email us at constanza@gibneydance.org or call us at 212-677-8560 (voice only) at least 24 hours in advance of the event you plan to attend.

Collage of four photos: a black and white photo of Emily Johnson, a photo of jumatatu m. poe, a photo of Cindy and devynn rehearse in a sun drenched studio draped in the red altar fabric from a preluding work, and a photo of Joseph in black and white with two braids and beaded jewelry.

Photo of Emily Johnson courtesy of the artist, jumatatu m. poe by Tayarisha Poedevynn emory courtesy of the artist, Joseph Pierce by Bruce Michael.