Leslie Cuyjet

In a densely mediated performance environment, Cuyjet builds video loops in real time combining archival footage with her own pre-recorded and live-captured video. Questioning the proximity of objects and self, Cuyjet assembles a fragmented, unstable repository of the past in order to redirect a future out from under its thumb. The origins of this work began in The Kitchen's Dance and Process program over the course of 2020-2021, with monthly writings published on The Kitchen's website and an in-process showing in May 2021.

Leslie Cuyjet: With Marion is organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator, with Angelique Rosales Salgado, Curatorial Assistant.

BIOS

Leslie Cuyjet is an award-winning choreographer and performer whose work aims to conjure life-long questions of identity, confuse and disrupt traditional narratives, and demonstrate the angsty, explosive, sensitive, pioneering excellence of the Black woman. Since 2004, her tenure in the New York dance world is decorated with performances and collaborations, both formal and informal; with contemporaries, legends, and counterparts; on rooftops, good and bad floors, and alleyways; on stage, in film, art, on tour, and on the fly. “A strong, subtle presence unassumingly ground the stage,” says The New York Times. Recent honors include Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants for Artists (Dance), Princeton Hodder Fellowship, and an Outstanding Choreographer/Creator “Bessie” Award for her 2021 work, Blur. Cuyjet was a Dance and Process participant at The Kitchen (2020-2021).

ACCESS NOTES

With Marion is a performance within a live video sculpture installed in the center of the loft.

Entry: There are stairs or ramp access to an open door marked with The Kitchen's name, behind which there is an elevator accessible to the public. The elevator enters directly to the loft. The space can be exited via elevator or stairs that take you to Bank Street.

Warning: Please be advised that there is an approximate two minute period with strobe lighting in use.

Seating: This is a standing performance, with no fixed seating, and visitors are encouraged to move throughout the space to explore different viewpoints. Limited, intermittent seating is available via gallery benches in the space. If you have any questions, or requests specific to seating and/or additional access needs, please contact accessfeedback@thekitchen.org for support.

Photography: Please refrain from taking flash photography during the performance.

Duration: The performance is approximately 40 minutes in length.

Restrooms: Our restrooms and dressing rooms are gender neutral. At present the ADA bathroom is under construction in the loft space. An ADA bathroom is available for our guest use in the courtyard, just one door down at Greenwich House Center for Older Adults. This bathroom will be available from 6:30-7pm. Please visit the facilities before entering the elevator to the loft.