Support a new dance by Anna Thérèse Witenberg

*Photo by Frank Lebon of Rachel and Anna rehearsing*

I am raising funds to pay the dancers and collaborators for the premiere of my first evening-length dance piece in New York City. The performance will open at PAGEANT on September 26th and 27th followed by a self-produced second run of performances in December at Kestrels. This dance is born out of an intimate rehearsal process over the last 14 months between myself and dancers Josie Bettman and Rachel Gill. Set to an original score by Jack Whitescarver of Amiture, this work manifests a complex love that triangulates between three women. We are lucky enough to have recently added to our team the visionaries Dylan Keoni as stylist and Lorenzo Bueno as lighting and set designer. I feel remarkably blessed to be creating a world of such depth and precision alongside these artists.

REHEARSAL VIDEO CLIP

I have been paying the dancers hourly fees from my income for over a year. As the number of rehearsal hours is increasing close to the premiere, it’s become untenable for me to support the dancer’s labor on my own. It is of the utmost importance to me that all collaborators involved receive proper compensation for their extensive labor. Any additional money raised will be put towards the lighting equipment, set materials, sound rental equipment, and piano rental fee at Kestrels. Other costs incurred will be garment care, photography, and videography.

Below are cost breakdowns of the essentials:

$5500collaborator fees

$500 dance studio space for rehearsal fees

$1000 piano rental fee 

$500 set materials

$300 photography and videography

Suggested Amounts:

$40= 1 hr of rehearsal wages for Rachel and Josie.

$50=A limited edition CD of the original score by Jack Whitescarver will be available to you (free shipping ).

$60= 1 hour rehearsal for Josie, Rachel, and Anna all together.

$100= 3 hour rehearsal covering dancers wages plus space rental.

$150= You get a customized private Pilates class in person or virtual taught by Anna.

I am so grateful for my community that supports one another and am so appreciative of any way that you can help me to produce this work. Any amount helps:)

ABOUT US:

Anna Thérèse Witenberg is a dancer and choreographer living in New York. As a dancer she has performed in the work of various artists at venues including The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Walker Art Center, The Kitchen, The Shed, The Durham Performing Arts Center, Abrons Art Center, New York City Center, Judson Memorial Church, Pageant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Center at Governors Island and many more. She has danced for Sarah Michelson, Katie Workum, Beth Gill, Stephen Petronio, Douglas Dunn, Anna Sperber, Joanna Kotze, Maya Lee-Parritz, Anna Maria Häkkinen, Isa Spector, Alexa West, Sharleen Chidiac, Doug Le Cours, Vita Taurke, Nick Mauss, and more. She has danced in restagings of the work of Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown. Her choreographic collaboration with Shade Therét was presented at the Ethnologiches Museum in Berlin, Germany with funding from the kulturprojecte. She was a resident choreographer of the Ellis Beauregard Foundation in 2022. She is currently a Ruth Stanton Scholarship Recipient in her MFA in Visual Arts at Hunter College. She is also a certified pilates instructor through the Kane School of Pilates.

Josie Bettman is a choreographer and performing artist who practices dance-making as a mode of both self-generation and interpersonal relation. Since 2019, she has developed a series of solo performances in an 8x10ft room that visualize transformation through extremes of scale, repetition, and effort, performing these solos at venues such as Bronx Academy of Art and Dance; Junior High, Los Angeles; Movement Research at the Judson Church; and Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris. She co-directs SECT, inc. with Lavinia E. Bruce, and has collaborated as a performer in works by Phoebe Berglund, Milka Djordevich, Amelia Heintzelman/Leah Fournier, and Anna-Thérèse Witenberg.

Rachel Gill (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and amateur filmmaker based in New York City. She has worked with artists such as Maya Lee-Parritz, Anna Witenberg, Wendell Gray II, POGO, and, Alexandra Waierstall, to name a few. She has performed at venues including The Shed, Judson Church, Dia Beacon, BAM Fisher, PAGEANT, and Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater. Rachel began a DIY filmmaking practice in 2020 utilizing outmoded formats like 16mm, super 8mm, and Hi8. In May 2024, she shared her first evening-length choreographic work, a duet, which incorporated video projections during live performance. rachel-gill.com

Jack Whitescarver is a musician and artist. Since 2020 he has written and performed in the experimental rock band Amiture. He has composed music for video works by other artists such as Peggy Ahwesh and Cyrus Duff, as well as directed his own video work. He lives in Brooklyn.

Dylan Keoni is an archivist, stylist and model based in Brooklyn, New York.

Lorenzo Bueno is an American artist born in Argentina in 1991.

PAGEANT is an artist-run performance space in Brooklyn, New York, founded and operated by Sharleen Chidiac, Lili Dekker, Jade Manns, Owen Prum and Alexa West. Kayhl Cooper produces Pageant’s video archive of performance documentation.PAGEANT

KESTRELS is a home for performances, rehearsals, and workshops run by Katie Workum. KESTRELS