THE FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

In 2019, I began my Artist Diploma at Juilliard, during which I first began my exploration of interdisciplinary collaboration and performing in settings outside the traditional concert hall.

I was approached by The Fashion Institute of Technology to create an installation in their gallery on 7th Avenue and 27th Street in Manhattan, just a few blocks south of Penn Station and several commuter bus stops.

Having always been fascinated by architecture, urban planning, and sociology, I proposed we create an experimental pop-up experience featuring three unannounced performances in the center of the main gallery space, which was located within two glass walls facing the busy commuter path (this was inspired by the Washington Post subway experiment).

I analyzed the bus and train schedules to time the performances so they would coincide with the heaviest periods of foot traffic and, as I predicted, the empty gallery would quickly fill with a crowd of pedestrians who had happened by the performance as they walked by.

This was my first time working with dance, and the experience showed me the power of movement and visual imagery in harnessing audiences’ attention. I often wonder if the experiment would have been as powerful if it had just been me playing silently behind the glass windows. And on a deeper level, if my career would have taken the same path if I hadn’t had this seminal experience of collaborating across artistic disciplines and thinking outside the box of where I belonged as a classically trained cellist.

Dance installation and performance at The Gallery at FIT (NYC)

Dancer: Lúa Mayenco (Danish Dance Theatre)