By The Dance Cartel
After an epic weekend this spring, ONTHEFLOOR is back! Driven equally by pumping bass, glitter, dance heroism and feats of endurance, this 90-minute, energy-busting experience is part dance, part video installation, part DJ set and part concert.
DJs
11/10 – FrenchY • 11/11 – Begbick
Featured Guest Artists
11/10 – Niki Luparelli (Strip Zeppelin, Oh You Pretty Things!)
11/11 – Grace McLean (The Great Comet)
and Grooversity both nights!
The Dance Cartel is the brainchild of choreographer Ani Taj who came up with the idea after visiting Brazil during Carnaval. Having experienced the joy of that communal experience, she hoped to find a way of capturing it in performances back in the States. The shows she came up with began performing in various spaces in New York, before settling in at Liberty Hall in Manhattan’s Ace Hotel. It is there that their shows have developed what The New York Times describes as “a cool-kid following.”
ONTHEFLOOR includes The Dance Cartel members Alexandra Albrecht, nicHi douglas, Sunny Hitt, Danika Manso-Brown, Joshua Palmer and Ani Taj. Choreographed by Ani Taj, co-directed by Morgan Green, original production co-directed by Sam Pinkleton, projections designed by Stephen Stivo Arnoczy, sound design by John Albano, music produced by DJ Average Jo, dancing outfits by David Hyman, dancing hair by Amanda Power, and dancing face by Kelli J. Bartlett.
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The Dance Cartel is after a new brand of dance experience. Taking note of a dance community that often serves a niche audience, TDC creates dances that are VIBRANT, IMMERSIVE and often PARTICIPATORY. Without sacrificing technical rigor or artistic ambition as a dance company, we endeavor to employ the social nature of dance, the charge of a party, and the sharpness of a music video to a fresh dance vocabulary that any Joe can get down with.
ANI TAJ | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER
Native New Yorker ANI TAJ is a choreographer, performer, music-head and founder of The Dance Cartel. Ani choreographs art parties, music videos, contemporary musicals, plays, concerts, flash mobs, gallery happenings and more. Her work is fueled by research trips to Brazil and loves to make dances inspired by Carnaval. While bridging gaps between dance and music scenes, Ani keeps one foot in the world of live theatre and experimental musicals. Recent projects include RUNAWAYS (NY City Center), Lazarus (NYTW – Associate to Annie-B Parson), NOIR (NY Stage & Film), The Nomad (The Flea), Good Men Wanted (Arena Stages, Ars Nova), and Jesse Eisenberg’s Asuncion (Rattlestick Theatre). As a performer, Ani has worked with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Les Freres Corbusier, David Dorfman Dance, Reggie Watts & Tommy Smith, Jenny Koons, Liz Swados; she is currently performing with Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway. She is an Adjunct Professor of movement and dance at NYU.
SAM PINKLETON | CO-DIRECTOR, ONTHEFLOOR
Sam Pinkleton is a director and choreographer based in New York City. Born and bred in an untamed corner of the American South, Sam has created and developed new theatre, opera, and dance with The Vineyard Theatre, The O’Neill, The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Primary Stages, City Theatre, and La MaMa. Sam was Choreographer for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 at both A.R.T. and on Broadway, Associate Director for the Broadway production of Nicky Silver’s The Lyons, and is a member of internationally acclaimed dance-theater company Witness Relocation. He teaches a series of lowbrow dance classes at NYU and is currently working on a number of new plays, dances, music videos, and parties.
MORGAN GREEN | CO-DIRECTOR, ONTHEFLOOR
Morgan Green is a nice person and theater director/ co-founder of the Brooklyn-based company, New Saloon. Most recently, her work was seen at The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival Incoming! Series, a production of MINOR CHARACTER: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time. Other recent works include I’m Miserable but Change Scares Me by Milo Cramer (The Brick) and MOMS by Sarah DeLappe (Engarde Arts BOSS Festival). Morgan is the Associate Director for Amelie, A New Musical on Broadway directed by Pam MacKinnon. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, an alumni of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and Williamstown Theater Festival Directing Core, and a 2014-2015 Bob Moss Directing Resident at Playwrights Horizons. This summer she will be directing three shows at the Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, Connecticut in their first ever “Director Driven” season.
