Jersey Arts Podcast
The Jersey Arts Podcast presents in-depth, one-on-one conversations with the liveliest and most intriguing personalities in New Jersey’s arts scene. From the casts of hit shows to critically acclaimed film producers; from world-renowned poets to classically trained musicians; from groundbreaking dance visionaries to cutting-edge fine artists, our podcast connects you to what’s happening in your local arts community.
Jersey Arts Podcast
Let's 'FOCUS' on Jersey City
Art House Productions is collaborating with Kenia Rosete Dance to bring a new modern dance series to Jersey City.
The show, titled “FOCUS,” will feature two to four artists per night, who will present their own original choreography. Each artists' piece is a bite-size performance that showcases the dancers’ creative, unique, and innovative voices.
Audiences can expect an easy, fun and inspiring evening. Easy in the sense that you can step into the space without having any prior knowledge of dance. Fun because of the variety of choreographic work you’ll get to experience. And inspiring as you can watch each artist create a world of their own before your very eyes
Jersey Arts speaks with Art House Productions’ Executive Director, Meredith Burns, and choreographer and producer, Kenia Rosete of Kenia Rosete Dance.
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This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're listening to the Jersey Arts Podcast. Today we're talking dance. Art House Productions is collaborating with Kenya Rosete Dance to bring a new modern dance series to Jersey City. The show, titled Focus, will feature two to four artists per night who will present their own original choreography. Each artist's piece or act runs about 10 to 15 minutes in length, so think of them as bite-sized performances that showcase the dancers' creative, unique and innovative voices. As producer Kenya Rosetti explained to me, audiences can expect an easy, fun and inspiring evening. Easy in the sense that you can step into the space without having any prior knowledge of dance, much like me. Fun because of the variety of choreographic work you'll get to experience. And inspiring, as you can watch each artist create a world of their own before your very eyes.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:Today I'm speaking with Art House Productions Executive Director, Meredith Burns, and Choreographer and Producer Kenya Rossetti of Kenya Rossetti Dance. I think you'll learn a lot from this one. Check it out. Thank you so much for being here. Let's start with you guys introducing yourselves and what you do.
Meredith Burns:I am Meredith Burns and I am the Executive Artistic Director of Art House and that means that I do a little bit of everything. I'm curating a season, I am paying the bills, I am doing the annual audit, I am grant writing, I'm hiring, I'm doing HR probably doing way too much, but I think every executive director out there of a small nonprofit, even a large nonprofit, will relate to what I'm saying.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:Absolutely. It's a huge undertaking. So I think your audiences really appreciate what you're doing, even if they don't necessarily understand what you're doing. They're reaping the benefits of your work. So thank you for putting in all of that effort. I know that nonprofit work is very difficult and Kenia how about you?
Kenia Rosete:Hello, yes, and I'm like nodding my head because I'm like, yes, nonprofit, very important, yes, rewarding. Hi, my name is Kenya Rosete and I'm the artistic director of Kenya Rosete Dance and I, in a very different capacity but, similarly to Meredith, do a little bit of everything. So I am the artistic director and I manage my own company, where, you know, choreograph and put together shows. I am starting a producer role along with, which we'll get into in a little bit with, along with Meredith, at Art House Productions, I am a project manager for another choreographer. I work with another choreographer, Alethea Pace, uh, in putting together her work, and so, yeah, I dabble in a lot of different things. Grant writing is a big one and everything, administration, as you can imagine, but I also get to do a lot of the creative work, which is, you know, the choreographing, the dancing, the imagining a piece and putting all the things together in order to come for it to come to fruition. Essentially, that is, you know, in some sort of a presentation to the audience.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:There's no business like show business, right, and it is a business. So there's all of this administrative work that goes into it, but all anybody wants to talk about is the creative. But that's true, I'm going to make you guys focus on the creative. How do you pick and choose what makes it to your stage and how did this particular collaboration with Can you Reset the Dance begin?
Meredith Burns:production that happens every year tends to be a new play but could be an existing play. This year we actually have Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph coming up this fall. We also have our Comedy Fest, which happens every June, runs for about five or six days depending on the year, our Incubator New Play Festival, which is a nine-month program for playwrights to launch a brand new play, first draft of a brand new play, and that culminates in a new Play Fest every May. Then we usually have some kind of summer program, which this past year was Dinner en Blanc. It was. It's basically a big outdoor picnic and lots of art infused into that.
Meredith Burns:And then, you know, we just opened a brand new location in Jersey City and we have been working to basically fill the space with wonderful arts programs. We're truly multi-arts and many years ago we had a program called your Move. It was a modern dance festival which essentially during the pandemic, went by the wayside a bit. So we've been trying to bring back modern dance, contemporary dance, for the past four years and we worked with Kenia in March of this year on a program called In the Fold and it was just really beautiful and we really enjoyed working with Kenia and that's a big thing for us. That's really how we go about choosing. It really matters to us about the kinds of collaborators that we're working with. Of course the art has to be amazing that's first and foremost which it was but truly it is about the type of person that is kind of coming into our space and welcoming their audiences and that really has to be the right fit. It really has to feel collaborative and I think kind that's a big part of sort of art houses. I think Ethos is that level of community connection.
Meredith Burns:So in thinking about, okay, we've got these core programs but we're building out more programs, we really want to figure out what are these performing arts series? We approached Kenia. We asked her would you be interested in being a co-producer on this modern dance series? That sort of morphed into Kenia, saying, you know, I'd really like to focus more on the choreography of what we're doing. And that sort of morphed into what we're doing now, which is a, you know, contemporary dance choreography, which will be a series of choreographers presenting work, probably with small companies, two to four dancers, and really launching that as something that will continue.
Meredith Burns:So you'll be able to see that monthly and I think you know, I think there actually is a big community here in Jersey City that loves modern dance and doesn't get to see enough of it. And you know, back when we did your move, it was very special because we would host it over at the Lowe's, jersey and Journal Square, which had this like huge proscenium stage, and that was very fun for the dancers that participated, because they don't typically or very often get to work on a big proscenium stage. Art House is not that, but we are setting up the space in such a way that I think it's going to feel large, also intimate and, I think, kind of immersive for the audience. So, yeah, that's a little bit about how you know the thinking behind how we're curating a season, the kinds of programs that we want to bring in, the kinds of collaborators that we want to bring in, the kinds of collaborators that we want to work with, and, yeah, and how Kenia and Art House and me connected.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:I think that's fantastic. This is probably the second or third interview where someone has told me how important being kind is, and it's just so refreshing to hear because I mean, I don't know, we live in a difficult world right, and there's a lot of contentious conversations that happen daily. So to hear artists saying one of their prime concerns when working with someone else is how kind they are, I just think it's really it's good to hear. It's reassuring for the people who are coming to see you and for the people who may want to work with you in the future. So being kind is wonderful. I want to circle back. You just said that while it's not like a large proscenium, it is still a large yet intimate production. And can you remind me how large your house is? What is?
Meredith Burns:your capacity, how large your house is. What's your capacity? Our max capacity is like 125. But that really depends on it's a modular space, so it really does depend on the amount of, you know, room that we're allocating for the artist to play on. So what I meant by that that is sort of large and intimate, is the way that we're setting up the room for Kenia's series is that it's going to be in a thrust configuration, so meaning there'll be audiences on three sides and it just has that very, I think, sort of immersive. Every seat will be a great seat and yeah, and we'll most likely in that configuration, fit around 75 seats. So get your tickets because could sell out at that number?
Gina Marie Rodriguez:I hope it does, and I really loved your explanation, your verbal explanation of a thrust, while I was watching Kenia give me the hand gesture as to what it looks like. Thank you for that. I really wish our audience could see that as well as hear it, but I was entertained. So thank you, that's a nice segue. So, Kenia, I'm going to ask you a question now. I would really love to hear just about your background as a dancer and when you first fell in love with it. How did you fall in love with it?
Kenia Rosete:Yeah, that's, it's a good question and I feel like you know, when I saw the questions early on earlier today, I was like, oh yes, I feel like when did I fall in love with dance? You think that I would know like the specific moment or something right. But I feel like my story is very similar to a lot of other dancers and movers, where I was probably in love with it and doing it before I knew what I was doing, that's for sure. I can tell you all the reasons why I love it and I think it's something that, as I continue to get into the space and really fine tune my technique and become, you know, dancer, capital D, you know, whatever that means.
Kenia Rosete:I started to understand more of the reasons, like I keep finding more reasons why I love dance and I keep falling in love with it over and over again. Dance, and I keep falling in love with it over and over again. But it really is about movement. It's moving, it's a type of art medium I guess you can call it right Like it's a type of art that is primarily done through movement, and I realized that I am a person, as you saw, even when Meredith was speaking and even as I'm talking, I'm like moving. It's just the way that I I kind of understand myself being in the world. It makes me comfortable being in the world and it's a way in which I can communicate, it's a way in which I can express myself and it's a way in which I can connect. I realized that that's the way in which I'm able to connect with, whether it's my collaborators, my dancers, my audience. It's yeah, it's beautiful in that sense. I was thinking about a little bit about that question and what came to me actually was I recently had a memory pop back into my head about when I fell in love with choreography and I and I do have a moment. I didn't realize it again at the time, but I was taught I was having a conversation with somebody else and we were talking about like choreographing and this popped into my head and I realized, wow, I was in high school and I put together my first what. I didn't know at the time what it was, but it was a multimedia essentially show and it had a lot of collaborators in it too, and at the time I put together there was a poet that came on stage and did a little bit of spoken word. I had two live singers and then there were two dancers and I was one of them and I fell in love with it because I think it's sort of the theme that's sort of emerging in our conversation right now.
Kenia Rosete:It's the collaborative nature of it.
Kenia Rosete:I love being able to collaborate with people and I love being able to think of something, have a vision, and in the process of figuring out how to get it to come to fruition, to something that is tangible, that we can share with an audience, is exciting and stressful, of course, and there's all these other things around it, but it really, at the core of it, is exciting and then it gives me a chance.
Kenia Rosete:I think the way that I like to work when it comes to choreographing or even in my other jobs that are administrative. I like to be able to work collaboratively and invite people into a process and create a space where people can step into it and bring a little bit of themselves into the process as well. And I think, going back into what Meredith was talking about, when Meredith and Art House approached me and said, hey, what do you think about doing a dance series? And the first thing was I would love to work with you, and that was the thing because of the experience that I had through In the Fold. And then the second thing was, you know, being able to create a space to share with artists and with audience, and I think that's really what I'm excited about with this series.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:Collaboration is a skill in and of itself. Not everybody knows how to play well together, you know. So I like that. That's something you appreciate about the art form. I'm sitting here with pain in my back trying to figure out how I can get in the right position and I'm just thinking, as you're speaking and talking about movement and fluid movement, I'm like, oh, maybe I sit in a chair too often during the day and I should be doing more of what you're doing.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:I actually not that this is about me, but I will say real quick I tried taking a salsa lesson recently, knowing that I am not a good dancer and I was talking with Meredith about this earlier. I do not have musical abilities right, so I was trying to understand what was happening in the salsa class and it just it was not intuitive for me. I was not understanding what. Oh my gosh, the teacher kept asking me something. He was saying where's the count? That's what he kept saying, and all I kept thinking was I don't know, are you going to show me or teach?
Gina Marie Rodriguez:me, I don't understand what this means. I really I think I talked too much about my musical inabilities, but, um, I saw that you are teaching. Is it a free salsa class coming up?
Kenia Rosete:sure, this is for Kenia, obviously yeah, Meredith, you're welcome it'd be amazing if I was right like right very surprising maybe we'll do a little pop-up, we'll prepare, Meredith, and read the class the first five minutes.
Kenia Rosete:Yes, no, I am. I'm really excited about that because you, you, the keyword here is free. It's a free salsa class, so I really hope people sign up, and maybe right now that you were talking, it made me think about. Hopefully, it being free also means that people would be willing to give it a try, even if it's something that they feel like maybe they're not great at it or they're unsure about it.
Kenia Rosete:I can't tell you how many times people tell me that they're like oh, I have no rhythm, I have. You know, I can't hear the music. Or I have two left feet, you know, and I just like listen and I smile and just come to a class and, trust me, like I'm going to give a very. Maybe this is a silly example, but you ever watch a baby and you play music and they've never, I mean, even if they watch you move. I mean they've never been taught anything and they wiggle, they'll bounce, they'll jump. So we all have it in us. I truly, truly believe that we all have it in our bodies in some form or another to move to a beat. It's just how you access it is different.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:Let's take that right back to focus. You can tell me, I guess, because we were just talking about how everyone kind of learns differently or interprets movement and dance differently how do you find yourself choreographing a piece and, in particular, focus? What can audiences expect from focus?
Kenia Rosete:That's a good question. So I think the first thing, or at least like the thing that I'm really excited about in the sort of the way that I'm going about curating the different artists that are coming into this program, is being able to showcase a lot of different styles of movement, a lot of different styles of dance, a lot of different styles of choreography. And I think Most of the time I could be wrong about this, but most of the time when people hear the word dance, they think immediately ballet, they think some of the more codified versions of dance that are promoted in commercial spaces. Or you can think and go the commercial route and start thinking about hip hop and all these other entertainment based like, really, you know, commercial ways of movement. So, focus, I'm excited to bring in artists that will approach movement in very different ways, that will approach choreography in very different ways.
Kenia Rosete:For example, this in in October the October 10th date that's coming up I'm bringing in a person who prefers to be referred to as director. She's coming in and she's directing music and movement and she's primarily a musician, but she's bringing in collaborating music and movement together in her piece. So that's going to be, you know, one way in which they're presenting work, and then we have all these other different types of duets and solos and ways and material in which people will present to the audience, and so that's, yes, that's one of the ways in which kind of connecting it back to what we were talking about in like everybody's individual way of moving Focused, is going to sort of be able to bring that out and give a variety to the audience.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:Each performer. Are they then choreographing their own individual piece or are you overseeing? What is your input into the overall piece? Let me say it that way, that's a great question.
Kenia Rosete:That's a great question, no, so essentially, this is a shared program, which means that we're presenting different artists, so they will come in and they will present their own choreography. The way that I'm coming into this and Art House is coming in, that we're collaborating together is in being able to reach out to different artists, invite them into the space to show work, and so in that way, we're curating the program in terms of you know what pieces are coming into each presentation. Essentially, does that kind of make sense? Does that answer the question? So everybody's choreographing. Like we're bringing in choreographers, they're each choreographing their own pieces, and then I will be I'm one of the choreographers that will be presenting in the October date as well, presenting one little section of my own choreography from In the Fold.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:I do understand that.
Meredith Burns:And that leads me to ask and maybe this is a Meredith question for the artists listening, is there a way for them website or a way that artists can get involved with you, that they can be on the lookout to be kind and be one of those collaborators with Art House? You know, for this particular program, I think Kenia's really reaching out to the dance community and specifically to these innovative choreographers and they're bringing in the dancers that they love to work with. So that's how we're producing this particular program. But you know, for other artists out there listening ways to get involved at Art House, listening ways to get involved at Art House, you know the Incubator New Play program. That is an open call for all playwrights. That call just closed the 1st of September. So we'll be announcing the cohort for the 2024-2025 Incubator program shortly in the next two weeks.
Meredith Burns:Our comedy fest is also an open call, so that we begin, you know that open call, in December and that goes through March of 2025. And then we announce our full, our full lineup in May and the fest kicks off in June. We also have JC Fridays, which is a quarterly arts event in Jersey City. It's a it's a free arts event in almost every neighborhood in Jersey City and that really encourages artists and businesses and galleries to work together potentially and to really I love it. Kenia is like doing the movement. Again I love it.
Meredith Burns:Kenia is like doing the movement and you know it's really a way to, I think, highlight what's happening locally, here and regionally. And then if you're interested in sort of you know, curating a series, similar to how you know, Kenia is working with Art House to co-curate a series, reach out. Our email addresses are on our website so it's very easy to find contact information for us. And if you have an idea for a comedy series or a film series because we have a wonderful, beautiful screen and incredible 10K projector please reach out. Or if you just have something that is sort of artistic in nature but you might not think is a fine art, as an example, art House co-curates a burlesque performance with a very popular burlesque performer and producer around here, lillian Bussell, and that happens on a monthly basis. So we are always sort of trying to find things that we feel you know that I think fit within the arts umbrella and within the performing arts, but we're also very much open to things that are not necessarily on the nose. Fine arts related?
Kenia Rosete:I don't know if this was part of your question, but if some artists want, some choreographers want, to get in contact about presenting work at Focus, again, we're trying to make this a series that will be happening, you know, hopefully on a monthly basis, continuing on. Right now we have October and November dates scheduled and then we'll see about the new dates in coming up in 2025. But if they want to do that, then they can get in contact with me at my via my email or my website or my Instagram.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:I think that's great and I'm glad to hear that you are both so open and willing to take, you know, take these ideas from incoming hopefully incoming artists. I could probably talk to you guys forever about this, but they don't let me do that, so I'm going to ask you one last question and then I'm going to let you go for the day. We appealed, I think, to the artists who are listening. But for those who perhaps don't perform themselves, or who are not artists themselves but want to take part, or who want to be an audience member, how would you entice folks to visit you, Perhaps folks who have never been to Art House Productions before?
Meredith Burns:Well, first off, art House is in this fantastic new space in downtown Jersey City, right off of Marin Boulevard, right next to the PATH station. You know there's parking in the building if you prefer that, or there's. You know lots around our space as well and you know, I think when you walk into Art House it is really it's a warm environment. You know there's a concession stand, there's a gallery, so you also get to enjoy visual art if you're coming to see the performing arts. And then the theater space itself is really top of the line. It's an intimate space, as as we discussed, but but it's, it's really fantastic. You know we've got just just top of the line equipment and and, yeah, the seats are super comfortable.
Meredith Burns:I got to shout out these K model seats, basically the ems of theater chairs, and yeah, I think you know, if you enjoy being in a lively community atmosphere, if you're looking for sort of maybe I don't know, not your traditional date night, come. If you're looking to meet new friends and have new experiences and see local artists and see innovative choreography, learn about as Kenia was talking about movement in a new way, come and check this out. I think it's really impressive when you see dancers in this way. I think dance is very moving, but it's it can sometimes, you know, if you watch dance. Um, if you watch this kind of dance, I think the sort of like contemporary movement in a video, I don't think it translates, I really think you have to be in the room. So, uh, I I think come have a wonderful, emotional, fun experience at art house.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:I think everything you said there was really compelling, but you had me at comfy seats.
Meredith Burns:I'm not going to lie.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:It really is huge. No, it's a huge point. Broadway can't even offer comfortable seats. Truly yeah, rivaling Broadway with their state-of-the-art seating accommodations.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:Art House Productions will be introducing their new dance series, focus, on October 10th and November 14th at 7.30 pm. For more information on the Focus series and more at Art House, be sure to visit ArtHouseProductionsorg. And for more of Kenia's salsa series and upcoming work, please visit her website at Keniadancecom. That's K-E-N-I-A dance dot com.
Gina Marie Rodriguez:If you liked this episode, be sure to review, subscribe and tell your friends. A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at JerseyArtscom. The Jersey Arts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986. This show was co-founded by, and currently supported by, funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This episode was hosted, edited and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez. Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez, and my thanks to Meredith Burns and Kenia Rosete for speaking with me today. I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast. Thanks for listening.
