A Space to Dance

Name: A Space to Dance
Start: 2023-05-12T18:00:00-04:00
End: 2023-05-12T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium

Speakers
LaToya AndersonAssociate Research Analyst, Center for Computational Quantum Physics, Flatiron Institute
Brooklyn College
Raja Feather KellyArtistic Director of the feath3r theory

Friday May 12, 2023

About Presents

Presents is a free events series exploring the connections between science, culture and society. Join our scientists and special guests as they discuss the intersections of their work, followed by an evening of conversation over drinks. It’s an opportunity to hear new perspectives that may challenge your assumptions and stoke your curiosity. Meet interesting people who share a passion for ideas and discovery. Come for the conversation, stay for the connections.

What happens when the worlds of physics and dance collide? This past fall quantum physicist LaToya Anderson and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly embarked on a journey to find out.

The duo is part of the first cohort of Open Interval, which is a new partnership between Simons Foundation and Gibney, the New York City-based dance company, performing arts hub and social action incubator. The new residency program creates space for participants to explore the connections between science and dance. Through exchange, conversation, and collaboration, they are able gain insight into a new perspective and examine the basic elements of their practice.

Join Anderson and Kelly as they sit down with Elizabeth Simolke, program manager of Science, Society and Culture at the Simons Foundation, to share about their collaborative process and the exciting outcomes of their time spent in dialogue with one another.

About the Speakers:
LaToya Anderson is an associate research analyst for the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Flatiron Institute. Her research focuses on analyzing the electronic properties of 2d materials using computational materials science methods which won her the Best Student Oral Presentation Award in Condensed Matter Physics at the 2022 National Society of Black Physicists conference. She is also an AstroCom NYC and Team-Up Together Fellow while earning a B.S. degree in physics at Brooklyn College. She previously studied ballet and modern dance for over 10 years where she trained at the Peridance Center and the Alvin Ailey Summer Dance Program and went on to earn her B.A. degree in dance performance from New School University.

Raja Feather Kelly is a choreographer and director, and the Artistic Director of the feath3r theory–a Brooklyn-based dance-theatre-media company that he founded in 2009. Over the past decade he has created 16 evening-length works with the feath3r theory to critical acclaim. Kelly choreographed the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical A Strange Loop (Lyceum Theatre, premiered off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizon). He was hailed by The New York Times as the choreographer who “can make your play move” for his extensive work Off-Broadway. He has received dozens of awards, fellowships and honors including a Mellon Foundation grant (2021), an Obie Award and Outer Critics Circle Award honor for choreography for A Strange Loop (2020).

To attend this in-person event, you will need to:

Register in advance
Provide valid photo ID upon entering the building
Present your digital or printed Eventbrite ticket confirmation to Security upon arrival; make sure it is for the correct event and that the name on it matches your ID

By registering to attend this event, participants agree to follow the Simons Foundation Code of Conduct.

At this time, all guests at the Simons Foundation must be over the age of 18.

Please note that when you enter the Simons Foundation buildings, you are attesting that you are not experiencing COVID symptoms and are not knowingly positive for COVID.

EVENT SCHEDULE
5:30 p.m. Doors open
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. In Conversation
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Reception