Nia and Ness are a black, out-lesbian, dancer-poet performance art duo based in Rosendale, NY. The duo met and became a couple in 2013, and founded their company in 2016. They have performed at multiple venues nationwide, sharing their work that aims at a deeper understanding of their co-reality through intense investigation of their individual identities. They premiered their first evening length work, run., in August 2017, and have been touring run. nationwide ever since.
They have been keynote speakers at the 2018 FLAME Conference at Brown University, and have performed their work at schools such as the University of California Riverside, UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley, NYU, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University, Bard College, Harvard College and more. The duo has worked with the Sadie Nash Leadership Project Summer Institute and has been featured in a 2017 BRIC TV segment, a documentary for The Advocate, Elle.com, Windy City Times, Dance Writer Australia, BRN GRL WIN, the Daily Voice, Autostraddle and on Radio Free Brooklyn. They’ve also performed at Brooklyn Pride 2017 and Harlem Pride 2018, the Ohio Lesbian Festival in 2018 and 2019, The Michigan Framily Reunion, SisterSpace Festival; were recipients of the BAX Summer 2017 Space Grant, inaugural recipients of the 2018 Virginia Giordano Memorial Fund; and were the winners of the 2017 National Women’s Music Festival Emerging Artist Contest, and named the “Heart Power Couple” for the VORTEX Fire and Brimstone Awards in 2019. In February 2019 at OUTsider Fest in Austin, TX, Nia & Ness premiered their second evening length show titled home. and are currently on tour with this work along with run. To follow them on their journey, check them out on social media @niaandness.
Today they share the story of how they met, how they started working together, what their process looks like, how they collaborate with one another, coming out, and how they take care of themselves and one another.
They are performing a portion of their piece home. followed by a Q&A at the idea garden as a part of Women’s History Month Kingston on Tuesday, March 31st from 7-8:30pm.
“home. is our second evening-length dance-poetry piece that deeply explores our daily realities as a black, out-lesbian couple living and loving in New York. This piece goes beyond glimpses into our living; it hones in on the details of our experiences and provides grounding for the accompanying emotions. Along with sharing our everyday interactions with “micro” aggressions, personal historical trauma, and making visible the impacts of violence, we highlight our love as a healing force, potent enough to transform our pain into power.“
Today’s show was engineered by Maddy Bogner of Radio Kingston, http://www.radiokingston.org.
We heard music from our fave, Shana Falana, http://www.shanafalana.com/
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