Past DIGITAL PRESENTATION
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents

Stefanie Batten Bland

Kolonial (World Premiere)

BAC Artist Commission
May 3-17, 2021

Kolonial, a collaboration between choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland and installation artist Conrad Quesen, is inspired by colonial exposition parks of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean during the 1810s-1940s. The dance cinema work interrogates systems of overharvesting, exploitation, and oppression, examining behaviors of self and community through transparent COVID barriers of isolation. 

Direction and Choreography: Stefanie Batten Bland
Direction and Cinematography: Jean Claude Dhien
Scenic Installation: Conrad Quesen
Installation Assistant: Anthony Quesen
Costume Design: Shane Ballard
Hair and Makeup: Damian Monzillo
Musical Composition: Grant Cutler
Performers: Miguel Anaya, Stefanie Batten Bland, Yeman Brown, Rachel Watson Jih, Jennifer Payán, Paul Singh, Latra A. Wilson
Montage: Victoria Roseburgh 
First Assistant AD: Victoria Roseburgh 
Production Manager: Emma Rivera 

Film Location: BAC's Jerome Robbins Theater

Stefanie Batten Bland was a 2012 BAC Resident Artist and BAC Presents Artist.

In Conversation: Stefanie Batten Bland with Eva Yaa Asantewaa
BAC presents a live-streamed conversation with Batten Bland and writer and curator Eva Yaa Asantewaa on Tuesday, May 11 at 5PM ET.
Live on ZOOM
Free / Registration required here beginning May 3 at 5pm ET


BAC Artist Commissions made possible with generous leadership support from Anonymous, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Howard Gilman Foundation, Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Thompson Family Foundation, and Robert and Kathleen Wallace.

Lead support of dance programming at BAC is provided by the Rudolf Nureyev Endowment.

As of January, 2021.


In Conversation
Stefanie Batten Bland with Eva Yaa Asantewaa

May 11, 2021, Live on ZOOM: In conjunction with the premiere of "Kolonial," choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland talked with writer and curator Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Digital Spring 2021 Season Trailer
Stefanie Batten Bland: Kolonial


Goings On About Town: Stefanie Batten Bland

Caged In

IMPRESSIONS: Stefanie Batten Bland's "Kolonial" with Installation by Conrad Quesen, a World Premiere Commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts Center

Stefanie Batten Bland: Kolonial


Stefanie Batten Bland
Artist Bio

Stefanie Batten Bland

Jerome Robbins awardee Stefanie Batten Bland is an interdisciplinary global artist who interrogates contemporary and historical culture. She situates her work at the intersection of dance-theatre and installation.

A 2020 commissioned artist by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Duke Performances, and 2019 fellow at Center for Ballet Arts at NYU, Batten Bland is also currently a choreographer for American Ballet Theatre's inaugural Women's Movement Initiative. She created Company SBB in Paris in 2008 and established it in New York City in 2011, when she was in residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center and began her current residence at University Settlement. Regularly produced by LaMama Experimental Theater, she premiered her latest work Look Who's Coming To Dinner at LaMama in fall 2019 for FIAF's Crossing the Line Festival. Her COVID commissions include the virtual global performance of EU Day for the European Union at the United Nations, a distanced film for Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Known for her unique visual and movement aesthetic, she served as movement director for Eve’s Song at the Public Theater (Forbes 2018 Best Theatre) and is currently Movement Director and Director of Equity for the 2021 immersive production Life & Trust by Emursive. She also directs dance cinema films. She is regularly commissioned by companies including Louis Vuitton and Hermes. Recent commissions include: Ailey II, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Gina Gibney Dance, The Juilliard School, Singapore Frontier Danceland, Spoleto Festival Italy, and The American Center for Art & Culture in Paris where she is a resident artist. Featured in The New York Times, Dance Europe, Brooklyn Rail, Marie Claire, Dance Data Project, TV 5 Monde and Dance Teacher Magazine among others, she will celebrate Company SBB's 10th U.S. anniversary in the 2021-2022 season with existing and new works. She received her MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College, is Assistant Professor at Montclair State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, and lives in SoHo with her family.

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Photos: Maria Baranova, JC Dhien