iLAND

Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art Nature and Dance

ArtsPool Member

Carolyn Hall

Carolyn Hall is an iLAND board member, a professional contemporary dancer, and an historical marine ecologist. As a dancer she has worked/continues to work with numerous choreographers and companies both nationally and internationally and received a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for performance in 2002. She is currently involved in projects with Lionel Popkin, Rebecca Davis, and Carrie Ahern. As a freelance ecology researcher she is part of a team working on the greater ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine and is the research assistant and fact checker for the best selling author Paul Greenberg (Four Fish, American Catch). She is also an instructor for the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. Her involvement with iLAND provides a rare place where she can explore combining her two halves into new creative processes with fascinating people outside of her professions.

moving with pause

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After a several-year hiatus, iLAND relaunched its symposia series with this new retreat, moving with pause, in May/June 2021. Through regular meetings on zoom and select in-person meetings with participants local to NYC and Puerto Rico, 18 practitioners engaged in interdisciplinary practice to consider racial equity and environmental justice across communities transformed by COVID.

The retreat culminated in a hybrid in-person/virtual workshop where dance performances were shared to the general public. Seven of the contributing artists presented the next stages of their work in a via performance format, titled Partitura / Particular / Participar, in September 2021 at WeisAcres. 

moving with pause is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Water + Im/migration

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Water + Im/migration explored various connections between water and migration, with specific attention to lineage and immigration. The group included artists and organizations with a long history of serving Chinese communities through classes, workshops, and performances. The collaborative team investigated their working relationship with bodies of water and im/migration through traditional and contemporary opera, music, dance, and theater practices which engaged public school students, Chinese seniors of the local community center, and the public. The dance instructor for the PS42 After-School Dance Program was Connie Procopio.

River to Creek

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River To Creek was a participatory research project and art action that drew attention to the geographic and ecological connections across the industrial landscape of North Brooklyn, from the wild empty lots at the end of Newtown Creek in Bushwick to the East River at the edge of Greenpoint. The collaborators applied their practices in dance, marine and restoration ecology and visual and installation art to the exploration of natural and human-made elements of the site. Public events included walks, bike rides, plant and bird identification, chemical testing of water, talks on the history of development and pollution, and participatory art and dance experiences along the shores of the East River and Newtown Creek.