Artist Talk: EVIDENCE & MasterZ at Work

Photos courtesy of the artists

Friday, September 11
7:00 PM
Free Admission with an RSVP
Black Box Theater

A generous and candid conversation between festival choreographers Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington (MasterZ at Work), and Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag (EVIDENCE), facilitated by choreographer Souleymane Badolo (Assistant Professor of Dance, Bard College) around their artistic lineages, dance influences, and daily inspirations. Free and open for everyone to enjoy.

About the Artists:

Raised in Brooklyn, Ronald K. Brown is the recipient of the Martha Hill Mid-Career Achievement Award (2024), American Dance Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (2024), and a Dance Teacher Award of Distinction (2024). Other awards include the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award (2020), Dance Magazine Award (2018), and Samuel H. Scripps/ADF Award (2018), among others. Brown received an AUDELCO Award for choreography in Regina Taylor’s award-winning play Crowns, two Black Theater Alliance Awards, and Fred & Adele Astaire Award for Outstanding Choreography in the Tony Award-winning Porgy and Bess, adapted by Suzan Lori Parks. Ronald K. Brown is Co-Artistic Director of The Billie Holiday Theatre’s Youth Arts Academy and a member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society. Brown has set works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, among others. He has collaborated with Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya, Craig G. Harris, Ernie McClintock’s Jazz Actors Theater, choreographers Patricia Hoffbauer and Rokiya Kone, and composers Jason Moran, Arturo O’Farrill, Meshell Ndegeocello, and many more.

Arcell Cabuag is a first-generation Filipino-American from San Jose, California. In New York City, he attended the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and met Ronald K. Brown. He joined EVIDENCE as their first apprentice then a company member, and has served as its Associate Artistic Director since 2004. Cabuag has danced with Camille A. Brown, Mekeda Thomas, in Rock the House (Paramount Pictures), The Shoji Tabuchi Show (Branson, MO), The King and I (Richard Rodgers Centennial Production), and has been seen on TV’s Law & Order: SVU and a Codorniu Cava commercial for Spanish television. He has assisted Brown in creating repertory on Philadanco Dance Company, MUNTU Drum and Dance Company, TU Dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company, and served as associate choreographer for the Tony Award-winning Porgy and Bess. Cabuag is a 2004 New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award winner for EVIDENCE and he received the Dance Teacher Award of Distinction alongside Brown in 2024.

Souleymane “Solo” Badolo is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, performer, and Assistant Professor of Dance at Bard College, celebrated for his innovative fusion of traditional African and contemporary dance vocabularies. Born in Burkina Faso, he founded Kongo Ba Téria in 1993, a troupe that redefines African dance aesthetics. Badolo has worked with Burkina Faso’s Salia ni Seydou, French choreographers Elsa Wolliaston and Mathilde Monnier, and the National Ballet of Burkina Faso. His collaborators include Nora Chipaumire, Ralph Lemon, Reggie Wilson, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Urban Bush Women). His work is featured in the documentary Movement (R)evolution Africa and Film Nora, highlighting his role in Africa’s experimental dance movement. Badolo has been commissioned by Danspace Project, NYLA, Harlem Stage, BAM, Jacob’s Pillow, Adzido Dance Company, Philadanco, and Ballet National of Burkina Faso, among others. His research into African dance traditions is supported by NYLA’s Suitcase Fund and, with Creative Capital, he is developing “the science of ancestors,” a technique with roots in the symbolic sign language of geomancy African divination.

Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington is a visionary Black trans femme choreographer, performer, and the creative director of MasterZ at Work Dance Family. A legend in the ballroom community, Washington is the founder of the Kiki House of Juicy Couture and the leader of the House of Balenciaga. She is recognized for her groundbreaking work in fusing street dance, street jazz, ballroom, and hip-hop, creating performances that are vibrant, high-energy expressions of resilience, survival, and chosen family. As a queer teen in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, she found refuge in dance. Her passion led to the formation of the Pretty Kitties crew, evolving into MasterZ at Work. The company engages with communities in rehearsals in public parks and outreach events, promoting inclusivity and accessibility in underserved neighborhoods. With the support of Works & Process, the company performed at the Guggenheim, SummerStage, Jacob’s Pillow, and Lincoln Center. Washington’s work uplifts the legacy of ballroom and street dance, carving out a place in the broader dance world.