Artist:  Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak (Chicago, IL)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  Alverno Presents, Denison University Dance Department
"Stamina of Curiosity" is Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak’s three-year choreographic project emphasizing ensemble movement research and multiple performance iterations that are an intrinsic part of the process. Through "Stamina" Shanahan explores movement that stems from an integrated self that is free from compulsive muscular restriction while advancing her study of the observer/observed relationship as a catalyst for composition and the meaningful exchange between artist and audience.
NPN Subsidy Award:  $10,000

Artist:  Miguel Gutierrez (Brooklyn, NY)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  Dance Theater Workshop, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
"Last Meadow" mines movements and texts from James Dean’s three films to create a non-narrative patchwork which describes an America where the jig is up and the dream has died. Gutierrez will collaborate with performers Michelle Boule and Tarek Halab, musical composer/performance artist Neal Medlyn, lighting designer Lenore Doxsee, and visual artist/dramaturge Paul Chan.
NPN Subsidy Award: $12,000

Artist:  Denise Uyehara (Tucson, AZ)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  Highways Performance Space, Dinnerware Artspace
"Archipelago:  Islands of Land, Water and Legend" is a new multi-disciplinary work directed and performed by Denise Uyehara, in collaboration with video artist/performer Adam Cooper-Teran. It retells legends, oral histories of the Okinawa and the Huichol Indians, re-imagined in contemporary times. "Archipelago" comments on occupation and displacement of indigenous people, and sheds light on the complex identities of these two award-winning, Tucson-based artists.
NPN Subsidy Award: $10,000

Artist:  Jose Torres Tama (New Orleans, LA)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  MECA, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Ashe Cultural Arts Center
"Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers" is a bilingual multimedia solo piece by Jose Torres Tama, which explores the current criminalization of immigrants and the rise in hate crimes against Latinos in the US. Torres Tama chronicles his Ecuadorian family’s search for the mythic "American Dream," and with the sci-fi look of the movie "The Matrix," he transforms into numerous Latino "aliens" who challenge the flaws of a country built by immigrants, which vilifies the same people it exploits.
NPN Subsidy Award:  $12,000

Artist:  Bridgman/Packer Dance (Valley Cottage, NY)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  VS Arts of Alaska/Out North, Dance Umbrella
Bridgman/Packer’s new work will further their integration of live performance and video technology by augmenting photo realistic video with a rich palette of commissioned animation. In a departure from their previous work, they will draw from archetypal and mythic characters to reveal a range of personae. With a contemporary technological spin, mythic archetypes will collide and compete, moving the work into a fantastical and raucous exploration of identity and relationship.
NPN Subsidy Award:  $10,000

Artists:  Bill Frisell, Rahim AlHaj, Eyvind Kange (Berkeley, CA)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  Outpost Productions, Walker Art Center
Musical worlds meld to form a new concept, as three independent voices come together for the creation of "Baghdad/Seattle Suite." The improvisation and composition of jazz and Americana by renowned guitarist Bill Frisell meets the world of Iraqi maqams and originals via Iraqi oud virtouso Rahim AlHaj. The two worlds are bridged by long-time Frisell associate – violist, tubist and erhu player, Eyvind Kang – whose interests span, new music, folk, rock and middle eastern music.
NPN Subsidy Award:  $10,000

Artist:  Maria Hassabi (New York, NY)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Crossing the Line Festival, FIAF
"Solo Show" is a work consisting of two evening-long solos featuring interrelated performance and installation. Hassabi applies similar design elements to both solos:  transforming space and image. Each solo is alternatively performed by Hassabi and her longtime collaborator Hristoula Harakas. The first solo is performed on a Persian carpet. The second solo is performed on a large chalk drawing replica of the carpet that is destroyed by the dancer’s movement.
NPN Subsidy Award:  $10,000

Artist:  Axis Dance Company/David Dorfman (Oakland, CA)
Lead Partner/Commissioners:  Tigertail Productions, Dance Place, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
David Dorfman will create a new work for AXIS Dance company.  This first-time collaboration will also have a community involvement aspect to be incorporated into education programs when the work is on tour. An original score will be composed by Albert Mathias and Michael Wall and lighting design by Heater Basarab.
NPN Subsidy:  $12,000