Jeremy McQueen’s Black Iris Project
is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of
AMP
a choreography commissioning project providing emerging Black choreographic voices an opportunity to hone and showcase their talents through the creation of an original dance film.
The Black Iris Project is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of “AMP” a choreography commissioning project which will provide emerging Black choreographic voices an opportunity to hone and showcase their talents through the creation of an original dance film. As a Black choreographer who understands what limited opportunities exist exclusively for those like himself, Black Iris Project founder Jeremy McQueen aims to use his platform to uplift and illuminate up-and-coming Black talent.
“Our community is being disproportionately affected inside and outside of the arts sector, and it’s more important than ever that we fortify ourselves against these challenges by working together and elevating each other’s voices,” shares McQueen.
Kayla Collymore and Christian Warner were selected from an open call pool of applicants from across the United States to showcase their talents through our national platform, as the Opening Acts for our March 2021 virtual performances of “WILD: Act 1”. The choreographers will each receive a $500 honorarium, rental equipment, 10 hours of editing support, and 1-on-1 mentorship from J. McQueen to help them create a brief, ballet-based masterpiece (10 mins or less) rooted in Black history or the Black experience.
Kayla Collymore, a New Jersey native, graduated (Summa Cum Laude) from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University with a BFA in Dance. Kayla has performed with several dance companies including METdance Company(Texas, USA), Hou Ying Dance Theater (Beijing, China), Brian Brooks Moving Company (New York, USA) and Stephen Petronio Company (apprentice). In addition to performing in Beijing she taught numerous local dance classes and founded the dance department at Limai International English School. Her professional experience ranges into Dance for Film, guest artist residencies, and hosting master classes. She is an alumna of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and was voted 2017’s “Top 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. Kayla recently completed an 18 month international tour with Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and is currently based in Houston, Texas as a free lance performer, dance educator, yoga instructor, and movement designer.
Christian A Warner is a New York based multi-disciplinary artist with a career that spans over dance, musical theatre, and film. He most recently joined the ranks of Boca Tuya (Omar Roman de Jesus’) contemporary dance company after completing a three year commitment with TU Dance (Saint Paul, MN) in which he not only performed concert dance works by artists such as Alvin Ailey and Kyle Abraham, he was also a founding dancer in “Come Through” - an evening length collaboration with the Grammy-award winning band Bon Iver. Christian also provided background vocals for the recent Bon Iver album “i,i” for the track “Naeem.” Other dance credits include repertoire acquired by Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott, Kyle Abraham, Gioconda Barbuto, Marcus J. Willis, Stefanie Batten Bland, Aszure Barton, Troy Powell, Sonya Tayeh, Dwight Rhoden, and Luke Murphy. His musical theatre credits include productions such as Disney’s The Lion King (Broadway and Nat. Touring productions), Oliver! The Musical (National Tour), and Hairspray (Regional/Houston, TX). His choreographic credits include musicals such as Working and Ragtime as well as residencies with BAK Middle School, HSPVA, and most recently TX State University, TU Dance, and James Madison University.
Jeremy McQueen’s Black Iris Project, photo by Matthew Murphy
About The Black Iris Project
Founded by choreographer Jeremy McQueen in 2016, The Black Iris (BIP) is a ballet collaborative and education vehicle which creates new, relevant classical and contemporary ballet works that celebrate diversity and Black history. Based in New York City, the project hosts a team of predominantly artists of color delivering cross-disciplinary and original works. Championing individuality, the collaborative harnesses the Black inherent creative spirit.
McQueen was inspired during a period when his mother was battling breast cancer. Upon a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he fell in love with Georgia O'Keeffe's painting, "Black Iris III" (1926). Struck by the beauty, his mother's resilience, and the work of the many Black women who helped raise him, Jeremy began creating his first en pointe ballet. "Black Iris" came to life at Joffrey Ballet in March 2013, and served as a catalyst to new ideas on diversifying the dialogue within classical ballet.
Jeremy McQueen’s Black Iris Project held its debut season in July, 2016 in New York City at New York Live Arts with three original ballet works rooted in the Black culture and history, highlighting a cast of predominantly Black dancers from world-renowned ballet companies.
In April 2017, The BIP made its John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts debut (at the personal invitation of American Ballet Theatre ballerina Misty Copeland) performing MADIBA, a ballet McQueen created based on the life of Nelson Mandela, as part of the Misty Copeland and Justin Peck curated Ballet Across America festival. MADIBA has become one of the collaborative’s most popular works and was recently presented by City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth.
In 2019, McQueen was commissioned by the Ford Foundation to create “The Storm” an original ballet that centers on the disruption caused by tumultuous hurricanes that have taken place in the United States over the last fifteen years and the Middle Passage. “The Storm” had its world premiere on August 16, 2019 at the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston, Texas as part of a headlining Black Iris Project program and was named one of Pointe Magazine’s Standout Performances of 2019, Audience Favorite.
The ballets that McQueen choreographs for The Black Iris Project are rooted in Black history and community, bringing inadequately-represented stories to the public attention through an art form that has only recently begun to expand outside its privileged past. His works push the boundaries of the ballet world, as they highlight the personal narratives of significant Black public figures as well as extraordinary individuals amongst the general public who navigate a world that is prejudiced against and dangerous for them. The Black Iris Project’s vision is to encourage and inspire youth of color to pursue art, movement and music as an expressive outlet and means for collective healing, as well as educating audiences about how Black history relates to the modern Black journey.