About Barkin/Selissen Project:

Since 2009, BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT has created emotionally driven choreography that connects people to and through dance. Using contemporary dance as a platform to explore subjects ranging from mathematics to the complexities of human nature, BSP strives to infuse fresh perspectives and create an inclusive world that highlights commonalities and appreciates differences. Regarded for their integrity and idiosyncratic style, BSP blurs lines between the emotional and intellectual, dream worlds and waking states, finding dramatic shifts from articulate nuance to explosive athleticism in service of bringing dance to a broader audience.

In the successful traditions of colleagues such as Limón Dance and Janis Brenner, BSP strives to create a mindful, inspiring, and vibrant space for artistic growth, refinement, and interaction. Their work is often born from raw experimentation and evolves through structured improvisation. The company's movement style balances between easy and technically intricate, incorporating complex partnering, engaging solos, and coordinated group choreography.

Artistic Directors Kyla Barkin and Aaron Selissen’s choreography has been presented at venues across the U.S and abroad including Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, SUNY Stony Brook’s Staller Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, West End Theater, 92Y, Bryant Park, Tempe AZ Center for the Arts, Boston’s Dance Complex, Touhill Performing Arts Center St. Louis, the National Math Festival, Yogyakarta Indonesia, and Uferstudios Berlin Germany. BSP has also performed at the Edinburgh International Conference Center in Scotland as part of Booking Dance and the Fringe Festival. Partnerships and collaborators include Jim Simons, Sirius String Quartet, Reggie Watts, Agua Trip, Zac Selissen, Kevin Keller, Lindsey Boise, Sally Taylor’s ConSenses, Festival of the Moving Body, Communicating in Partnerships through Dance/Hartford Performs, Balance 1 Academy Berlin, Limón Professional Studies Program, SUNY Brockport, and many more.

In recent years, BSP has been recognized and supported by a number of creative organizations including Ovation TV, who produced and aired a national Stand for the Arts PSA featuring BSP; a 2020 spotlight program from The NY Dance and Performance Awards, aka "The Bessies," which aired on ALL ARTS; grant support from LMCC, Dance/NYC, and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Although Barkin/Selissen Project were generally unable to engage staff, dancers, and audience by traditional means since the start of the pandemic, the company has consciously made great strides to stay active and engaged in the dance world. During the early stages of COVID, BSP established the Dancers Above Water Relief Fund to provide help to artists suffering through the pandemic. Since the pandemic, and before, BSP has focused on increasing access to dance online by releasing an open-access film series, footage of past performances and new choreography, a new blog, curated resource lists, and a range of movement classes. BSP looks ahead with an attitude of optimism and high hopes of a future supported by a fully reopened and strengthened arts industry.

On April 29 & 30th, 2022, 'An Evening of Math & Dance,' graciously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council includes a performance of Differential Cohomology; Dance of the Diagram followed by a panel discussion amongst notable mathematicians, scientists, and choreographers such as Jim Simons and Artistic Directors Kyla Barkin & Aaron Selissen, and moderated by Heather Berlin.

Barkin/Selissen Project

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