grass stains

about

Grass Stains is a site-specific initiative created by the Pioneer Winter Collective. Grass Stains cares about pairing mentoring with creative process in order to perpetuate site-specific, site-adaptive, and public art works that live outside the boundaries of a traditional space or commission. Beyond the culminating performances, we care about facilitating a full experience that focuses on and invests in re/developing site-driven choreographic and transdisciplinary inquiry.

2022: Residency with Ana Sánchez-colberg (March 21-26) at the glenn H. Curtiss Mansion, miami springs, fl

2020: Residency With Ana Sánchez-Colberg (February 23-29) at Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus, Building 1

artist Mentor & Project Collaborator (2019, 2020, 2022)

Ana Sánchez-Colberg

Ana Sánchez-Colberg trained in classical ballet in her native Puerto Rico before turning to contemporary dance. Under the tutelage of Hellmut Gottschild (assistant to Mary Wigman until 1969) she trained in Wigman technique. During this time she was a member of the Terry Beck Troupe, a Philadelphia-based dance company, as well as movement director for Intuitions, a physical theatre company. During this time, Sanchez-Colberg began to produce work and gained immediate critical attention. She was a finalist in the prestigious American College Dance Association Festival, performing the duet Lullabyes at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The Washington Post described the work as "the gem of the festival […] demonstrating a creative spark of a higher order.” In 1986, under the auspices of a fellowship from the Institute of Culture of Puerto Rico, she relocated to England to pursue further dance training. During this time, she worked with Isa Partsch-Bergson, former member of Ballets Jooss, on the embodiment of Jooss technique. She completed a PhD at the Laban Centre in 1992.

Sánchez-Colberg established Theatre enCorps in 1989. Since then, and over thirty years of non-stop activity, she has produced dance and performance work in over 40 cities, with a particular focus on collaborative practices including award winning commissioned works for Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, Ballets des Staattheater Cottbus (DE), Andanza (Puerto Rico), Foreign Bodies (UK), and Compania Danza 21 (Puerto Rico). She has been a regular teacher in many dance schools and festivals including Tanzwochen/Impulstanz Wien, International Festival of Theatre in Bogota, Colombia, Festival Barranquilla Nueva Danza, Helsinki Theatre Academy, and Jacksonville University’s graduate MFA Choreography program at White Oak.

Ana Sánchez-Colberg was course leader of the BA (Hons) Dance Theatre at Laban Centre (1993-1998) and course leader of the MA Dance Theatre at Laban (2002-2005). She coordinated the MA Performance Practices and Research degree at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London (2005-2008) and was course leader of the PhD degrees (2006-2008). In 2009, she relocated to Athens, Greece, where she now has a base. She was Professor of Choreography and Composition at the University of Dance and Circus, Stockholm (2005-2013), where she still contributes to the MA Contemporary Circus Practices. She is also a visiting professor at the Estonia Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn. Most recently, Ana led the global site and technology project Seven to the Seventh that synchronically connected artists and their communities across seven time zones over seven days; and the MAP Fund supported project 1[-1]: Materiality of Exile that arranged contrasting notions of space and time, desert and aging, through an interrogation of lived experiences of Latinx women, while in residency at Joshua Tree in the southwest desert. To see Ana’s work, visit: theatreencorpscollectif.com or check out recent project pages: seventotheseventh.com & materialityofexile.blogspot.com.

artist Mentor & Project Collaborator (2016, 2018)

Stephan Koplowitz

Stephan Koplowitz is an award winning director/choreographer/media artist known for his work on stage, film, and site. His site work aims to alter people’s perspectives of place, site, and scale - all infused with a sense of the human condition and is concerned with the intersection of natural, social and cultural ecologies within urban and natural environments. Since 1984, he has created 87 works and has been awarded 60 commissions performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is the recipient of an Alpert Award in the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Bessie Award for “Sustained Achievement” in Choreography, six NEA Choreography Fellowships (1988-97), and two distinguished alumni awards from his alma maters Wesleyan University (BA Music Composition) and the University of Utah (MFA Choreography). Recent works have premiered in San Diego, Spoleto, Italy and Columbus, Ohio. In December, 2016, he worked as co-director of Diavolo Dance’s Veterans Project featuring military veteran performers and members of the Diavolo Company. In the summer of 2017, he will premiere Occupy (a site-specific journey through an urban garden) commissioned by the mixed ability AXIS Dance Company for the Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco. In August, a large scale media/performance installation for the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine will premiere. In May 2018, he will premiere one of his largest site-based projects to date, an immersive performance event throughout the town of Northfield, Minnesota, commissioned by St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges. The work will incorporate artists from the College and greater Northfield community in dance, theater, music, and media/visual arts. Koplowitz is a contributor to the first book published on site-specific choreography, Site Dance, published by Florida University Press. After living in New York City for 23 years, he was appointed dean and faculty of Dance at the California Institute of the Arts (Los Angeles) and served in that capacity for ten years (2006-2016). His online course, “Creating Site-Specific Dance and Performance Works” launched in September 2013, was the first dance-related course on Coursera and the MOOC platform, and was re-launched 2014-16. Over 20,000 people from 151 countries have registered for this course. To see examples of his site-specific and media works, visit: www.stephankoplowitz.com and www.youtube.com/c/StephanKoplowitz.

2019

2018

2016

click the project image to be taken to a separate project page with more information, photos, and video documentation.

2022 Artists

Artists Participating in Local Residency & shared, cohort-devised performance

Aeon De La Cruz
Hector Machado
Frank Campisano
Christopher Caldwell
Stephanie Franco
Maya Nadine Billig
Carla Forte
Niurca Marquez
Cecilia Benitez
Barbara Meulener
Jenna Balfe
Najja Moon
Maria Barbist
Brigette Cormier
Maria "Mercy" Lopez
Chachi Perez
Iman Clark
Laura Prada
Gabrielle Sheerer
Agua Dulce
Reshma Anwar
Hans Lau
Ana Sánchez-Colberg
Pioneer Winter

2020 Artists

Artists Participating in Local Residency & Shared, Cohort-Devised Performance

Lize-Lotte Pitlo 
Niurca Marquez
Hector Machado
Amber Ortega
Liz Ferrer
Bow Ty Enterprises Venture Capital
Kayla Castellon
Susan Caraballo
Justice Rodriguez
Jenna Balfe
Carla Forte
Aeon De La Cruz
Lisa Nalven
Belaxis Buil
Maya Billig
Monica Lopez De Victoria
Rosee Camafreita
Christopher Caldwell
Clinton Harris
Reshma Anwar
Lily Ockwell
Ana Sánchez-Colberg
Pioneer Winter

2018 Artists

Artists commissioned for project development

Liony Garcia
Sandra Portal-Andreu

Artists invited for Local Residency

Liony Garcia
Sandra Portal-Andreu
Alexandra Lucia Vidich
Brigette Cormier
Juraj Kojs
Charo Oquet
Claudio Marcotulli
Katie Stirman
Ivonne Batanero
Jenna Balfe
Samantha Pazos
Katie Brennan
Rosee Camafreita

2016 inaugural artists

artists commissioned for project development

Ana Mendez
Niurca Márquez
Jenny Larsson
Marissa Alma Nick

artists invited for local residency 

Ana Mendez
Niurca Márquez
Jenny Larsson
Marissa Alma Nick
Agustina Woodgate
Monica Lopez de Victoria
Hattie Mae Williams

press

Preview - WLRN - Miami Choreographer’s New Work Tackles Gentrification in Allapattah

Preview - miamiartzine - grass stains choreography one-of-a-kind: site-specific creations are very personal works

preview - artburst - pioneer winter collective's grass stains returns with new choreographers and public sites

preview - miamiartzine - grass stains finds its choreographers: program meant to inspire dance in unexpected places

review - miami rail - transplants

preview - artburst - ana mendez at the kampong

Preview - Miami Chronicles - Transplants Blooms at the Kampong: Final Performance of Pioneer Winter’s Grass Stains

preview - miamiartzine - transplants blooms at the kampong: final performance of pioneer winter collective's grass stains 

review - miami rail - marissa alma nick's mira el mar

preview - miami herald - dancing through king tides and sea level rise

preview - artburst - mira el mar: a look to miami's future

preview - knight arts blog - CHOREOGRAPHER MARISSA ALMA NICK EXPLORES LIFE IN SOUTH FLORIDA POST-CLIMATE CHANGE

feature - miami herald - transforming the miami landscape one dance at a time

feature - knight arts blog - How Grass stains grants foster diversity in south florida art world

feature - miami new times - Pioneer Winter Unveils Latest Site-Specific Initiative With Agustina Woodgate and Hattie Mae Williams

feature - artburst - SITE-SPECIFIC INITIATIVE GRASS STAINS UP AND RUNNING

feature - miamiartzine - grass stains puts artists in the field

feature - artburst - GRASS STAINS INAUGURATES SITE-SPECIFIC, MENTORSHIP DANCE PROGRAM

Feature - knight arts blog - pioneer winter and grass stains set to transform miami's cultural landscape

Support

2022 cycle was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
2020 cycle was supported by the the John and James L. Knight Foundation, the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
2018-2019 cycles were supported by the John and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
2016 cycle was supported by the John and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.