BreAking • P IS FOR POP D IS FOR DIP

Established in 2010, the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC) is Korea’s only national contemporary dance company. Through dance created in collaboration with artists with exceptional creative capacities, KNCDC aspires to create Korean contemporary dance which tells stories of history, society and daily lives of contemporaneity that can be appreciated across regions and by all generations.

Lee Kyungeun, a choreographer who is strutting the world stage with unique dance ideas and tremendous stage manners. In 1996, Lee won the Rookie of the Year Award with her debut work Wavering Heart, promptly rising to the stardom as ‘a new rebel in the Korean dance circle.’ Subsequently, Lee was also selected as the ‘most promising next-generation choregrapher’ at the age of 29 in a ‘survey on the masters in the dance category’ published by the Dong-A Ilbo in 2003.

Kia Michelle Benbow, known professionally as Kia LaBeija, is an image maker and storyteller  born and raised in the heart of New York City, Hell’s Kitchen. She composes theatrical autobiographical works ranging from photography, live performance, text based mediums, and film. She’s presented work at The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Tate Modern, The Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Museum of The City of New York, The Bronx Museum of the Arts,  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The International Center for Photography, The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, and the Performa ’19 Biennial.

Ehizoje Azeke (Zoje) is a movement-based director, choreographer, and artist based in NYC. He is represented by McDonald Selznick Associates and Wilhelmina Models. His credits range from film, television, campaigns, and live performance working with artists such as Beyonce, Madonna, Prince, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, and Bad Bunny. His work Black Masculine, an original full-length solo exploration, has been presented at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, Movement Research, University Settlement, and Anoko House.

DonChristian Jones is a multi-hyphenated, multi-media, artist, musician, and director. Their work spans painting, musical albums, videos, and performance installation. Don has shown and performed in spaces such as The Whitney Museum, MoMA PS1, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and The Shed. Much of their work today is informed by their time spent painting murals on Rikers Island with incarcerated youth, and teaching at Harvey Milk HS/Hetrick-Martin Institute. In 2020 Don founded Public Assistants Inc., a mutual aid network and community design lab headquartered in Brooklyn.

Photo: Becky McNeel Ehizoje.

Taína Larot is a multi-hyphenated creative from San Francisco, California. Her belief that ‘restrictions generate identity’ empowers her to be an artistic shapeshifter. Through her work, she is intentional about participating in the grey areas as a reminder that boxes can both separate and unite. Her creative practice weaves through various channels such as movement, art direction, design, and her color dying technique “dips” — all which play a major role in how she articulates her vision. This fluidity allows her mediums to bleed into one another, leading to solo and collaborative projects in live performance, installation, and textile design.

Photo: Kia LaBeija Azeke Headshot by Maddy Talias.