COUSINS (Dance Community)
In a nod to the early 2000’s AUNTS collective in the downtown NYC dance scene---of which LVJ and Yackez took part as performers for fourteen years and LVJ was a co-organizer from 2020-2021---LVJ produces and facilitates a new off shoot called COUSINS. COUSINS performances are an expansive take on collective performance, party installation, choreographic experimentation, artistic collaboration and resource sharing, specifically highlighting dance artists.
COUSINS is produced by LVJ Performance Co. and our mission is to expand on the formula of AUNTS’ simultaneous, collaborative, DIY and self-sufficient performance encounters. COUSINS marries LVJ's appreciation of AUNTS’ multiple collective performance format with new protocols that allow for inclusivity and access for disabled artists and audience, using the technologies for disability access that LVJ is researching presently in their own work. It brings together what LVJ is most interested in now with what LVJ can offer the public and the curatorial care that LVJ can offer artists. Our first event launches June 27, 2026 in Hudson Valley, NY. Over time LVJ will assemble a producing team that allows for broader inclusivity with disabled artists and provides DIY access protocols like technology for audio description on the fly, an insistence on ADA accessibility for our events and more. We think of it as a new generation model of what Jamm (JMY Leary) and Rebecca Brooks created in 2004.
The first COUSINS event will be co-presentation and collaboration with Yackez slated for early Fall 2026 at The Ellis Newburgh in Newburgh , NY. It was originally scheduled for June 27, 2026 but has been postponed due to health complications for LVJ.
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