Recent works:

Part Song/Immortal Life at Danspace Project, November 2024

Part Song/Immortal Life draws on the community-centered participatory design text A Pattern Language (Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein, and Sara Ishikawa 1977). Performers Amelia Heintzelman, Jade Manns, and evan ray suzuki; composer Matt Evans; and musicians Leo Chang, Tristan Kasten-Krause, and Zosha Warpeha treat the space as a site of surveillance—disappearing, disguising, revealing, and tracking the body within the architecture of the church and processing sensations of seduction, communion, speculation, and violence.  Costumes by Kate Williams and lighting by Lutin Tanner

Press: Danspace Journal + NYTimes

Shadows Later at Pageant, October 2023

Shadows Later mines and processes an archive of public artworks and private memories—each of which relates to the American modern dancer (broadly) and my collaborators and myself (narrowly). Shadows Later features my longtime collaborators Liz Charky (lighting), Matt Evans (music), Amelia Heintzelman (dance), Jade Manns (dance), and myself (dance).

Good Boy, June 2023

Performed at the Living Room at FourOneOne curated by Moriah Evans and New Dance Alliance Festival at Abrons Arts Center

Ayano Elson and Matt Evans share improvisational movement and sound scores as a way to examine collaborative relationships between music and dance.

Poor Image at Center for Performance Research on March 12, 2023
Mertz Gilmore Late Stage Grant showing

For this in-progress presentation, we use control and instability as primary poles while experimenting within fixed patterns and a fixed space. Joined by Matt Evans, Savannah Gaillard, Amelia Heintzelman, and ensemble musicians Robby Bowen, Johann Diedrick, Charlie Gangemi, Max Levin, Jemila MacEwan, Hank Mason, Livvy Marcus, and Tommy Martinez.

A Gardener at Roulette on June 30, 2021

A Gardener is a new performance created by Ayano Elson in collaboration with lighting designer LD DeArmon, composer Matt Evans, video designer Hyung Seok Jeon, and writer Lydia Okrent. From a position at the center of the world’s oppressive imperial power, the piece explores a new future we can reach through democratic and egalitarian collaboration, through active participation and consensus-building.

With Womens Work: Ayano Elson at Issue Project Room

Issue Project Room
February 10, 2021

In the first days of the new year, my friend and collaborator Matt Evans, my partner John Dodig, and my dog Patrick woke up before sunrise to help me film and record this video outdoors in Prospect Park. Two women ate breakfast as they watched me perform multiple runs of this work — my first public performance in 10 months.

The piece features accompanying sound by artist, composer and percussionist Matt Evans. Additional color correcting by video artist Hyung Seok Jeon.

January (video)

October 2020

Choreography and performance by: Ayano Elson
Video design by: Hyung Seok Jeon
Music and sound design by: Matt Evans

Double Moon

December 16, 2018 at 6 PM + 7 PM
Co-presented by Movement Research and the Chocolate Factory

Double Moon is a new performance created by Ayano Elson in collaboration with lighting designer LD DeArmon, dancer Katie Dean, and costumes by Lera Pivavora. Examining disappearance—physical, cultural, and intellectual—Double Moon relies on the dramatic tension between embodied stillness and performance space.