BIO
My name is Stuart Meyers and I’m a multidisciplinary artist primarily working in performance. I create dance theatre and event programming, and sometimes I make videos, installations, writings and drawings. I’ve lived and created work in Philadelphia, Berlin and now New York.
As a performer, I’ve worked alongside the artists Robert Wilson, Christopher Williams, Thomas Bo Nilsson, Colette Sadler, Julian Webber and Tino Sehgal. I’ve performed in many international festivals, museums and theatres including Martin Gropius Bau (Berlin), The Stedelijk (Amsterdam), Schaubuhne (Berlin) and The Southbank Centre (London). I’ve toured throughout Germany, Scotland, England, Finland, France, The Netherlands and the US.
My first solo, On The Rocks, was performed in Boston, Philadelphia and in NYC with Movement Research @ The Judson Church. My next solo, WITCH DANCE, was performed in ada Studio’s series “Nah Dran” and the STRETCH Festival in Berlin. In 2016, I co-curated the queer and feminist sports exhibition contesting/contexting SPORT at Berlin’s nGbK and Bethanien galleries, for which I also created the video installation “Tap Dancing in the Outfield” and the sight-specific trio performance GYM>NO>PEDIES in a grade-school gym.
This past year, I created the duet/solo KOPFKINO: head cinema and performed in Movement Research @ Judson, Spring Movement @ The Center for Performance Research (CPR) and the SUBMERGE Festival in Berlin. With funding from the Berlin Senat, I also created my Queer, Dreamy & DIY Shabbat Dinner Delight & Extravaganza *The Shabbos Queen*, which combines ritual, performance and a five-course homemade dining experience to celebrate rest. So far, the evening has been presented at KuLe in Berlin and at Repair The World: Brooklyn. *The Shabbos Queen* is currently on tour.
This Spring and Summer, I’m performing with Tino Sehgal at The Shed (NYC), Nick Cave at the Park Avenue Armory, participating in Drisha’s Summer Talmud & Torah Study Fellowship and attending Vienna’s Impulstanz Dance Festival as a danceWEB Scholar. Next Fall, I will be a Resident Artist at Brooklyn Studios for Dance (BkSD).
Parallel to my artistic work, I’m a certified hypnotist (IHF) and study dreams and imagery through a Kabbalistc practice (Bonnie Buckner). I’m a former Limmud participant (Eric Hollander Memorial Scholarship), Drishat Shalom Fellow, mentee of Miguel Guttierez and Gibney’s LANDING Program and a Boston University Graduate (BFA Theatre Arts, Minor Dance).
ARTIST STATEMENT
In many ways, I’m not sure I chose to be an artist. Eventually, one must decide to be an “artist” as a vocation; however, what makes me an artist is beyond rational.
From a young age, I knew I was different. I wasn’t playing sports with other boys my age. I was drawing, dancing, playing in costume, performing wherever I could. I loved television and watched it as much as possible. I directed my friends in movie reenactments and, as an only child, spent many solitary hours playing with my action figures, beanie babies, even sometimes Barbie’s in imaginary worlds.
Despite the challenges of growing up being perceptibly different, my sense of play never disappeared; however, many existential questions arose within me, questions like “what does it mean to be alive?” and “how can I be my most authentic self?” I’m compelled to be the “contrarian”– to challenge “facts” creatively and publicly. Furthermore, I’m constantly pushed to deepen and transform my understanding of what it means to be a person in this world.
I value making people feel less alone for being different. Through my work, I try to say, “your viewpoint and your experiences are valid” and “I relate.” I find it very important to speak to and with people, especially those who have been marginalized for their individuality. I do so by making work that's honest and personal.
I often deal with deeply felt questions around my identity and spirituality. Recently, I've put a magnifying glass on the joy and challenge of being a queer Jew. Whatever aspect of my identity I'm dealing with, I’ve learned to gauge where I am, where I could go, and what’s keeping me from getting there. More simply, what stops me from being my most unique and true self, and how can I express the experience of that schism or heal it through my work?
I dive into these interrogations through abstracted narrative collages. Across the board, I take many cues from twentieth and twenty first century pop-culture, pre and early technicolor cinema and experimental video editing. Part of my work is concerned with community and bringing people together, such as with my event *The Shabbos Queen*. Other works are much darker explorations about how it feels to be apart. My work has been presented as solo and group stage works, events and video installations. In each piece, I abide by a strong and specific aesthetic framework for making decisions about the use of music, lighting, costumes and especially movement.
What makes my work original is how I compose my materials. I've studied theatre and cinema and have worked within Europe’s contemporary dance network for several years. My work is an amalgamation of these experiences, lying somewhere between dance, theatre and film. The movement I create for each piece is especially unique as it's specific to my body and my vision. I work in a cross between street/club dance, pantomime and modern/contemporary dance. The result is intense, but heartfelt. At the end of the day, I hope that through all of my projects, I offer space for audiences to contemplate how it feels to be alive.
My name is Stuart Meyers and I’m a multidisciplinary artist primarily working in performance. I create dance theatre and event programming, and sometimes I make videos, installations, writings and drawings. I’ve lived and created work in Philadelphia, Berlin and now New York.
As a performer, I’ve worked alongside the artists Robert Wilson, Christopher Williams, Thomas Bo Nilsson, Colette Sadler, Julian Webber and Tino Sehgal. I’ve performed in many international festivals, museums and theatres including Martin Gropius Bau (Berlin), The Stedelijk (Amsterdam), Schaubuhne (Berlin) and The Southbank Centre (London). I’ve toured throughout Germany, Scotland, England, Finland, France, The Netherlands and the US.
My first solo, On The Rocks, was performed in Boston, Philadelphia and in NYC with Movement Research @ The Judson Church. My next solo, WITCH DANCE, was performed in ada Studio’s series “Nah Dran” and the STRETCH Festival in Berlin. In 2016, I co-curated the queer and feminist sports exhibition contesting/contexting SPORT at Berlin’s nGbK and Bethanien galleries, for which I also created the video installation “Tap Dancing in the Outfield” and the sight-specific trio performance GYM>NO>PEDIES in a grade-school gym.
This past year, I created the duet/solo KOPFKINO: head cinema and performed in Movement Research @ Judson, Spring Movement @ The Center for Performance Research (CPR) and the SUBMERGE Festival in Berlin. With funding from the Berlin Senat, I also created my Queer, Dreamy & DIY Shabbat Dinner Delight & Extravaganza *The Shabbos Queen*, which combines ritual, performance and a five-course homemade dining experience to celebrate rest. So far, the evening has been presented at KuLe in Berlin and at Repair The World: Brooklyn. *The Shabbos Queen* is currently on tour.
This Spring and Summer, I’m performing with Tino Sehgal at The Shed (NYC), Nick Cave at the Park Avenue Armory, participating in Drisha’s Summer Talmud & Torah Study Fellowship and attending Vienna’s Impulstanz Dance Festival as a danceWEB Scholar. Next Fall, I will be a Resident Artist at Brooklyn Studios for Dance (BkSD).
Parallel to my artistic work, I’m a certified hypnotist (IHF) and study dreams and imagery through a Kabbalistc practice (Bonnie Buckner). I’m a former Limmud participant (Eric Hollander Memorial Scholarship), Drishat Shalom Fellow, mentee of Miguel Guttierez and Gibney’s LANDING Program and a Boston University Graduate (BFA Theatre Arts, Minor Dance).
ARTIST STATEMENT
In many ways, I’m not sure I chose to be an artist. Eventually, one must decide to be an “artist” as a vocation; however, what makes me an artist is beyond rational.
From a young age, I knew I was different. I wasn’t playing sports with other boys my age. I was drawing, dancing, playing in costume, performing wherever I could. I loved television and watched it as much as possible. I directed my friends in movie reenactments and, as an only child, spent many solitary hours playing with my action figures, beanie babies, even sometimes Barbie’s in imaginary worlds.
Despite the challenges of growing up being perceptibly different, my sense of play never disappeared; however, many existential questions arose within me, questions like “what does it mean to be alive?” and “how can I be my most authentic self?” I’m compelled to be the “contrarian”– to challenge “facts” creatively and publicly. Furthermore, I’m constantly pushed to deepen and transform my understanding of what it means to be a person in this world.
I value making people feel less alone for being different. Through my work, I try to say, “your viewpoint and your experiences are valid” and “I relate.” I find it very important to speak to and with people, especially those who have been marginalized for their individuality. I do so by making work that's honest and personal.
I often deal with deeply felt questions around my identity and spirituality. Recently, I've put a magnifying glass on the joy and challenge of being a queer Jew. Whatever aspect of my identity I'm dealing with, I’ve learned to gauge where I am, where I could go, and what’s keeping me from getting there. More simply, what stops me from being my most unique and true self, and how can I express the experience of that schism or heal it through my work?
I dive into these interrogations through abstracted narrative collages. Across the board, I take many cues from twentieth and twenty first century pop-culture, pre and early technicolor cinema and experimental video editing. Part of my work is concerned with community and bringing people together, such as with my event *The Shabbos Queen*. Other works are much darker explorations about how it feels to be apart. My work has been presented as solo and group stage works, events and video installations. In each piece, I abide by a strong and specific aesthetic framework for making decisions about the use of music, lighting, costumes and especially movement.
What makes my work original is how I compose my materials. I've studied theatre and cinema and have worked within Europe’s contemporary dance network for several years. My work is an amalgamation of these experiences, lying somewhere between dance, theatre and film. The movement I create for each piece is especially unique as it's specific to my body and my vision. I work in a cross between street/club dance, pantomime and modern/contemporary dance. The result is intense, but heartfelt. At the end of the day, I hope that through all of my projects, I offer space for audiences to contemplate how it feels to be alive.