BIO
Stuart Meyers is a multidisciplinary artist primarily working in performance. He creates dance theatre, event programming, videos, installations, writings and drawings. He’s lived and created work in Philadelphia, Berlin and now New York.
Stuart’s worked alongside Robert Wilson, Christopher Williams, Thomas Bo Nilsson, Colette Sadler, Julian Webber, Nick Cave and Tino Sehgal and has performed in many international festivals, museums and theatres including Martin Gropius Bau (Berlin), The Stedelijk (Amsterdam), Schaubuhne (Berlin) and The Southbank Centre (London). He’s toured throughout Germany, Scotland, England, Finland, France, The Netherlands and the US.
Stuart has performed his own work internationally. With funding from the Berlin Senat, he’s currently touring his Queer, Dreamy & DIY Shabbat Dinner Delight & Extravaganza *The Shabbos Queen*, which combines ritual, performance and a five-course homemade dining experience to celebrate rest and togetherness. So far, the evening has been presented in Berlin, Brooklyn, Tel Aviv and Philadelphia. This Spring, he’ll be presenting a remount of KOPKINO as well as a new work funded by the Brooklyn Council of the Arts called "BE YOUR OWN YENTA!: a guide to becoming your own matchmaker" in which he teaches dating tips in Yenta drag. Stuart's also a danceWEB Scholar, a certified hypnotist (IHF) and studies dreams and imagery through a Kabbalistc lineage. He’ a Boston University Graduate (BFA Theatre Arts, Minor Dance).
ARTIST STATEMENT
From a young age, I was smack dab in front of the TV any chance I got, parading around my parents living room lip-syncing to Barbra Streisand, and directing my friends and actions figures in intense, word-for-word movie reenactments. Alternatively, I have always felt the tug of another interest, in that which lies beyond words and sense. I wrestle with pretty big questions, like “Why am I alive?” “What’s my purpose?” and “What’s it all mean?”
My work lives between existential levity and angst. Choreographically, I remix contemporary dance, old movies, club dance pantomime and trance into a movement style which is uniquely my own. The result is rhythmically raucous, time-warping, soulful and sensitive, an attempt to feel under the surface of what is visible. Alternatively, I create Jewish-inspired events in which I translate ancient ideas and rituals into fresh, contemporary experiences. All of my work is about recognizing personal dis-ease and sometimes proposing a repair. Some works serve as a harsh alarm clock, others offer solutions. My dance pieces “WITCH DANCE” and “KOPFKINO: head cinema,” for example, highlight anxiety, whereas my Queer, DIY & Dreamy Shabbat Dinner Delight & Extravaganza *The Shabbos Queen* holds space for community and togetherness. I support my research through somatic practices such as Continuum Movement, Klein Technique and Tai Chi, and I devour pop-culture and early cinema.