Gibney Presents The World Premiere Of BEAUTY HAPPENS By Falcon Dance, June 8- 10

Gibney, the New York City based dance and social justice organization, will present the world premiere of Beauty Happens by Falcon Dance June 8-10. An interdisciplinary, project-based creative team, Falcon Dance examines connection through movement, science, sound, visual art, and performance.

Beauty Happens is an hour long work which explores a spectrum of intimacy and resilience through sight, touch, sound, and relentless physicality. Influenced by an aviary eight dancers are thrust into a world in which they ask who is the witness and who is witnessed? The framework of the work is born from the construction and simultaneous unraveling of survival systems, most notably researched in the flocking patterns, nesting, and homing mechanisms of birds.

At first sparked by infectious rhythms that speak to their primal desires, sensuality, and playful exuberance, the dancers engage in a mating song and dance with themselves. Through touch, a thin line between love and violence, the boundary of bodies collide and identities blur as dancers literally tumble, swirl, catch, and caress. Moving through sheer exhaustion they have no choice but to strip back the layers of themselves to expose the raw skin beneath their feathers to transform. The work is a test of radical forgiveness and acceptance, of adaptation, and of physical empowerment. It asks questions about individual and group agency and bodily autonomy in this publicly private performance.

Beauty Happens is performed by Shawn Brush, Marin Day, Lena Engelstein, Nik Owens, Javier Padilla, Kala Seidenberg, Rebecca Steinberg, and Carlo Antonio Villanueva and is choreographed by the Falcon Dance collective with artistic and creative direction by Brit Falcon. Sound composition and design, and recorded performance is by Glen Fittin.

Beauty Happens was commissioned by Gibney and curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa as part of Gibney Presents, the organization's premier presentation series, offering financial, residency, administrative, and production support resulting in fully produced, evening-length world premieres.

Falcon Dance

Beauty Happens

June 8-10, 2023
8:00 PM EST

Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
The Theater (Studio H)
280 Broadway, New York (enter at 53A Chambers Street)

Ticket prices: $20-$25
Tickets on sale now at

Masks are recommended at Gibney Center. Proof of vaccination is no longer required. Nonetheless, Gibney encourages all who are eligible to maintain up-to-date vaccination status in accordance with CDC Guidelines.

Additional support for Beauty Happens was provided by Brockport Summer Dance 2018 residency at The College at Brockport; Creative residencies at Oregon and Idaho State Universities in 2018; 2019 Artist in Residence at The Floor in Brooklyn, NY; 2023 Residency at Colorado Mesa University.

About the Artists
Carlo Antonio Villanueva is a Filipino American performing artist based in New York and Maryland. His approaches to choreography and performance have been most influenced by experiences with Miriam Gabriel, Moriah Evans, Janet Wong & Bill T. Jones, the Merce Cunningham Trust, and resource scarcity in the field of dance. Villanueva has most recently worked with choreographers Neil Greenberg, Stephen Petronio, Christopher Williams, and Faye Driscoll. His own creative collaborations have recently been shown in College Park, Washington, D.C., Haifa, and Marseilles. Carloantoniovillanueva.com

Shawn Brush is a NY based dancer and choreographer. He dances for DanceTactics Performance Group (with whom he is also Assistant to the Artistic Director), and Falcon Dance. Shawn has previously performed with The Dance Exchange and has danced for Maya Orchin, Laura Peterson Choreography, Stefanie Nelson, The New Collectives, Meagan Woods company, and Hillary Pearson. Shawn's own choreography, under Brush/McGrath(works) with his partner and wife, Molly McGrath, has been presented at Judson Memorial Church, Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place and Raritan Valley Community College. He is also a teaching artist and has taught at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Raritan Valley Community College, and public schools across New Jersey. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2015.

Marin Day is a dance artist, educator, producer and arts administrator currently living in Brooklyn, NY. She has studied various movement forms with artists from all over the world in the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica and Jerusalem. She has been fortunate to perform in works by Miguel Castillo, Parijat Desai, Micayla Wynn and Brit Falcon. Marin currently is the Associate Producer at the Bates Dance Festival where she has worked for several summers. She has worked as a Forest School teacher and caretaker for many years and loves to spend time with children and elders. Marin holds a BA in Southwest Studies and Dance from Colorado College. She has immense gratitude for her family and constellation of mentors. Marinrday.com.

Lena Engelstein is a Brooklyn based choreographer and performer. Since 2021, she has co-created and performed a series of duets- the first with performance artist Magda San Millan; the second with dancer Jo Warren. She has collaborated with and performed in work by director Lisa Fagan since 2017 and is currently the assistant choreographer/performer in the interdisciplinary performance collective CHILD, headed by Fagan. Other performance credits include: Third Rail Company's Bessie award winning immersive theater show Then She Fell (company member, 2019-2020), Falcon Dance (guest/company member, 2018-present), Brendan Drake (company member, 2017-2020), and work by Barnett Cohen, Alexa West, and Chafin Seymour. As a movement director, Engelstein has worked with the bands Lou Tides and Pleaser, comedian Sophie Zucker, and dance artist Nora Alami. She has performed on stages across New York City, including: New York Live Arts, Judson Memorial Church, Target Margin Theater, Danspace Project, PS 122, Center for Performance Research, HERE Arts, Gibney, The Brick, Vital Joint and Triskelion. She has taught dance and choreography at SUNY Brockport, Bard College, and The Field Center. Lena holds a B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in Dance from Colorado College.

Brit Falcon (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, director/choreographer/maker, bodyworker, and educator. Her project based group, Falcon Dance is currently a 2023 Gibney Presents AIR. They have been awarded The Floor's winter/spring 2019 artist-in-residence, The Brockport Summer Dance 2018 guest artist, the New Dance Collective 2018 guest artist, the Bates Dance Festival 2017 Emerging Choreographer, and the NYU Gallatin 2017 DCA artist-in-residence. Brit has had the pleasure of performing with William Evans, Kista Tucker Dance, Inc., Steeledance, Bryan Baira, Donnell Oakley, Renegade Performance Group, Keith Johnson & Adriane Fang, Keith Thompson, and David Dorfman Dance. She has been a guest artist at The University of Hartford, Oregon University, Idaho State, Nazareth College, Brockport College, New York University, Bates College, Gibney Dance Center, Mark Morris Dance Center, Freeskewl, Colorado Mesa University and Performática (Mexico). Additionally, Brit is a Massage Therapist and personal trainer who holds a B.F.A. in Dance from The College at Brockport, having graduated with honors and was an Academic All-American for athletic achievement in the Women's Triple Jump. She is currently an M.F.A. Candidate in Dance at The University of Maryland, College Park. www.britfalcon.com

Glen Fittin, based in New York, currently serves as Adjunct Professor and Music Coordinator/resident composer for the Montclair State University Department of Dance, Dance musician for the Bates Dance Festival beginning in 2004, American Dance Festival 2005, Korea Dance / Improv Festival 2004-05, and the Seoul Drum Festival 2004. Instruments of focus include: Percussion, Piano, Voice and electronics. Glen is also one of the percussionists for The Lion King on Broadway. His numerous compositions for Dance have premiered at Dancepace, St. Marks Church, Jacob's Pillow, Mark Morris Dance Center, Joyce Soho, Gibney Dance, Alvin Ailey Studios, Bates College, DTW, Judson Church, City Center, Kasser Theater, Memorial Aud. Montclair State Univ., NYU Tisch, Rutgers Univ. , Munyee Theater (Seoul), 14th Street Y, DeSalles Univ., Santa Barbara Dance Theater, SUNY Brockport, Cunningham Studio, Solar One. Choreographers with whom he has had the honor to work with include Brit Falcon, Jennifer Nugent, Christian Von Howard, Karen Love, Emily Schoen, Nick Cave, Robert Battle, Michael Foley, Sean Curran, David Dorfman , Kathleen Kelley, Kendra Poitier, Jennifer Chin, Donald McKayle, Aya Shibahara, Maxine Steinman, Larry Keigwin, Bryan Knowlton, Freespace Dance, Kim Whittam. Music Groups: Scott Hogan, Glen Velez, Bernie Worrell, The Remnants, Synchronism Percussion Group, NJ Percussion Ensemble, One More Once. Recipient of Meet the Composer and American Music Center Grants.

Nik Owens began his movement experience as a competitive gymnast for 15 years and began his dance training in his senior year of high school and continued at Wesleyan University where he received a BA in Dance and a certificate in Environmental Studies. He has worked with Nicholas Leichter, Tania Isaac, and Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion and has performed works by The Dance Exchange, Raja Kelly/The Feath3r Theory, Bryn Cohn and Artists, Helen Simoneau Danse, The Bang Group, Kayla Farrish-Decent Structures Arts, Dual Rivet, 10 Hairy Legs, and others. He has worked on several duet projects and has been commissioned to create works at Rivertown Dance Academy in New York and The Wooden Floor (under David Dorfman Dance) in California. He currently collaborates and performs with Tiffany Mills Company, Kyle Marshall Choreography, and David Dorfman Dance. Nik has been commissioned by Wesleyan University to create to solo works: After It All in 2018 and in 2021 he began working on a solo of his own creation called The Right Kind and plans to continue that project's choreographic journey.

Kala Seidenberg is a Brooklyn-based dancer and early childhood dance educator. She received her early dance training at Academy of Dance Arts and Columbia City Jazz Company in Columbia, South Carolina. Kala earned degrees from Emory University in dance and movement studies, as well as educational studies, in 2012. After graduation, she began her professional career dancing for Staibdance, Catellier Dance Projects, Tara Hemmer, and Emily Christianson, in Atlanta, Georgia, while also teaching dance at the arts non-profit, Moving in the Spirit. She relocated to New York City in 2014, and has since enjoyed teaching and creating with the smallest of dancers at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, JCC Harlem, Mark Morris Dance Center, and in various public schools with New York City Ballet's in-school dance and literacy program, Ballet Tales. Her choreographic work has been presented by Dance Truck, Spelman College, Emory University, and Waxworks. Kala has been dancing with Falcon Dance since fall 2017.

Rebecca Steinberg is a choreographer, director, dancer, educator, and arts advocate. She is a Choreographic Associate and Education Liaison with New Dialect, a Nashville-based dance company with whom she performed from 2015 to 2021.Her work has been presented by Park Avenue Armory Avant-Garde, Metropolitan Opera Club, Soho House New York, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, OZ Arts Nashville, And Artists, Room to Room, New Dialect, and Nashville Ballet. Rebecca is a 2021 Tennessee Individual Artists Fellow and a 2019 Jacob's Pillow Choreography Fellow. Recently, she is a creative collaborator, thinking partner, and/or performer with Banning Bouldin, George Miller, Kendra Portier, Falcon Dance, and Tristan Koepke. As an educator, Rebecca leads workshops, master classes, and programming for young dancers, adults of all abilities, and professionals worldwide. She has held faculty and guest artist positions at numerous universities, companies, and dance programs. She works as a Curriculum Design Consultant, currently on a National Science Foundation research grant exploring the educational potential of dance for STEM learning. Rebecca graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.F.A. in Dance and a B.A. in Psychology. She is currently an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Founded by Gina Gibney in 1991, Gibney is a New York City-based performing arts and social justice organization that taps into the vast potential of movement, creativity, and performance to effect social change and personal transformation. Gibney deploys resources through three strategic and interwoven program areas: Gibney Center, a meeting ground for New York City's artistic community comprising 23 studios and 5 performance spaces that provide critical space for training, rehearsal, professional development, performances, and convenings; Gibney Community, programs that use movement to help address a range of social issues with a focus on gender-based violence and its prevention; and Gibney Company, the organization's resident dance ensemble. Gibney supports movement-based artists in every aspect of their creative development: classes, residencies, low-cost rental space, entrepreneurial training and incubation, presentation opportunities, commissioning, and operating a professional dance company.