'Dance Out East' With the Guggenheim's Works & Process

Kick off the New Year with dance and be the first to see three new performances on the East End. The inaugural “Dance Out East” will be presented January 9 through 11 at The Church in Sag Harbor, Guild Hall in East Hampton and The Watermill Center. The three performances culminate weeklong creative residencies and provides unique insight into the process and preparation of new choreographed works that will sequence into the Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival at the Guggenheim Museum.

The Church, 48 Madison Street, Sag Harbor
Thursday, January 9, 6 p.m.

Dance Out East: “The Scattering” by Emily Coates — Dancer and choreographer Emily Coates’s new performance project sources George Balanchine’s brief history beyond the metropolis to reflect on how the body and spirit of a choreographer scatters, living on in unexpected places, starting with his arrival in America in 1933.

Coates draws on her background as a former member of New York City Ballet, and working with Ain Gordon (direction and dramaturgy), Derek Lucci (performer), Charles Burnham (musician-composer) and Melvin Chen (pianist), she and her collaborators collage misplaced and overlooked archival traces and transmissions of Balanchine and related artists into a new whole.

The poignancy of Coates’s residency at The Church responds to the art center’s own embrace of Balanchine’s history. Upon the windows of the building is a likeness of the famed choreographer, featured among a series of portraits known as “The Saints of Sag Harbor” — replacing the stained-glass windows of churches with a series of etchings by artist and The Church co-founder Eric Fischl. These portraits pay homage to icons from Sag Harbor’s vast history of artists and makers who have inspired people the world over — including Balanchine, who is buried nearby at Oakland Cemetery.

“The Scattering” is commissioned by Works & Process. This iterative presentation culminates a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at The Church (2025). The project will continue to be supported with a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at the Catskill Mountain Foundation in Hunter, New York where Jacques d’Amboise lived for seven decades. Additional developmental support is provided by Jacob’s Pillow, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University and New England Foundation for the Arts Dance Fund.

Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton
Friday, January 10, 7 p.m.

Dance Out East: Music From The Sole’s “House Is Open, Going Dark” (working title) — Blurring the line between concert, dance and music performance, Music From The Sole is a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap’s roots in the African diaspora. Co-founders composer and bassist Gregory Richardson and Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and composer, draw from Afro-Brazilian, jazz, soul, house, rock, and Afro-Cuban styles. After multiple residencies through the Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artists-in-Residence program, and opening the newly renovation Hillarie and Mitchell Morgan Theater at Guild Hall this past summer, see a preview of their newest work, “House Is Open, Going Dark” culminating the company’s technical residency at Guild Hall.

Co-Commissioned by Works & Process, Music From The Sole’s new work has been developed in a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (2024) and Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence (2023 and 2025). This new work is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Works & Process, the Joyce Theater Foundation, The Yard, Guild Hall, Dance Place, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and NPN. Additional support was provided by the Harkness Dance Foundation, a 2023 Alan M. Kriegsman Creative Residency at Dance Place, and a 2024 Pillow Lab.

The Watermill Center, 39 Watermill-Towd Road, Water Mill
Saturday, January 11, 2 p.m.

Dance Out East: “Djapo” by Marie Basse Wiles and Omari Wiles — West African dance cultural icon Marie Basse-Wiles and her son, ballroom icon Omari Wiles (“CATS: The Jellicle Ball”) co-create “Djapo” bringing together dancers from the Maimouna Keita School of African Dance (MKSAD), founded by Basse-Wiles, and Les Ballet Afrik, founded by Wiles. For 32 years MKSAD has brought together the African diaspora in an annual conference and Basse-Wiles has trained generations of renowned artists whose impact continues to resonate the world over, including tours to Senegal, Mali, Gambia, and Guinea. Her son Omari Wiles has followed in her footsteps while walking to the beat of his own drum, creating AfrikFusion informed by Afro Club Culture, Vogue, and West African dance.

Djapo is commissioned by Works & Process and has received Works & Process LaunchPAD residency support at Bethany Arts Community (2024) and The Watermill Center (2025). Djapo is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts.

A nonprofit performing arts organization without walls, Works & Process champions performing artists and their creative process each step from studio to stage. Works & Process platforms artists from the world’s largest organizations and amplifies underrecognized performing arts cultures by providing rare, longitudinal, and fully-funded creative residencies, and commissioning support. Works & Process presents at the Guggenheim Museum, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Each summer Works & Process curates and presents free dance programs with Manhattan West and City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage and NYC Parks. Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” provides artists multi-week residencies with 24/7 studio availability, on-site housing, health insurance enrollment access, industry-leading fees, and transportation to residency partners spanning Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.

Event tickets for each performance are $25 ($20 members) at danceouteast.org.