Tristan Koepke – There’s Only One Bed (SOLD OUT)

Choreographer and director Tristan Koepke shares an evening of works exploring gay ghosts, gentle camp, soft butch energy, and thirst trap fabulation. Encore performance!

The program is an encore performance of a May production that featured two piece premieres. The evening features performances by Koepke with Emilia Bruno, Ryan A. MacDonald (sound), Benny Olk, Rebecca Steinberg, and James Barrett.

The creation and development of these works has been supported by New England Foundation for the Arts, McGinty Fund for the Humanities (Bates College), Roger C. Schmutz Fund for Faculty Research (Bates College), Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and the University of Maryland, College Park.

^{Photo from May performance at SPACE by Patrick Fogarty (@patrick_fogarty_)}

Tristan Koepke (he/him) is a dancer, educator, choreographer, and Rolfer®. He is an Assistant Professor at Bates College, and is Associate Director of the Young Dancers Intensive at the Bates Dance Festival. He has performed in contemporary and experimental dance works by Chris Schlichting, Vanessa Anspaugh, luciana achugar, Cally Spooner, Doug Varone, Emily Johnson, Mathew Janczewski, Kendra Portier, Heidi Henderson, Annie Kloppenberg, and was a member of Zenon Dance Company from 2011-2019. His work has been presented by Patrick’s Cabaret, Bryant Lake Bowl, Bates College, the 1419 Collective, and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. He holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park.

A native of Lake Zurich, IL, Emilia Bruno (they/them) is an Italian-American, queer movement artist currently based in College Park, MD. They received their BFA in Dance and BS in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Emilia has most notably had the honor of working as a member of Shapiro and Smith Dance, Zenon Dance Company, and Slo Dance Company, among others. Emilia has a long-standing relationship with the Bates Dance Festival as a mentor for the Young Dancers Intensive and is deeply dedicated to working in non-competitive, supportive learning environments for aspiring artists. They are currently a collaborator on projects with choreographers Tristan Koepke, Brit Falcon, MK Ford, and Rebecca Steinberg.

Ryan A. MacDonald (he/him) is a multimedia artist and author. He was a 2017 Bessie Award Nominee in “Outstanding Composition and Sound Design” for his work in Vanessa Anspaugh’s The End of Men. He is the author of the story collection The Observable Characteristics of Organisms (FC2) and the winner of the 2012 American Short(er) Fiction Award. His work, in collaboration with choreographer Aretha Aoki, has been performed most recently at Motion State Dance Festival in RI, The ICA in Boston, Roger Williams University (RI), La Mama La Galeria (NYC), Kansas City Art Institute’s Crossroads Gallery, The Kraine Theater (NYC), School for Contemporary Dance and Thought (Northampton MA), the Powell St. Festival (Canada), Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church (NYC), and Studio 303 in Montreal. He has worked in sound for dance and theater with choreographers such as Devynn Emory and Sara Juli. He has an MFA in Studio Art and an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Benny Olk (he/him) is a performing artist and teacher based in Minneapolis with an interest in contemporizing and contextualizing American modern and post-modern dance. As a member of Lucinda Childs Dance Company, he performed reconstructions of pieces such as Dance and Available Light. He performed in reconstructions of Crises and Suite for Five among others by Merce Cunningham, and has premiered works by Moriah Evans and Anthea Hamilton. He has taught Cunningham technique at the University of Minnesota, Balettakademien (Stockholm), and Stockholm University of the Arts. Benny holds a BFA in Dance from NYU and an MA in New Performative Practices from Stockholm University of the Arts. 

Rebecca Steinberg (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and researcher. She received her B.F.A. in dance and her B.A. in psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Rebecca was a freelance artist in New York before joining New Dialect 2015-2021. She is currently a choreographic associate and education liaison for the company. Rebecca is a 2021 Tennessee Individual Artists Fellow as well as a 2019 Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellow. She has most recently been commissioned to create new work for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, And Artists, Room to Room, OZ Arts Nashville, New Dialect, and Nashville Ballet. She is a collaborator alongside visual artist Jana Harper on a multidisciplinary performance and community engagement project titled This Holding. Rebecca leads workshops and master classes for young dancers, adults of all abilities, and professionals worldwide. She works for Vanderbilt University as a curriculum design consultant, currently on a National Science Foundation research grant exploring the educational potential of dance for mathematics learning. Rebecca is an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Maryland in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.

James Barrett (he/they) is a Brooklyn-based performer, choreographer, and teacher. He received his BA in Dance from Point Park University. After graduating James performed works by Ohad Naharin, Fernando Melo, Marguerite Donlon, and Aszure Barton. During his time with New Dialect under the direction of choreographer Banning Bouldin, he worked with Rosie Herrara, Idan Sharabi, Joy Davis, and Yin Yue. He was a guest artist with LED Boise in the Fall of 2022. He collaborated with Faye Driscoll on “Weathering,” which premiered at New York Live Arts and will go on tour nationally and internationally in 2024. James choreographed works for multiple dance companies including Texture Contemporary Ballet, Visceral Dance Chicago, and New Dialect. Since moving to New York in 2021 he has led workshops in embodiment practices. He worked as rehearsal assistant and teaching artist at various programs including Jazzgoba Dance Academy (Costa Rica), Perry-Mansfield, Tulane University, and The Juilliard School.