Kinesis Project dance theatre presents Breathing with Strangers: Along the Water’s Edge, live streamed from waterfronts across New York and Pennsylvania from August 14-23, 2020 at 6:30pm EDT. A site-specific, large-scale outdoor dance performance, Breathing with Strangers is a ragged, sweeping and surprising love song to New York City. Two dancers meet, twist, and wind through the pathways of various waterfronts, dancers will appear in unlikely and beautiful places. Viewers will hear stories of New York interactions and can share their own on www.writekind.org.

Breathing with Strangers will surprise, and delight all ages. To RSVP for the free series, visit bit.ly/KPAug2020shows. More information is available athttps://www.kinesisproject.com/performance-livestreams. 

August 14, 2020 at 6:30 PM EDT

LIVE: Summer on the Hudson presents: LiveStream from Riverside Park South

Sumaya Mulla Carrillo and Jiemin Yang perform Breathing with Strangers as a duet. 

August 15, 2020 at 6:30 PM EDT

LIVE: Kinesis Project presents: LiveStream from Inwood Hill Park

Melissa Riker performs Breathing with Strangers as a solo with support.

August 21, 2020 at 6:30PM EDT

Vimeo Premiere from The Point, Pittsburgh

Nicole Truzzi performs Breathing with Strangers at The Point, the convergence of three rivers: the Allegheny, the Manongahala, and the Ohio river.

August 22, 2020 at 6:30PM EDT

Vimeo Premiere from Upstate New York

Claudia Lynn Rightmire performs Breathing with Strangers in Keene Valley, NY. 

August 23, 2020 at 6:30 PM EDT

Live Premiere of Full Compilation and Conversation with artists

Full company performs Breathing with Strangers. 

Live Streaming is provided by videographer Ellen Maynard and supported by Frigid New York, this performance series is made possible by Summer on the Hudson and Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, through LMCC, COVID-19 Relief Emergency Grant from DANCE/NYC , The Indie Theatre Fund Rapid Relief Fund as well as generous individual donations.

Breathing with Strangers is a dance work developed over the last year in Riverside Park South and Snug Harbor Cultural Center with support of Summer on the Hudson, LMCC/UMEZ and CUNY Dance Initiative.

Melissa Riker is Artistic Director and Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is a New York City dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong performance and creative voice as the NYC dance and circus worlds combined during the 90s. Riker’s dances and aesthetic layer her training as a classical dancer, martial artist, theatre choreographer and aerial performer. She creates dances on site – and in context. Riker invents large-scale out-door performances and spontaneous moments of dance for individuals and corporate clients. Audiences and critics have called Riker’s work “a Marx Brothers’ routine with soul,” “A movable feast.” And from

The New York Times, her choreography is: “comically acrobatic, gracefully classical, visually arresting.”

Kinesis Project is a dance organization that produces dance concerts, facilitates educational programs and creates site-specific performances with diverse communities. A company at the forefront of the international discussion of placemaking, art engagement and the cultural imperative of art in public space, Kinesis Project dance theatre invents large scale, space-changing, breath-taking experiences.

Since 2005, Kinesis Project’s work has been experienced in San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Vermont, Florida and in New York City at such venerable venues as Danspace Project, Judson Church, Joyce Soho, The Minskoff Theatre, The Cunningham Studio, West End Theatre and Dixon Place.  In 2019, the company’s work will be experienced in Seattle, Brooklyn, NY, Riverside Park, supported by New York City Parks, and in Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. The company dances outside in sculpture gardens, universities, and annually since 2006 in Battery Park’s Bosque Gardens and The Cloisters Lawn as well as hosting more than 30 surprise performances all over New York City and the tri-state area as an element of the company’s earned income and outreach programming with volunteer populated flashmobs. Residencies include: Earthdance 2006, Omi International Arts Center 2008, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center 2011, TheaterLab 2014, Adelphi University 2014. Ms. Riker is a 2016, 2017 and 2019 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency Fellow, 2015 LMCC Community Arts Fund grantee, 2019 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Grantee. She has been commissioned by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden for a surprise large-scale work and performances of her work Secrets and Seawalls at Omi International Arts Center, Long House Reserve, Gateway National Park in partnership with Rockaways Artist Alliance. Ms. Riker has received commissions from Carson Fox and the Ephemeral Festival in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for large-scale outdoor events, NYU in 1998, for an outdoor work long before “flash mob” was coined, 2006 and 2008 grants from the Puffin Foundation for her work Community Movements, a dance work with community volunteers, Fellowships from the Dodge Foundation, Space Grant Residencies from 92nd St Y, The New 42nd St Studio, Gibney Dance Center, and The Joyce Theatre Foundation, and grants from The Bowick Family Trust and John C. Robinson to support the continued work of Kinesis Project dance theatre.

Summer on the Hudson

is Riverside Park’s annual outdoor arts & culture festival, taking place place from 59th street to 181st streets from May – October, and virtually in 2020. Co-produced by NYC Parks and the Riverside Park Conservancy, Summer on the Hudson features a mix of concerts, dance performances, movies, children’s shows, educational workshops, wellness activities, and more. All events are free and open to the public with the aim of bringing quality arts programming to six miles of diverse neighborhoods on the west side of Manhattan.

Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation /UMEZ

enhances the economic vitality of all communities in Upper Manhattan through job creation, corporate alliances, strategic investments, and small business assistance.

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council

empowers artists by providing them with networks, resources, and support, to create vibrant, sustainable communities in Manhattan and beyond.