Journal

BrideNext Residency Artists Selected

Posted:
April 24, 2017
Topic(s):
News

After receiving over 40 applications the Painted Bride has selected it’s two BrideNext residency artists. BrideNext is a citywide collaboration with people in their 20’s & 30’s who want to put art to work making a difference in Philadelphia.The two selected artist are Belle Alvarez and ILL DOOTS.

 

photo credit: Elisa Sosa​

Belle Alvarez is originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She spent the first half of her childhood in Manila, Philippines before immigrating to the USA. Belle’s projects as a Dance Artist span across performance, education, community engagement, and activism throughout the Philadelphia region.

Belle is a Crew Member with Carnival De Resistance, an Ensemble Member with Just Act, and a co-director of the ETC Performance Series.

As a project based performer, Belle has been featured in work presented by the Kimmel Center, Sean Thomas Boyt, Jennifer D. Yackel, Jessica Warchal-King/The Embodiment Project, and Evan Hoffman, among others. Her work has been performed at FringeArts, the Outlet Dance Project, Performance Garage, Inhale Performance Series, and Koresh Artist Showcase. Interdisciplinary collaborations include work with music artists Cory Neale and Julian Hartwell. Belle was a featured artist in Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre’s HATCH Series.

An active arts educator honored with a scholarship from the Bartol Foundation, Belle educates K-12 children as a Teaching Artist with award-winning Pierre Dulaine’s Dancing Classrooms, Yes! And… Collaborative Arts, Koresh Dance Company, and Friends Central School. In addition to her work with youth, Belle leads open level modern dance classes for adults as well as professional development workshops for teaching artists and arts administrators.

Belle earned her BFA in Dance from Temple University.

 

ILL DOOTS is a collective of artists, educators, and activists based in Philadelphia; a group of individuals with different perspectives, from different places who want nothing more than to make music with no rules. What began in 2009 as a jam session, evolved into a dorm room mixtape, and eventually into a live band; several albums and tours later ILL DOOTS continues to hone their craft as performers and collaborators.

ILL DOOTS is on a lifelong mission to change the way our communities respond to and value music, art, and life. As a collective of arts educators, ILL DOOTS launched the I Love Learning initiative in 2014, setting up free workshops in schools, after school programs, churches and other shared spaces along their tour routes and at home. The initiative is ongoing both in Philadelphia and elsewhere. In 2015 ILL DOOTS worked under the direction of Joanna Settle to compose and perform music for Flashpoint Theatre Company’s “Hands Up”, for which they received the Barrymore Award for Best Original Music. In 2016 ILL DOOTS composed and performed the Wilma Theatre’s production of “An Octoroon” under the direction of Settle yet again; both productions focused on issues of racial justice. ILL DOOTS has a history of performing music at and organizing benefits for social issues over the years and will undeniably continue to do so as well as continuing their efforts to bring more art into their communities and collaborating with across all mediums. The intersection of community engagement as collaboration is of particular interest to ILL DOOTS and something to look for in their future works.