TRISK PRESENTS
CHRISTIAN WARNER
WHITE HOT ROOM
JUNE 6-8, 2024
8PM
RUNTIME: 50 minutes with no intermission
This performance contains Adult Content; Language; Themes on Sex and Addiction; Loud / Explosion Sounds, the use of water based haze and bright flickering lights.
Drawing inspiration from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, WHITE HOT ROOM explores the dissociative effects of long-held traumas within a body. A work originally conceived in 2019 utilizing Warner’s personal experiences with addiction, loss, and mental wellness as source material, WHITE HOT ROOM is the first chapter of a larger collection of movement-based work entitled “Letter’s To Bunney” now reexamined through interdisciplinary practices developed while in residence at Triskelion Arts.
In a time rife with global and local cultural conflict putting the most marginalized communities at risk, Christian Warner and the company of WHITE HOT ROOM strive to contribute their hand in activating our community beyond the performance space with a clothing drive. In exchange for your offering, you’ll receive half off of your first beverage prior to or after the performance.
Additionally, please consider donating to The Palestinian’s Children Relief Fund to support their ongoing efforts to provide medical relief to children in the Middle East.
Choreography & Direction
Christian Warner
Performers
Elinor Kleber-Diggs [Movement Collaborator]
Denise Ward [Vocal Collaborator]
Christian Warner
Collaborators
Fana Fraser [Dramaturgy]
Christian Warner [Sound Design]
Andrew Bocher [Additional Music]
Ildio [Additional Music]
Emily Clare Gocon [Lighting Design]
Anna Wotring [Stage Manager and Director of Productions]
Photo by Sandy Shelton / Full Out Creative
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Christian A. Warner is an NYC based interdisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and director. His creations have been commissioned by Owen/Cox Dance Group, Trevor Jackson, McKoy Dance Project, Ballet Co-Laboratory, James Madison University, Texas State University, Berit Ahlgren / Honeyworks, Demeatria Boccella, and the Blacklight Summit curated by Tariq O'Meally. His performance credits include Boca Tuya, NVA & Guests, Sidra Bell Dance New York, TU Dance, Owen/Cox Dance Group, NU World Contemporary Danse, Ponybox Dance Theatre and Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre. He has performed repertoire from creators Alvin Ailey, Bryan Arias, Alan Lucien Øyen, Aszure Barton, Darius Barnes, Yoshito Sakuraba, Rena Butler, Stefanie Batten-Bland, Kayla Farrish, and Slowdanger.
A Houston, TX native, other performance credits include Disney’s The Lion King (Nat. Tour & Broadway), Oliver! The National Tour, and Hairspray. He was a founding collaborator of “Come Through,” a collaboration with the grammy-award winning band Bon Iver and TU Dance, in addition to providing background vocals for “Naeem” on the album “i,i.” Other awards and recognitions include YoungArts 2012 Alumni, 2016 Dizzyfeet Award recipient, and most recently the recipient of the Creative Development Award from the Heinz Endowment in Pittsburgh, PA in collaboration with Attack Theatre.
Elinor Kleber-Diggs, based in Harlem, NY, is a multidisciplinary artist, dancer, and choreographer from Saint Paul, Minnesota.They grew up training in dance at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Performing Artists and at TU Dance Center. Elinor holds a BFA in Dance Performance with a Concentration in Composition from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College. She has performed works by Catherine Kirk, Marcus Jarrell Willis, Bill T. Jones, Hofesh Shecter, Ronald K. Brown, and Dianne McIntyre and recently showed her work "The Point at Which Sensation Begins" as a part of the QUEER NOISE 2024 Annual Showcase.
Denise Ward is a NYC Based multidisciplinary creative and arts advocate with a passion for community building. Originally from Houston, TX, she attended the renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Credits include Houston Grand Opera's Marian's Song, TUTS' Ragtime, and Solange's film When I Get Home. Denise frequently performs at venues 54 Below and Greenroom 42. Awards and recognitions include being a National YoungArts Merit Winner, a four-time NAACP ACT-SO Competition Winner, and a Houston Symphony Young Artist Competition Winner. Denise is proud to be the Founder and Board President for the HSPVA Black Alumni Network.
Fana Fraser is a Trinidadian artist who works across dance, performance, film and theater to generate visceral experiences of the dense erotic. Fana is an incoming Visiting Lecturer in Dance at Harvard University for Fall 2024. She has been in residence at The Watermill Center, BAM Fisher Hillman Studio, Abrons Arts Center, Movement Research and among other spaces. Her work has been presented at several venues including: Brooklyn Museum, New York Botanical Garden, BAAD!, Gibney, Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco and Trinidad Theater Workshop. Her short film, ‘nesting’ was commissioned by TBA21-Academy in 2023. fanafraser.com
Aaron Anderson [videography] (b. 1981, South Dakota / Pisces) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. His work deals with time, space, sound, movement and the poetic entanglements of collaborative relationships.
Andrew Bocher is a percussionist, pianist, composer, and dance accompanist based in Madison, WI. As a composer, Andrew has contributed to projects for James Sewell Ballet, Texas State Department of Theatre and Dance, Central Midwest Ballet Academy, Kerry Parker Dance, and Marlene Skog. After studying percussion at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, he relocated to the Twin Cities where he worked as an accompanist for TU Dance, St. Paul Ballet, and the Departments of Theater and Dance at both the University of Minnesota and Macalester College. In Madison he accompanies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Madison Ballet.
Emily Clare Gocon (she/her) is a Filipino-American lighting designer and technician for theater and dance. She graduated from Montclair State University, where she received a BFA degree in Theater Production & Design with a focus in Lighting Design & Technology. She has worked on multiple shows in positions ranging from electrician to lighting designer. Some of her recent design credits include A Chorus Line (High Tech High School), The Drowsy Chaperone (Cardinal Hayes High School), and Carmina Burana: Masterwork Highlights (Montclair State University). Though her main focus is lighting design for theatre, dance and other live performance, Emily has many other passions and hobbies that include different aspects of the performing and visual arts. Some of which include dance/choreography, playing the guitar, singing/songwriting, photography, and crocheting/crafting. Keep up with her work on Instagram: @ecgocon_design
Anna Wotring a Pittsburgh native, is a community-minded dance artist, designer, and production stage manager committed to the practice of collaborative leadership. She currently works with Annie Heath, Lauren Horn, Jennifer Nugent, and slowdanger as a technical design consultant, dancer, and production stage manager. Wotring obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at the Five College Dance Department in Western Massachusetts. She has had the privilege of working with a multitude of dance organizations, including Alvin Ailey Studios, Attack Theater, Ballet Des Ameriques, BalletNext, Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company, the Dance Conservatory of Pittsburgh, Dance Place, H2O Contemporary Dance, Monica Bill Barnes and Company, New York Live Arts, the Pillow Project, Prayers of the People, RoseAnne Spradlin, Scapegoat Garden, Time Lapse Dance, and many others. Wotring is beyond excited to be working and imagining with the Trisk team.
Special thanks to Joy Warner, Tariq O'Meally, Jeremy Guyton / Blackhouse Radio, Attack Theatre / Heinz Foundation, and YoungArts for their support in this project. Additionally, to Idalia Valles, Trey Curtis., Gabrielle Hamilton, Caleb Thomas, and Tamara Leigh.
We respectfully acknowledge that the work of Triskelion Arts is situated on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape peoples. We pay our respects to their land, water, and ancestors, past, present, and future. This acknowledgment demonstrates a commitment to the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and to learning to be better stewards of this land.
NEXT UP…
2nd Best Dance Company’s RED
JUNE 15 & 16, 2024
8PM
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