IMPRESSIONS: Norte Maar’s CounterPointe13 Presents Original Collaborations by Women Choreographers and Visual Artists

CounterPointe - Created and Produced by Julia K. Gleich and Jason Andrew for Norte Maar

Lighting Design by Saúl Ulerio

The Artists and Works CounterPointe 13

• “Tidal Passage” | Choreography by Alexandra Light, Visual Arts by Karen Lee Williams, Performed by Dominique Jenssen, Hannah Jew, Cassie Punzo, Sound by Sarah Neufeld

• “Part I: The Platform Edge; Part II: Lonely Gestures; Part III: Culture Clash” | Choreography by Shloka Porwal, Visual Arts by Allison Kaufman, Performed by Caroline Cevasco, Xin Xin Rong, Chiara Kovac, Gabe Armijo, Sound by Thomas Bangalter, Krawell, and Zakir Hussain

• “Obscūra” | Choreography by Magali Johnston-Viens, Visual Arts by Jency Sekaran, Performed by Elizabeth Archer and Molly Rumble, Music by Fleetwood Mac and Sound by NASA Sun Sonification, processed by A. Kosovichev

• “Heliotrope Soundbath” | Choreography by Ava Desiderio, Visual Arts by Natalie Moore, Performed by Lucia Betelu and Minami Ando, Music by Benedicte Maurseth, Mats Eilersten, Håkon Mørch Stene, and Jeff Mills

• “Prism” | Choreography by Taylor Gordon, Visual Arts by Gaby Collins Fernandez, Performed by Caitlin Bond, Lauren Treat, Taylor Gordon, Sound by Gaby Collins Fernandez

• “self/Portrait” | Choreography by Julia K. Gleich, Visual Arts by Brenda Zlamany, Performed by Kara Chan, Annie Freeman, Mikalla Ashmore, Dianna Warren, Sound by Bach, Laurie Anderson, Ursula Mamlok, and Steve Reich

March 22^nd, 2026  at  The Mark O’Donnell Theater in Brooklyn 

Brooklyn-based arts organization Norte Maar’s CounterPointe is a singular performance series that centers on pairing women choreographers with women visual artists to produce original pieces on pointe. Their CounterPointe13 presented at The Mark O’Donnell Theater  in Brooklyn,  marked the 13th anniversary of the series and showcased six imaginative ways pointe and visual art can coexist.

Alexandra Light’s “Tidal Passage,” created with sculptor Karen Lee Williams; Photo: Julie Lemberger 

In Alexandra Light’s trio Tidal Passage, created in collaboration with sculptor Karen Lee Williams, my eyes continually race along a diagonal created by Williams’ artworks and Light’s choreography. In one corner, a massive net stretches from the ceiling to the floor, hanging opposite a white, marble platform. Three dancers bourré, leap, and turn through these artworks, creating elegant, regal shapes as they pass a sculpture (resembling the planet Saturn) between them. As they pause, gazing towards the net while carrying the sculpture, I wonder what voyage they embark on. The piece carries an ethereal, celestial quality.

Linear spatial patterns additionally shine in Ava Desiderio’s Heliotrope Soundbath, created alongside visual artist Natalie Moore. Rather than a diagonal, however, this work offers a more enclosed feeling. Dancers Lucia Betelu and Minami Ando are boxed within an “X” shape, formed by red fabrics stretching across the stage. The red reaches across two platforms, creating an angular geometry which the duet dances within, and around. Betelu and Ando move with sharp, staccato qualities, their energies matching the stage’s slicing angularity. Video installation lives in “Heliotrope Soundbath” as well; a projection screen plays varying patterns of red lines, complimenting the action on stage.

Ava Desiderio’s “Heliotrope Soundbath,” created with Visual Artist Natalie Moore.

In Magali Johnston-Viens’ dynamic duet Obscūra, created in collaboration with mixed-media artist Jency Sekaran, we are asked to consider how, and why, events become memorable. Performers Elizabeth Archer and Molly Rumble navigate their technical movements – near constantly orbiting one another in a circle before coming together in a virtuosic phrase – alongside two artworks: a shimmering silver disc painted with red and yellow, and, a knit, yellow blanket. Their relationship feels nostalgic and whimsical.

Magali Johnston-Viens “Obscūra,” Created in Collaboration with Mixed-Media Artist Jency Sekaran,

Prism, a spritely trio by Taylor Gordon created with visual artist Gaby Collins Fernandez, brings a vivid palette of yellow, pink, and cobalt. These hues are highlighted through three fabrics that the dancers move with; through their costumes and pointe shoes, painted in variations of the three colors; and through projections (primarily of triangles, as well as shifting, abstract shapes). The performers’ sharp movement qualities are arresting, and capture the quick rhythms of Fernandez’ abstract sound score.

“Prism,” by Taylor Gordon Created with Visual Artist Gaby Collins Fernandez

Shloka Porwal’s three-section work titled The Platform Edge; Lonely Gestures; Culture Clash, created in collaboration with visual artist Allison Kaufman, captures a day-in-the-life in New York City. It depicts the chaos of public transit, moving within a group setting, and additionally comments on the beautiful reality that New York City is a bustling cultural hub. Each section of the trio exists independently. The Platform Edge employs video clips of glitching subway signs as the quartet shines multicolored flashlights against their own bodies, while the stage is doused in cobalt lights. Lonely Gestures, quite brief, offers a projected film, showing fingers wiggling, curling, and unfurling, marked in red and blue paint. Swirls, squiggles, and angular lines travel along the arms in the film, while a soloist dances in front of the screen. In Culture Clash, the remaining trio dances in a joyous conclusion, the movement a mix of pointework and Indian classical dance.

Shloka Porwal’s “The Platform Edge; Lonely Gestures; Culture Clash"  Created in collaboration with visual artist Allison Kaufman,

Concluding the evening is Julia K. Gleich’s quartet “self/Portrait,” created with visual artist Brenda Zlamany. “self/Portrait” explores how a portrait can immortalize oneself.  In a gradual opening, the quartet pushes four large tapestries draped in white fabric on stage. In this moment, they are dressed in white, hooded jumpsuits. The mood shifts as the dancers shed their outer layers, revealing white costumes patterned with eyes, noses, and lips. They travel across the stage in buoyant, ecstatic movements. Zlamany’s artworks, pillows designed as the same facial features on the performers’ costumes, rest in the downstage area. The dancers pick the artworks up, joining together in tableaus to create faces with the eyes, nose, and mouths. They ultimately reveal what is behind the covered tapestries: four massive, painted portraits of each dancer. The quartet disappears behind their respective portraits, leaving the paintings to beam at us.

Julia K. Gleich’s“self/Portrait,” Created with Visual Artist Brenda Zlamany.