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IMPRESSIONS: Summoning Summer with Moriah Evans, Jasmine Hearn, Jeremy Nedd, and Sweat Variant
By Sarah Cecilia Bukowski
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Published on June 30, 2026
Maria Bauman with Jasmine Hearns' dancers; Photo: Maria Baranova
The stretch of June that ushers us toward the summer solstice holds a particular mix of languor and restlessness. Post-Memorial Day, summer Fridays in the office might start to kick in, but school is still in session. You might catch a chill one morning and wake up the next day scrambling to jam your air conditioner into your window to stay ahead of a cresting heat wave.
As a dancer (and all-around summer person), my body lives for the ever-present shimmer of sweat, the swampy humidity that soaks into my joints and wrings deliciously into my muscles.
And while these sensations might not be everyone’s cup of (iced) tea—as evidenced by the light sweater I’m forced to carry with me to guard against overzealous air conditioning—there’s no denying that summer in the city carries an alchemy all its own (and no, it’s not just the hot garbage).
Like most New Yorkers, this summer I’m looking forward to being outside. Outdoor performance season is already in full swing, and there’s much, much more to come—here’s to a poetic summer full of dance.
June 11: Moriah Evans […/+*^%<>€£¥$&@!!!!^^^] at The Chocolate Factory Theater
Sweat was the common denominator in The Chocolate Factory’s blessedly (or infernally) un-air conditioned post-industrial space on one of the first 90+ degree days of the season. For two hours, wedged shoulder to shoulder in folding chairs along the stage perimeter, we sweated in silence and stillness as Cyril Baldy, Malcolm-x Betts, Chloë Engel, Kris Lee, João dos Santos Martins, and Varinia Canto Vila bared themselves to us in a feat of supreme presence and endurance.
Jasmine Hearn and the Dancers of Memory Fleet: Beloved, Let’s Cross at New York Live Arts Photo: Maria Baranova
June 12: Jasmine Hearn Memory Fleet: Beloved, Let’s Cross at New York Live Arts
The culmination of Jasmine Hearn’s decade-long archiving and performance project, Memory Fleet, took shape as a celebration of the many streams of mothering that swirl in the deep, rushing waters of Hearn’s embodied research and expression. Draped in the gorgeous swaths of Wunmi Olaiya’s vibrant garments, performers Nora Alami, Maria Bauman, Dominica Greene, Melanie George, Jenna Hearn, Jennifer Newsom, Pamela Pietro, Angie Pittman, Kendra Portier, jhon r. stronks, Wayne Smith, Charmaine Warren, and Tara Aisha Willis wove tapestries of movement and monologue on stage, with sound contributions from Jo Stewart and Ashley Teamer and live and archival video orchestrated by Myssi Robinson.
Pictured L to R, Jeremy Nedd, Zen Jefferson, Brandy Butler, Jeremy Guyton, Nasheeka Nedsreal in from rock to rock…aka how magnolia was taken for granite at Alice Tully Hall; Photo Lawrence Sumulong
June 18: Jeremy Nedd from rock to rock…aka how magnolia was taken for granite at Alice Tully Hall
Brooklyn-born, Basel-based artist Jeremy Nedd first caught my eye in Trajal Harrell’s stylish epic, Monkey Off My Back or The Cat’s Meow, at the Park Avenue Armory last fall. In his hour-long excavation of the Milly Rock, Nedd engaged and expanded the dance’s deceptively simple vernacular with a laser focus and deft humor that sustained attention in waves: undulating, breaking, and smoothing the surfaces of his inquiry. Alongside Nedd, performers Brandy Butler, Zen Jefferson, Nasheeka Nedsreal, and Jeremy Guyton dipped into their expressive palettes with supreme subtlety and a raft of surprises that tumbled into focus and brought us to our feet.
June 20: Sweat Variant (Okwui Okpokwasili & Peter Born) my tongue is a blade at Governors Island Colonel’s Row
A trip to Governors Island rarely disappoints: the sweeping sights on the briefest of ferry rides, the winding streets and paths, the soft green hills, the stately old buildings. Lined with regiments of tall, slender trees, Colonel’s Row offered a focused site for Sweat Variant’s three-hour durational work, my tongue is a blade. Performers Okwui Okpokwasili, Bria Bacon, Kris Lee, AJ Wilmore, and Ny Opong began by raising their voices together, circled within a rotating platform lined along its perimeter with narrow bands of mirrors. A shifting musical environment accompanied their journeys, which unfolded in alternations of solos and sequential pairings through rituals of empathic transmission and remembering.
These four experimental artists explored embodiment, culture, and lineage to bridge the personal and political at a variety of scales, all to vivid effect. And with more sweaty outdoor festivals and air-conditioned theater programming to come, summer is not only a great time to see dance, but to get in some dancing yourself. Happy summer dancing!
