A Note from Choreographer Adriana Ogle

My name is Adriana Ogle and I am a tap choreographer for Mare Nostrum Elements' Emerging Choreographer Series (ECS) 2023. The intent of my new work is to cultivate a curiosity in the possibilities and nuances in tap dance. I hope to explore tap as a catalyst and creator of experience rather than featured spectacle. Simultaneously, I seek to investigate my relationship with dance and rise to this opportunity provided by ECS, pushing me to level up as a leader and director in all areas of my life and career.

I started dancing with "North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble" at the age of 9 years old and I am eternally thankful for my continued experience working for dance companies since then. Currently, I'm a member of "Subject:Matter" and "Music From The Sole" tap companies, and have thoroughly enjoyed the relationships, experiences, and growth I've cultivated with them. While I plan to continue doing this work, I also feel ready to expand and diversify my own experiences. Some steps (of many) in that direction include developing my choreographic voice, exploring my experience with dance under new pressures and circumstances, and uplifting my peers.

I choreographed solo work when I was younger, took a break for a few years, then decided to revisit within the past year. Since then, I presented solo work at a community event, and performed two iterations of a piece I co-choreographed with Toru Sakuragi; we performed our piece at the Little Island Music & Dance Festival and the American Dance Guild Performance Festival. This is my first time choreographing a trio, something longer than 3-4 minutes, and this is my first time having full responsibility over all production elements (creation, scheduling, lighting, advertising, costuming, music, and administration). It has been challenging and rewarding to curate this experience for my collaborators, Benae Beamon and Izaiah Harris, under the guidance of my mentor Marshall L. Davis Jr.

We hope you will JOIN US for the premiere at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) on March 28th and 29th at 7:30pm and for the studio showing on Sunday, April 2nd at 1pm at Flushing Town Hall. Thank you for considering to support our work for ECS 2023!

What Your Funds Will Support

The funds will be used to compensate collaborators on top of what they receive from Mare Nostrum Elements as well as to cover essential production expenses. The breakdown is as follows:

Rental and mileage costs for transporting the floors for each performance - $400
Protective gloves for handling tap floor panels - $30
Studio rehearsal space - $350
Additional Artist Compensation - $400 (split evenly between myself, Benae, Izaiah, and my mentor Marshall)

About Choreographer Adriana Ogle

Adriana Ogle grew up in North Carolina and performed extensively with the NC Youth Tap Ensemble, directed by Gene Medler. In 2015, she joined Boston-based tap company Subject:Matter, performing at venues such as the Montréal Fringe Festival and The Yard. She is an alumna of the 2019 Tap Program at The School at Jacob’s Pillow and received the Lorna Strassler Award. Since relocating to NYC, she joined Music From The Sole. Recent highlights include: Marshall Davis Jr.’s "Revelations in Rhythm", Okwui Okpokwasili’s "Swallow the Moon", the 2022 Little Island Music & Dance Festival, the TODAY show, and the 2022 American Dance Guild Performance Festival.

About Dancer Benae Beamon

Benae Beamon is a scholar and artist. Both her artistic work and scholarship examine the extraordinary and spectacular in the everyday, focusing on the way that the mundane can be sacred ritual. She has performed at Joe’s Pub and ICA Boston as part of Subject:Matter, a Boston-based tap dance company. Independently, she has premiered work at VCU Institute for Contemporary Art and, most recently. was named an Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Performance Research. She holds a B.A. from Colgate University, an M.A. in Religion from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Social Ethics from Boston University.

About Dancer Izaiah Harris

Izaiah Montaque Harris’s recent highlights include a summer residency performing Riverdance in Dublin Ireland, tap dancing and singing with the JC Hopkins Biggish Band at Fotografiska’s “Lady Day Tribute”, tap dancing with Music From the Sole in their Works in Progress show at Chelsea Factory, performing as Male Ensemble in “Tap Dance Kid” at New York City Center, Demetrius in “Midsummer A SHAKESPEARIENCE'', becoming an alumni of the 2021 Jacob’s Pillow Tap Ensemble Intensive, and entertaining on Norwegian Cruise Line’s performing “After Midnight'' as Tap Mathematician. Izaiah was awarded “Outstanding Actor” at the 2018 Black Theater Alliance Awards and won “Best Ensemble” at the 2019 Jeff Awards. Izaiah studied at Columbia in Chicago and was promoted company member in MADD Rhythms’ tap company.

About Mare Nostrum Elements' Emerging Choreographer Series

The Emerging Choreographer Series is an intensive crash-course in self-producing; offering rehearsal space, dancer and choreographer pay, career development consultations, and professional mentorship to selected choreographers. During the course of the program, choreographers will create, develop, and premiere a new work at CUNY’s LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) in Long Island City.

Mare Nostrum Elements, Inc. is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Blooper Reel From Adriana's Rehearsals!

"Cultivating Curiosity" (Working Title) a tap piece by Adriana Ogle!

By Mare Nostrum Elements, INC

"Cultivating Curiosity" (Working Title) a tap piece by Adriana Ogle!