UPCOMING PLAYTIME

CHELSEA FACTORY x The Playground NYC

FREEplay Teaching Artists bios are listed from left to right.

JENN FREEMAN

JENN FREEMAN(SHE/THEY) is an Autistic American choreographer, dance performer, and educator based in New York City and Los Angeles. Freeman is a 2023 New England Foundation for the Arts Recipient, O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance foundation recipient, and a New York State Council on the Arts grant award recipient. Most recently she Co-Created, Co-Choreographed, and Starred in Is It Thursday Yet? an award-winning solo dance theater piece. The world premiere was produced by La Jolla Playhouse followed by an NYC presentation for the inaugural season of The Perelman Performing Arts Center. In 2023 Freeman was commissioned to create a new work for Complexions Contemporary Ballet with a world premier at The Joyce Theater. In 2022 Freeman was commissioned to create a solo for American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Cassandra Trenary, that premiered at Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur. In 2021 Freeman created new work for the Martha Graham Dance Company. In 2018 Freeman produced, directed and choreographed her evening-length world premiere debut: ...it's time... at the Theater at The 14th St Y in New York City. After a sold-out run the show was presented for a second engagement in 2019. Freeman's choreography has been commissioned by The Juilliard School, Marymount Manhattan College, Wayne State University, BYU, and The University of Texas at Austin. For over a decade Jenn has worked as Sonya Tayeh's associate and resident choreographer in the development of pieces for: The Gibney Company, American Ballet Theater, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Unveiling with Moses Sumney and dancers, Florence + the Machine, and LA Ballet.
Freeman is a graduate of TISCH School of the Arts, NYU.

MAYTE NATALIO

Mayte Natalio is from NYC by way of Dominican parents. She studied at the LaGuardia H.S. for the Performing Arts and SUNY Purchase (BFA). She is a movement based performer, choreographer and director. She has performed and toured with the Parson’s Dance Company, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Kyle Abraham's A.I.M and Darrell Moultrie, Mylene Farmer and Kanye West. Favorite TV & Film credits include NBC’s NYE Special 2019, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon), The Get Down (Netflix), NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix) and Harlem (Amazon). Favorite regional credits include Stagger Lee and Hair (Dallas Theater Center) and Aida (Ogunquit Playhouse). Off-Broadway credits include the Drama Desk winning immersive show Queen of the Night and Third Rail Project’s The Grand Paradise. Most recently Mayte was featured as Rosie Perez in Hippest Trip- The Soul Train Musical. Choreography credits include The Winter’s Tale (Public Works/ DTC), Red Speedo (Juilliard), Runaways (NYU), Into the Woods (Barrington Stage), Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theater) and Measure for Measure (Public Theater/ Mobile Unit) Hair (The Old Globe) Pippin (UArts), La Hora Santa, Written, Directed and Choreographed by Mayte for Ars Nova’s Vision Residency Program, Pyer Moss’s Haute Couture Show for Paris Fashion Week 2021, Kiss My Aztec (Hartford Stage), How to Dance in Ohio (Syracuse Stage & Broadway) and The Tattooed Lady (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Another Rose (Virgin Voyages) & Suffs (Broadway). Mayte received the 2024 Douglas & Ethel Watt Critz’s Choice Chita Rivera Award.

STEFANIE BATTEN BLAND

Artistic Director for CONCRETE, the first immersive summer intensive. SBB is 2023 Dance Magazine Cover Artist, Creative Capital Awardee, and 2022 BAM NEXT WAVE commissioned artist. A global maker, SBB interrogates cultural identifiers and historic symbolism. She situates her work at the intersection of immersive & dance-theatre in live and cinematic settings. 

Based in New York City, she founded Company SBB in France in 2008 and is a longstanding Baryshnikov Arts Center artist in residence. KOLONIAL, her 2021 dance film, has 13 film festival awards and was nominated for three Bessies.  SBB directs for Emursive's McKittrick productions, is on the creative team for Life & Trust, serves as Performance and Identity Consultant for Sleep No More, Movement Director for Eve’s Song, Public Theater. SBB was Head Choreographer of the Paris Opera Comique. As a performer, Batten Bland has danced for Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wüppertal, PunchDrunk, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Compagnie Georges Momboye, Compagnie Linga and Pal Frenak.

SBB received her MFA in interdisciplinary arts (concentration performance creation) from Goddard College, is an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, and lives in SoHo with her family.

Dance Magazine Inclusive Immersive Theatre Matters

KEERATI JINAKUNWIPHAT

Keerati Jinakunwiphat, originally from Chicago, IL., received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase and was a recipient of the Adopt-A- Dancer Scholarship. She has additionally studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Springboard Danse Montreal. She has worked with and performed works of artists such as Kyle Abraham, Nicole von Arx, Trisha Brown, Jasmine Ellis, Hannah Garner, Shannon Gillen, Paul Singh, Kevin Wynn, and Doug Varone. Keerati began working with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham in 2016. As a freelance choreographer, Keerati has presented her own choreographic works at the American Dance Guild Festival, Battery Dance Festival, Dance Gallery Festival, the Joyce Theater, New Victory Theater, MASS MoCA, Lincoln Center, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, Chelsea Factory and more. She has been commissioned to set and create works on the Evanston Dance Ensemble, the Martha Graham School, SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, New England Ballet Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Bang On A Can, Princeton University, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Whim W’him Seattle Contemporary Dance,New York Choreographic Institute, Rutgers University, and the Juilliard School. Keerati has graced the cover as one of Dance Magazine’s ‘25 to Watch’ in 2021. In 2023, she had the honor of becoming the first Asian American woman to be commissioned to choreograph for the New York City Ballet. Keerati was a 2024 Artist in Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Additionally, Keerati has been awarded with the Jadin Wong Fellowship Artist of Exceptional Merit by the Asian American Arts Alliance and is a 2023 Princess Grace Award winner in choreography.

OUR SESSIONS

THE PLAYGROUND NYC HOSTS SEASONAL SESSIONS OF DANCE PLAYTIME FOR MOVERS OF ALL LEVELS AT A DISCOUNTED RATE.

OUR SESSIONS ALLOW DANCERS TO EXPERIENCE VARIOUS CHOREOGRAPHIC STYLES AND IDEAS, ENGAGE WITH A CREATIVE COMMUNITY, AND GATHER RESOURCEFUL INFORMATION AND INSPIRATION FROM THE ARRAY OF CHOREOGRAPHERS LEADING THESE SESSIONS.

THE PLAYGROUND NYC OFFERS VARIOUS PRICE POINT:

2 HOUR SESSIONS : $6 CLASS FEE

3 HOUR SESSIONS : $10 - $15 CLASS FEE

4 HOUR SESSIONS : $15 - 20 CLASS FEE

AFTER DARK SESSIONS : $10 CLASS FEE

PAST SESSIONS

WE’NE HELD WORKSHOPS WITH THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS AND COMPANIES:

Fernando Hernando Magadan

Frances Chiaverini

Francesca Harper

Fluct- Sigrid Lauren

Göteborg Opera

Glo ATL-Laurie Stallings

Hubbard Street

Jermaine Spivey

Jon Rua

Kate Wallich- The YC

kidd pivot

Kyle Abraham | Abraham In Motion

LA Dance Project

Lee/Saar

Sonya Tayeh