Numerous NYU Tisch Dance alumni and a current student are among the artists featured in a recent New York Times review of "Pageant Presents Pageant" in conjunction with Studio Residency: Pageant at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The review, “A Youthful, D.I.Y. Dance Spirit Storms the Gates at MoMA,” by dance critic Gia Kourlas, explores Pageant, the artist-run Brooklyn performance space founded in 2022 by Alexa West, Jade Manns, Owen Prum, Sharleen Chidiac, and Lili Dekker. As part of MoMA’s Kravis Studio Residency, Pageant's community was brought into the museum for “Pageant Presents Pageant,” a performance marathon featuring twenty-five artists presenting ten-minute works. Tisch Dance artists featured in the residency included alumni Isa Spector (BFA, Dance 2000), Cayleen Del Rosario (BFA, Dance 2019), Iliana Penichet-Ramírez (BFA, Dance 2019), Jade Manns (BFA, Dance 2019), and Owen Prum (BFA, Dance 2018), as well as Ayano Elson, a current MFA canidate in the NYU Tisch MFA in Dance: Interdisciplinary Research program.
Since its founding four years ago, Pageant has developed into more than a physical performance space. It facilitates a community where artists can experiment and build relationships through its opportunities to make and present work. For its MoMA residency, Pageant founders recreated the spirit of their Brooklyn space within the museum, designing an intimate performance environment. The marathon featured work by Spector, Del Rosario, Elson, Penichet-Ramírez, Manns, Prum, and many other artists who have developed relationships through the Pageant community.
The New York Times review highlights Pageant's role in creating sustained opportunities for artists to develop and present their work, which they do by using the revenue from each show to help support future programming. For the Pageant founders, the community is as important as the individual works themselves. “We’ve learned that Pageant is the people who show up for each other,” Dekker said. Manns similarly reflected on the relationships that sustain the space saying that: “ ‘Maybe it’s the relationship that we have to the work, but also to each other,’ [ … ] ‘It’s like this historical way of working with other artists and insisting on yourself and creating something together.’ ”
Following their MoMA residency, Pageant continues its Fall 2026 season at their East Williamsburg performance space at 70 Graham Avenue with two shows per month. Pageant continues to provide opportunities for artists and audiences to participate in New York’s experimental dance community, and offers a space for artists to create, perform, and build connections with one another. Please see the links below to explore more!
