Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener are New York-based dance artists. Their ongoing work involves the building of collaborative worlds through improvisational techniques, digital technologies, and material construction. Together they have been artists-in-residence at LMCC, Mt Tremper, pieter, Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center, The Watermill Center, MANCC, Headlands Center for the Arts, BOFFO, New York City Center, The Center for Ballet and the Arts, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. Their work has been commissioned by Danspace Project, Madison Square Park, The Joyce Theater, BAM/Next Wave, The Barbican, EMPAC, The Walker Art Center, MCA Chicago, REDCAT, The Wexner, On The Boards, The LAB, Marfa Sounding, Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, SFMOMA, and MoMA PS1.
Rashaun Mitchell graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2000 and since then has worked with many artists including: Chantal Yzermans, Donna Uchizono, Pam Tanowitz, Risa Jaroslow, Sara Rudner, Jonah Bokaer, Richard Colton, Deborah Hay, and Rebecca Lazier. He has received numerous awards: a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship, a Princess Grace Award: Dance Fellowship (2007), a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for sustained achievement in the work of Merce Cunningham 2004-2012 (2011), a Bessie for “Outstanding Emerging Choreographer” (2012), and a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Art (2013). He is a Cunningham Fellow and licensed stager of the repertory. His choreography has been presented in NYC by Danspace Project, Baryshnikov Arts Center, LMCC, La Mama Moves Festival, Mount Tremper Arts, Skirball Center at NYU, the Museum of Arts and Design, and at numerous venues and universities throughout the East Coast. He has been on faculty at Sarah Lawrence College and was a full-time Professor of Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In 2013 Mitchell and Riener were listed in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” and were selected for LMCC”s inaugural Extended Life Dance Development Program.
Silas Riener is a graduate of Princeton University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2007-2012. He has performed with Chantal Yzermans, Takehiro Ueyama, Christopher Williams, Joanna Kotze, Jonah Bokaer, Rebecca Lazier, Tere O’Connor, Wally Cardona, and Kota Yamazaki. His own work has been curated at EMPAC, The Chocolate Factory, LMCC’s River to River Festival, The Serpentine Pavillion, and Danspace Project. His ongoing collaboration with artist Martha Friedman has resulted in works at Andrea Rosen Gallery 2, The Henry Museum, Locust Projects Miami, and Jessica Silverman Gallery.