Nia & Ness

home. (an excerpt) is a portion of our second evening-length dance-poetry piece home. that deeply explores our daily realities as a Black, out-lesbian couple living and loving in New York. With this work, we posit that our bodies are our homes, collecting stories like dust and decor as we move through the world. This work also recognizes that as Black out-lesbians, our bodies themselves put our literal shared home on display every time we walk out of its doors. From sharing our everyday experiences with “micro” aggressions to making visible the impacts of violence, we go there with this work.

Nia & Ness are a Black, out-lesbian couple and performance-art duo, whose work serves as a visual-auditory diary of their daily lives. They believe that it’s necessary for their specific stories, as Black lesbian women, to be shared, and it is their responsibility to share them. Since officially starting their company in 2016, their work and love have transformed into something greater than the art and lives they initially dreamed of. They’ve toured two evening-length works, given speeches about their activism and shared their love at universities, colleges, conferences, festivals, churches, parks, bars and homes nationwide, and have been featured on multiple radio, tv and written news outlets. Taking their work beyond performances, they’ve recently launched their podcast, Reclaiming Love with Nia & Ness on Spotify, iTunes and iHeartRadio.

Nia & Ness are currently based in Rosendale, New York. Follow their journey on social media @niaandness and visit their website at niaandness.com.

Misaki Hayama

“Warabe Uta” are traditional Japanese songs, similar to nursery rhymes often sung as part of children's games. The dance pieces created and presented here explore this hidden history and show how the past has influenced new generations to find their future paths.

Misaki Hayama was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She moved to New York in 2015 as a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey Dance School. During her school career, in 2016 she performed her duet modern dance piece ”Antagatadokosa'' at the Ailey Citigroup Theater in Global Harmony. The following year, in 2017 she performed a solo piece ”Touryanse'' at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. After graduating from the Alvin Ailey School, she presented ”Touryanse” at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Tank Theater and The Works Studio HATCH.

In 2019, a 30-minute solo dance “Warabe Uta” was performed at the TADA! Theater. In the same year, ”Kagome Kagome'' was shown at The Baumann. In 2020, she presented her new piece “Sakura Sakura'' at Old First Church and got 4th place.