10x10 Member Spotlight:
Stefanie Batten Bland

Choreographer & Artistic Director, Company SBB

byNeueJournal

Madison Square

SBB

10x10 Member Spotlight: Stefanie Batten Bland

Stefanie Batten Bland’s immersive dance-theatre has been performed on iconic stages around the world, from the Public to the Paris Opera Comique. Next week, the award-wining director/choreographer and member of NeueHouse Madison Square brings her SBB Dance Company home, to the 10×10 House Party in New York. Ahead of the big show, she answers our House Q&A on creative process, inspiration, and what’s up next.

 

Name:
Stefanie Batten Bland

Profession:
Dancer/Director

Road Not Taken:
Avenue Normal

Describe your ideal workspace:
One where I can move and engage in physical movement research and then transition into story boarding and presenting spaces (and looks) for producer pitching – receiving and presenting partners.

SBB 2 Min

I get my best breakthroughs:
In conversations.

What piece of creative work has had an impact on your own?
Pina Bausch’s Masurca Fogo

What is a metaphor to describe your creative process?
Freedom inside a framework.

SBB 3 Min

The best part of the work I do:
Create. Employ and inspire others

The hardest part of the work I do is:
Unpacking the value of expression in everyday life, as an essential generator of our city’s cultural economy.

What are you working on now?
Coup d’Espace my next immersive show. Coup d’Espace is an immersive pop-up/plop-down experience that allows us to collectively explore the reasons that motivate us to transform or overthrow a space. By using found and recycled materials, Coup creates immersive environments that provide audience members with opportunities for individual liberation as either a witness or participant in real-time performances. These spaces empower individuals and offer them agency to shape their experiences.

Current read or listen:
Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

Current Obession:
Planning a summer vacation

SBB 4 Min

What’s next that you’re excited about?
CONCRETE the first immersive theatre summer intensive to train performers and provides hands-on experience in devising and physical world building so dancers may discover and learn how to become powerful storytellers.

Best creative advice you’ve ever received:
Know when to say no to a project.

Describe NeueHouse in 10 words or less:
Making art & business. Spatial freedom. Supported creation. Exposure. Community. Inspiring. Home.