[siccer]
Will Rawls
Schedule
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Friday, November 21, 2025
Saturday, November 22, 2025
New York Premiere
Duration: 90 minutes
In [siccer], Will Rawls considers the ways in which Black bodies are relentlessly documented, distorted, and circulated in the media. This dance performance experiments with stop-motion, a filmmaking technique in which still photographs are strung together to produce a moving image. Throughout [siccer]’s live performance, Holland Andrews, keyon gaskin, jess pretty, Katrina Reid, and Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste are suspended in stop-motion film shoot. When the camera’s shutter closes momentarily between photographs, Rawls and collaborators play within the intervals, taking advantage of a gap in surveillance.
The project’s title is driven by the Latin adverb “[sic],” which indicates incorrect spelling within a quotation and which is often employed to contrast Black vernacular speech with standard English. Rawls turns this conflict on its head in order to illuminate the verbal and physical play of Black performance as something that eludes capture on screen and in language—and that speculates on the potential of strategies for narrating the world, uncorrected. The live performances of [siccer] accompany the artist’s exhibition at The Kitchen, a book published by Wendy’s Subway, and an album published by the artist.
Co-Presented with Performance Space New York and The Kitchen
Venue
Will Rawls
Will Rawls is a multidisciplinary choreographer working with dance, language, and other media to investigate the poetics of embodiment and the materiality of time. Presentations include REDCAT, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Momentary, On the Boards, and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. He has received fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, Herb Alpert Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, United States Artists, Rauschenberg Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and the MacDowell Colony. He is currently Associate Professor of Choreography in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA. studiorawls.com
Billing Credits
Concept, Choreography, and Direction: Will Rawls
Performance: Holland Andrews, keyon gaskin, jess pretty, Katrina Reid, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Sound Design and Vocals: Holland Andrews and Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Director of Photography, Video Editor, and FX: Lauryn Siegel
Technical Director: David Szlasa
Lighting and Scenic Designer: Maggie Heath
Costume Designer: Saša Kovačević, Dana Doughty
Audio Designer: Jimmy Garver
Dramaturg: Kemi Adeyemi
Studio Rawls Finance & Operations Manager: Margaret Knowles
[siccer] Producer: Benedict NguyễnProduction Credits
[siccer] was originally commissioned by The Kitchen in partnership with co-commissioners, The Momentary, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, On the Boards, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. [siccer] was made possible, in part, by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and is a Creative Capital Project. [siccer] is also a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project which is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). [siccer] also received substantial developmental support from THINKLARGE.US, a family run nonprofit created by Don Quinn Kelley and Sandra L. Burton to aid in the creation of new work. [siccer] is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature through the Media Arts Assistance Fund a regrant partnership of NYSCA and Wave Farm.
[siccer] was developed and supported, in part, by residencies at The Momentary and Portland Institute for Contemporary Arts, with additional support by On the Boards and The Kitchen; a creative residency at Petronio Residency Center, a program of the Stephen Petronio Company; with financial, administrative and residency support from Dance in Process at Gibney with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Movement Research; the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at the University of California Los Angeles and The Hammer Museum Residency; the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University; with production support and residency provided by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Williams College and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
The forthcoming [siccer] album was made possible with support from the Barbara Streisand Center for the Study of Women at UCLA.
Support for Crossing The Line
and The Wescustogo Foundation
L’Alliance New York’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the Support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Header Image: [siccer] © Jared Sorrells, Novo Studio
Will Rawls headshot: © Kennis Hawkins
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