@CPR | Mars Garcia presents: Transmorph

[REDACTED] at birth
[Gagged by sticky labels and exhaustive heteronormativity] “Get out of your seat, label me baby, come on I’m waiting. Come closer honey and smell my green tuft of hair. Can’t you tell what I am?” [the green figure’s skin erodes] “Don’t take too long to decide, the show must go on.”
TW: gender violence, cissexism
Accessibility Note: performance includes invitation to come onto the stage space (optional).
Movement Director, Performer, Costume Designer: Mars Garcia
Sound Designer, Performer: Alexander Millar:
Production Assistant/Guest Performer: Mary Ann Odette
Crossfade
A collective sustains smokey repetition in this exploration of techno and contemporary movement.
TW: strobe lighting, loud music.
Choreography: Alisya Razman, Mars Garcia
Performance and Improvisation by: Nikkie Samreth, Celine Abdallah, Alisya Razman, Mars Garcia, and Lilah van Rens
Sound design: Ali Aoun-IRL
Costume design: Mars Garcia

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Mars Garcia (they/them) is a genderqueer Mexican American mover, maker, and collaborator from unseated Acjachemen and Tongva lands (California). Their art is characterized by their family’s lineage of strong matriarchs and gatherings of gossip, cooking, and mending as sites of reuse, renewal, music, and social dance. Their collaborative creations have been presented at The Brick , Queensboro Dance Festival, The Tank/NYC, Pink Frog Cafe, Soapbox Gallery, parks across NYC, and at their self produced Harvesting artist festival (Fall 2020, Spring 2022). Gathering movement, improvisation, sewing, writing, scenic designs, and sarcasm, Mars explores how queerness, identity, and belonging informs our habits, interactions, and families. They have been a guest artist with companies such as Edisa Weeks/DELIRIOUS DANCES, Kai Hazelwood/Good Trouble Makers, and Marie de la Palme/Motion Tribe, and performed abroad at the Bagnolet Conservatoire Municipal de Danse (France), Institute of the Arts, Barcelona (Spain), and the ACUD Theater (Berlin, Germany). With a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Mars currently works as a freelance dancer (The Joyce Theater, ISSUE Project Room, Baryshnikov Arts Center as a part of the Merce Cunningham Centennial), a GYROTONIC® instructor (Fluid Fitness), Stage Manager (Priestess of Twerk 2024), and Producer (Practice Progress; 7NMS | Marjani Forté & Everett Saunders; Good Trouble Makers; Neuronite 2024). For bookings: DM @marsgarcia_works
Alisya Razman (she/her) is a Brooklyn based artist from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. While pursuing her BFA in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she studied contemporary dance and improvisation under Rashaun Mitchell, Pamela Pietro, and Jeremy Nelson. She performed works/processes by Merce Cunningham, Sidra Bell, Kate Wallich, Bill T. Jones, David Dorfman, and studied abroad in Berlin. Since graduating, she has danced professionally with UNA Productions, Helen Simoneau Danse, Dishman & Co Choreography, Cayleen Del Rosario, and Yang Sun while being a teaching artist at The Ailey School. She was commissioned to present work at the Ailey Citigroup Theater for the Professional Division program last spring. @alisyarazman
Alexander Millar (they/them) is a white queer nonbinary neurodivergent award-winning songwriter, composer, performer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. They combine a BFA in Musical Arts and an MFA in Performance & Composition from California Institute of the Arts with over 28 years of professional experience in the music industry and over 13 years of teaching experience. As a creative researcher Alex investigates how the systems of white supremacy shape the popular music industry, both historically and presently. They are especially interested in how toxic individuality, a byproduct of capitalism and a core tenant of white supremacy, drives the narrative of how we speak, write, and think about the concept of “success” in popular music, specifically as it pertains to the myth of the “self made” artist/group. Alex has a deep commitment to democratizing access to knowledge and research, as well as re-contextualizing creative research outside of Academia. Therefore, their research is publicly available in the form of TikTok videos; to date they have over 200k followers who engage with their research and likely never would have encountered it if it were not available on a popular social media app.
Nikkie Samreth (they/them) is a first generation Cambodian-Chinese multidisciplinary artist originally from Dallas, TX. They have a BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. They also graduated Summa Cum Laude at SUNY FIT with a Bachelor of Science in International Trade & Marketing and a triple minor in Economics, Creative Technology, and Ethics & Sustainability. Post-college, Nikkie worked as a professional dancer/performer/model in various music videos, campaigns, films, and performance projects with companies such as The Feath3r Theory, Company XIV, HBO Max, Vogue, Vogue Runway, Universal Music Group, and other artists. Throughout Nikkie’s career they have had the opportunity to perform works by Merce Cunningham, Anton Lachky, Raja Feather Kelly, Aszure Barton, and many others. Along with their professional career, Nikkie has supplemented their artistry with new skills such as cello, boxing, skateboarding, archery, acting, and other interests to reshape their perspective of dance and choreography. @highblush
Celine Abdallah (she/her) is a Lebanese-American dance artist based in NYC, whose sensory-based movement combines the history of her Arab roots with a playfulness that roots into the present. She received her BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Celine has performed in original works by choreographers such as Yin Yue, Christina Robson, Molissa Fenley, Davide Di Pretoro, Ambika Raina, Isa Spector, and Iliana Penichet-Ramirez. Beyond the stage, she is featured in music videos and live sets by artists such as Yaeji, Frawley, and Dania. As a Choreographer and Movement Director, Celine has collaborated with filmmakers Emily May Jampel, Saleem Gondal, and Mike Klubeck. With her experience in stage and film, coupled with her interdisciplinary dance background, she hopes to continue exploring the boundlessness of storytelling.
Lilah van Rens, born and raised in New York City, pursued her undergraduate studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, receiving a BFA in Dance. Continuing her education, Lilah earned her graduate degree in Dance/Movement Psychotherapy from Sarah Lawrence College, where she explored the intersection of movement, mind-body integration and mental health.

Host or Publisher CPR- Center for Performance Research