Dance performance inspired by Staten Island women to premiere at Snug Harbor

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A five-borough performance series dedicated to New York City women will kick off with the premiere of its first installment at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden this May.

“CITY OF WOM_N,” by Catherine Galasso, consists of five installments, each taking place in a different borough and inspired by women of that borough.

A preview of the first installment, “CITY OF WOM_N: HARBOR,” will take place on Saturday, May 6, and the performances will premiere on Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13 at 8 p.m. in Snug Harbor’s Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art.

Galasso, a Brooklyn-based choreographer and director, was inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s woman-centered New York City subway map in her creative atlas – “Nonstop Metropolis” – for this site-specific series. Similar to Solnit’s work, the series engages themes of activism, resilience, legacy, interrogating how histories are written and the criteria for who is remembered.

For the Staten Island installment, Galasso draws inspiration from various women who were either from or spent significant time in the borough such as Alice Austen, Audre Lorde, Dorothy Day, Eileen Farrell, Mary Putnam Jacobi, the Black Angels and Robbins Reef lighthouse keeper Kate Walker.

Local dancers Beatriz Abbate and Rosita Roldan, who have a particular history with Snug Harbors, as well as performers from Brooklyn and Queens will perform in CITY OF WOM_N: HARBOR.

As an artist in residence in Snug Harbor’s 2021 Performing Arts Salon Saturdays (PASS) program, Galasso found herself captivated by the campus’ Newhouse Center.

“While seeking out a site for the Staten Island installment, I fell in love with this fantastic building, the architectural centerpiece of Snug Harbor. Inhabiting this site has taken the piece to new and unexpected directions, becoming much more visceral and abstract,” Galasso said.