Inside the Dancer’s Studio: Live – Obsessed with Light

Join NCCAkron at The Nightlight Cinema for an Inside the Dancer’s Studio: Live artist talk followed by a film screening of the Loïe Fuller documentary Obsessed with Light. To mark the culmination of Dancing Lab: Immersive Spaces & Alternate Places artists Raphael Xavier (Philadelphia, PA), Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer of Bridgman|Packer Dance (Valley Cottage, NY), and Hanna Ali (Miami, FL) gather together to explore: Can immersive spaces become the next normalized practice for choreographers to tour their work?

Following the conversation, Nightlight Cinema presents the documentary Obsessed with Light, a meditation on light and the enduring obsession with creation. The film pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller, a pioneer of dance, lighting, and design.

Inside the Dancer’s Studio: Live – Obsessed with Light

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

6:30pm Artist Talk

7pm Film Screening

The Nightlight Cinema

30 N High St, Akron, OH 44308

Tickets are FREE, RSVP is required

Dancing Labs bring dance artists, industry stakeholders, and thought partners from across the U.S. together to create a learning community and investigate shared questions. Dancing Lab: Immersive Spaces & Alternate Places brings select U.S. dance artists and designers together to visit three cities, explore immersive digital exhibitions, and reflect on whether these experiences are the next frontier for dance performance.

About the Artists

Hanna Ali is an interdisciplinary artist and spatial designer who creates immersive environments exploring feminine identity, technology, and storytelling. Raised in Miami, her work is deeply inspired by her mother’s aspirations to become an artist, driving her to design spaces where women can reclaim their voices. Hanna founded Hoechitecture, a studio focused on elevating stories of women and marginalized groups, collaborating with icons like Kehlani and Kanye West. Her work, including a virtual gallery for Genevieve Cohn with The Mindy Solomon Gallery, reflects her innovative approach to performance and spatial design. Informed by her time at Rem Koolhaas’ Office of Metropolitan Architecture, Hanna’s projects continue to push boundaries through transformative art and visionary spaces. 

Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, Co-Artistic Directors of Bridgman|Packer Dance, have collaborated in choreography and performance since 1978. In 2001, they expanded their choreographic vision, stretching the boundaries of dance by merging it with video technology. In 2017, they received a New York Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Production (The Bessies) for their work Voyeur at The Sheen Center. The 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to Bridgman and Packer was the first in the history of the Guggenheim Foundation to be given to two individuals for their collaborative work. Bridgman and Packer are recipients of twelve grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as grants from New England Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, National Dance Project, USArtists International, Performing Americas Project, and La Red. They have received three Choreography Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, four National Performance Network Creation Fund Awards, and choreographic commissions from Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), Portland Ovations, Danspace Project, The Edward Hopper House and Museum, American Dance Asylum, and the 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund. Based in New York City, they have been presented by City Center Fall For Dance Festival, Lincoln Center, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop (now NYLA), Danspace Project, The Sheen Center, and Central Park's Summerstage. They have toured throughout the USA, Central America, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and The Middle East.

Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Raphael Xavier, dancer and Breaking practitioner since 1983, has forged an exceptional approach to improvisation, notes Brenda Dixon Gottschild: “A fine rhythm technician who transforms a bravado dance style into an introspective meditation.” Xavier’s understanding of movement and musicality allows him to structure beats, noises, and sounds into captivating music that draws upon emotion and coincides with his choreography. His extensive research in the Breaking form has led to the creation of Ground-Core, a Somatic dance technique that gives the practitioner a better understanding of the body within all dance forms. He currently lives in Philadelphia and is a Lecturer in Dance at Princeton University teaching Hip Hop and Breaking courses. 

Pictured: Raphael Xavier (photo by Monica Chang), Myrna Packer and Art Bridgman of Bridgman|Packer Dance (courtesy of the artists), and the film poster for Obsessed with Light.