Performance
Open Rehearsal
June 26, 2026
Performance
June 27, 2026
Al Held Foundation
Boiceville, NY
Vanessa Anspaugh:
Diamond Cutter
Vanessa Anspaugh, Diamond Cutter rehearsal, 2026, in residence at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. Image courtesy the artist.
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For the fifth staging of dance in Al Held’s painting studio, the acclaimed choreographer and dance artist Vanessa Anspaugh will preview a new work, Diamond Cutter. Created in collaboration with performers Tara Aisha Willis, C Green, Leah Cox, Laura Osterhaus, Tristan Koepke and Jo Warren, the choreography investigates edge-spaces and the unique, resilient life that takes hold in hostile environments. Growing up in Los Angeles’ historical coastal wetlands that have been almost entirely lost to urbanization, Anspaugh credits this formidable space to inquire: What do we relegate to the edges? Who lives on the margins and what do these bodies need to heal? Thinking through being and matter, ecosystems and the sphere, the work considers how outside elements can enter in, as a means of rewilding our spaces and ourselves.
Choreographer and performance based artist VANESSA ANSPAUGH was born and raised in the unceded land of the Tongva & Chumash (also known as Los Angeles, CA). Anspaugh has worked with Taylor Mac, Sara Shelton Mann, Aretha Aoki, Faye Driscoll, Juliette Mapp, Robbinschilds, devynn emory and has collaborated with visual artists SWOON, Every Ocean Hughes and Amber Bemak. She is a two-time Bessie Award Nominee for both Most Outstanding Choreographer (morning after mournings) of 2023 and Most Outstanding Production (The End of Men). Her work has been commissioned and presented by The Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts, Danspace Project, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, The Rubin Museum, The Bates Dance Festival, The River to River Festival, SculptureCenter, CCS Hessel Museum of Art, Opera House Arts, Space Gallery, along with other national and international venues. Anspaugh has been a visiting teaching artist at Bard, Smith, Bowdoin, Colby and Bates colleges. She recently premiered her latest work, good mourning, in the Fusebox Festival in Austin Texas. Over the last year, Anspaugh has been a visiting artist fellow at UT Austin where she created a new work with students and local collaborators.
Over the past six years, River Valley Arts Collective has partnered with the Al Held Foundation to present exhibitions in Held’s former drawing studio, outdoor installations on the foundation's grounds and, more recently, performances in Held’s painting studio.
The Al Held Foundation is not open to the public, however pre-scheduled and by-appointment guided and self-guided tours are available. Sign up for a tour of the exhibition using Calendly. Note, if you would like to make an appointment outside scheduled tour times or if your preferred time is booked, email us: info@RVACollective.org.