“We’re back, baby!” said Emily Bufferd, NYC-based dance artist and Producer of The Young Choreographer’s Festival (YCF). After two years on hiatus, due to COVID (and the obvious safety concerns thereof), the festival will be back for an 11th year: on June 18th, 2022, 8 PM at Symphony Space (Manhattan). Tickets are on sale at symphonyspce.org.
YCF “presents the work of some of the most up and coming 18-25 year old choreographers in all genres of dance at Symphony Space in NYC…aim[ing] to educate, foster, and cultivate talented young artists by providing them with the tools, education, resources, and platform to successfully pursue a career in dance,” (youngchoreographersfestival.com).
I recently caught up with Bufferd, a good friend and colleague, to learn more about YCF returning for its 11th season. “It will be a great show – [the cohort’s] work is genuinely great and they’re working really hard,” Bufferd affirmed. “We have artists from all walks of life and from all different communities.”
Bufferd teaching virtually for Broadway Dance Center,
photo courtesy of Broadway Dance Center
She explained how the YCF 2022 cohort includes a good number of choreographers who were approved to present work at the 2020 festival: which, for evident reasons, didn’t happen. They’ve been “patiently waiting since their 2020 acceptance,” Bufferd underscored.
The cohort also includes a few other 2019 applicants to whom YCF was able to offer a space after some in the 2020 cohort weren’t in a place to present their work this year (for various reasons). YCF didn’t accept applications in 2022, so Bufferd went back to 2019 applications to determine who they’d contact to offer a slot. Those notified applicants eagerly and immediately accepted the now-open slots!
“That made me feel great as a producer, that YCF still holds weight with these young artists, and that they’ll get that as close to ‘normal’ experience [of presenting their work] that we’ve been able to offer,” Bufferd shared. And that’s what it all goes back for her: offering young dance artists the chance to present their work, fully produced in a professional venue. Those sorts of opportunities have always been all too rare, but even more so through COVID.
“With the majority of the performances that have come back [after the height of COVID], there haven’t been as many opportunities for emerging choreographers,” Bufferd explained. Moreover, COVID protocols can be costly and also reduce ticket sales, she added. “Some of those things go unthought of.”
With COVID realities, YCF is also giving some wiggle-room on standard policies and procedures. “Normally we don’t allow a full piece that we haven’t seen to be presented…for the first time ever we’re allowing them leeway there.” And between the 2020 cohort members’ work then and in 2022, “there’s been a lot of growth!,” Bufferd said. “When you’re 18 years old, two years can be a lot…it’ll be exciting for them to see that trajectory – from then to now.”
Bryn Cohn's work in YCF, photo by Jaqi Medlock
Producing concert dance in a pandemic (yes, we’re still in it)
Speaking of COVID, Bufferd was quite adamant that we’re not in a “post-COVID world” – despite a widespread attitude to the contrary. As such, YCF is operating under strict COVID safety protocols: for both artists and patrons. That’s from Bufferd’s conviction, as someone who takes the personal and public health impacts of COVID quite seriously – but, more than that, it’s from Symphony Space’s current (and very firm) policies.
Above and beyond Symphony Space masking and vaccination requirements, YCF artists will also be masked and vaccinated – including performing dancers. For Bufferd, that doesn’t detract from the art at hand; “I don’t need to see your mouth to see what you offer,” she affirmed.
“As far as safety is concerned, we’ve left no stone unturned…I want to make sure it feels safe not only for me, but for everyone” – including populations particularly vulnerable to COVID, such as the immunocompromised and the elderly, Bufferd noted. She wants people to leave the theater feeling good – inspired, uplifted, provoked to think, all of those things that wonderful dance can make us feel – rather than nervous about potentially catching COVID.
Bufferd was fully open that all of that has been a lot of work, with things to address that previously wouldn’t have been a consideration (down to things like distances dancers are apart in backstage traffic patterns). There’s also a pressure at hand with this being the first festival presented for three years. Yet when high-quality work from these young artists takes the stage, she knows that she can keep making it work – and is excited to keep doing so.
Moving it forward and paying it forward
Bufferd is also confident in the impact that being a YCF alumnus can have on a young choreographer’s career; “it can bring that nudge to be considered for a further opportunity – to say you were presented by YCF does hold weight to larger organizations in this industry,” she explained. Bufferd hopes that “the materials and opportunities that come from being presented by YCF have opened doors for some folks…and we know for many that it absolutely has.”
Andrea Ward's work in YCF, photo by Jaqi Medlock
Noting all of this with all possible humility (because that’s just who she is), Bufferd knows it because of her involvement with such larger organizations – and also because of where alumni have taken their careers. In the ranks of YCF alumni is Princess Grace Award in Choreography recipient Rena Butler. “She’s such a good human: gracious and kind, a shining star perfect example of the kind of human you want to work with. She’s everywhere, and she’s so brilliant!,” Bufferd gushed.
Other notable alumni include Marinda Davis (Dancing with the Stars), Bryn Cohn (Bryn Cohn + Artists), Jeremy McQueen (Black Iris Project), Brinda Guha (Soles of Duende), Melanie Ramos (Columbia Ballet Collaborative), Eryn Renee Young (Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellow), and Mary Grace McNally (MG + Artists, Capezio ACE Award Winner).
Bufferd hopes that these artists pay forward what YCF did for them in the early stages of their choreography careers. She’s a “firm believer” in that mentality – in seeing something in a young person and professional, and giving them the sort of practical and psychological boost that helped you get to where you are. “YCF does give young artists that vote of confidence that sometimes people need, that affirmation that ‘we believe that you’re talented and therefore we’re going to give you the chance.' I hope these artists will turn around and do that for future generations.”
Rena Butler's work in YCF, photo by Jaqi Medlock