about the company
Photo by Gab Premand
Mission Statement.
The mission of NVA & Guests is to create evocative, interdisciplinary movement-based live performances and films that forge genuine connections among the spectator, stage, and screen. With playful narration, ambiguous characters, dynamic physicality, and a touch of humor, Artistic Director Nicole von Arx draws upon her background in contemporary and immersive dance/theatre scenes to create individualized environments for anyone engaged in the performance space. The resulting work invites audiences and collaborators alike to actively participate in the theatergoing experience while remaining present in their bodies and minds.
Values.
Movement
Our process begins first and foremost with movement, which we see as the base of everything that we do. It is a universal language to authentically draw all audiences to our work and help them create a genuine connection with something that may feel foreign at the onset but settles quickly into familiarity.
Collaboration
Within our company and cohorts, we lean on collaboration to ensure every unique voice is heard. We lead by guiding and asking questions and rely heavily on authentic communication among our team to balance collaborative input with concrete, informed direction.
Community
Our performances and workshops emphasize the fundamental bond between audiences and performers; without which, everything we do occurs in a vacuum. Each individual that experiences our work is an active participant in our process and contributes to the essential community that drives all of our activities forward.
Mentorship
NVA & Guests is committed to cultivating the next generation of artistic thinkers, makers, collaborators, and supporters. Through intentional programmatic initiatives and overall curricular design, our work centers today’s artists and the tools they need to sustain long-term, multifaceted dance careers.
Company Bio and HistorY.
NVA & Guests exists as a platform to produce and share the artistic work of choreographer Nicole von Arx, providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas across cultures and cultivating community on a local and international level. Through a rotating roster of performers representing a diverse array of backgrounds, the company offers a repertory of individualized dance/theatre works that can be seen on large stages as well as in flexible/non-traditional performance spaces. With roots in New York City and Switzerland, NVA & Guests invites audiences across the globe to forge genuine connections with performances that present the company’s unique combination of dynamic physicality and theatrical narrative.
From Artistic Director Nicole von Arx:
“The entirety of my creative process is a continuous study of the tension and release we build within ourselves, between each other and our environment. I'm inspired to create multimedia dance-theatre landscapes where the viewer is welcome to either sit back and enjoy the show, or lean in and participate."
Since its founding in 2014, NVA & Guests has performed in Switzerland at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, Théâtre de Grand Champ, Théâtre Nuithonie, and Theatre am Gleis; and in the United States at The Joyce Theatre, The Westside Theatre, Triskelion Arts, CPR - Center for Performance Research, Judson Memorial Church, The Ailey Citigroup Theatre, The Museum of Moving Images, Sam Houston State University, TACAW, and the Chop Shop Festival. During the pandemic, the company partnered with hotels and stores such as The New York Ace Hotel, The Playground NYC, SHOWFIELDS, and The Yard to offer affordable outdoor dance classes, often in untraditional movement spaces, to the dance community.
Dedicated to the ongoing artistic conversation that occurs outside the walls of a traditional performance space, NVA & Guests hosts community workshops that invite students and professional dancers to delve deeper into the intentional storytelling of the company’s multidisciplinary platform while receiving tools that equip them to achieve their own career development goals within the dance field.
NVA & Guests is dedicated to advancing anti-bias, and anti-racism work as it grows. Nicole von Arx’s leadership is rooted in a commitment to evolving strategies in collaboration with the company’s multiple and intersectional communities to remain sustainable, relevant, and impactful.
