Featured Notes

"Translucent Borders"

A man (seen from behind) stands with his feet in a lake on a sunny day holding two music instruments

Translucent Borders, a project developed at NYU by Andy Teirstein ’79, brought together artists from the United States, Cuba, Italy, Ghana, Israel, and Palestine in collaborative sessions in these countries last year.

Artists from each site then traveled to the United States for a residency at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, followed by performances at the Lincoln Center Atrium and NYU. He writes, “Our work began in refugee camps on the island of Lesbos and continued in Ghanaian drum circles, in dance rehearsals in the Middle East, with Bedouin musicians on the Israeli border with Egypt, and in Cuban Rumba sessions. In today’s political climate of increasing xenophobia and divisiveness, Translucent Borders brings artists together to make the contrary argument: that we are especially wired to exult in finding points of confluence with strangers.”