Event

Nia & Ness

The 34th Annual Women in the Arts Festival is proud to present Nia & Ness.

Nia & Ness are a black, lesbian, dancer-poet performance art duo based in Brooklyn, NY. The duo met and became a couple in 2013, and founded their company in 2016. They have performed at multiple venues nationwide, sharing their work that aims at a deeper understanding of their co-reality through intense investigation of their individual identities. They premiered their first evening length work, run., in August 2017, and have been touring run. nationwide ever since. They have been keynote speakers at the 2018 FLAME Conference at Brown University, and have performed their work at schools such as the University of California Riverside, NYU, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University, Bard College, Harvard College and more. The duo has worked with the Sadie Nash Leadership Project Summer Institute; and been featured in a 2017 BRIC TV segment, a documentary for The Advocate, Windy City Times, Dance Writer Australia, BRN GRL WIN, the Daily Voice, Autostraddle and on Radio Free Brooklyn. They've also performed at Brooklyn Pride 2017 and Harlem Pride 2018; the 2018 Ohio Lesbian Festival, The Michigan Framily Reunion, SisterSpace Festival; were recipients of the BAX Summer 2017 Space Grant, inaugural recipients of the 2018 Virginia Giordano Memorial Fund, and were the winners of the 2017 National Women's Music Festival Emerging Artist Contest and performers in 2018. This year Nia & Ness premiered their second evening length show titled home. and are currently on tour with this work along with run.. To follow them on their journey, check them out on social media @niaandness.