Lena Martin | Mak thornquest x

barnsdall gallery theatre

Lena Martin (they/them) is a German-American multidisciplinary artist with a focus in choreography, performance, and poetry— having trained and performed globally in Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin. They are a recent graduate from the California Institute of the Arts, receiving their BFA in Dance with a focus in site-specific dance-theater and performance theory. Some of their more notable works include a series of multidisciplinary shows that took place in and outside of an elevator on the CalArts campus. They also choreographed and co-directed a three act, experimental opera written by Jacob Wolff that premiered at Stomping Ground in March of this year. They are still currently based in Los Angeles, and are working as a freelance artist. 

Mak Thornquest (they/them) is a trans, Idaho-born dancer, writer, choreographer and first-generation college graduate. They received their BFA in Dance from the California Institute of the Arts in May 2022 and has since relocated to New York CIty to work as a freelance performer.  Mak was a 2020 Artist in Residence at MING Studios in Boise, Idaho, is a 2018 and 2021 Alexa Rose Foundation grantee, and most recently performed with Sidra Bell Dance New York for their Bessie Award nominated show IN | REP in October of 2022. Notable performance credits include the debut of their original work, an echo that doesn’t rhyme, in collaboration with composer Daniel Newman-Lessler commissioned by Hear Now Music Festival, as well as works by Trisha Brown, Sidra Bell, Danielle Agami, Peter Chu, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, and Merce Cunningham.