It is a great pleasure to welcome and introduce our 2023-24 Rights and Arts Management Associate, Elise Logan. She began her year as the Associate digging into licensing, archival preservation, and non-profit management this month. During the coming months she will work closely with all of our staff, becoming conversant in the complexities of the varied aspects of preserving, maintaining and promoting Merce Cunningham's legacy. As you can see from her biography, she already has built a foundation for a successful career in the dance field.

Please say hello and join us in welcoming Elise when you see her.

Elise A. Logan (she/her) is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University where she studied Dance and Interdisciplinary Race & Ethnicity Studies. She is a dancer, choreographer, writer, researcher, and community organizer from the Los Angeles area. Elise is passionate about interdisciplinary work related to dance, storytelling, research and digital methods.

Along with creating dance works and performing original research, she is currently a trainee at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Most recently, Elise has trained at Alonzo King LINES Ballet, worked with the San Francisco Ballet School, Artist Magnet, and continues to work with advocacy group Dance Artists’ National Collective to advocate for improvements around dancers’ work conditions. She is also co-founder of the Pasadena Black Equity Project, which runs a mutual aid fund and digital archive for Black folks in the Pasadena and greater Los Angeles area.

She is a well-versed student of modern dance (Cunningham, Graham, Horton, Limón-based techniques), contemporary and classical ballet, contemporary dance, hip hop, jazz, house, and improvisational modalities. During her time at Barnard, she also studied Screendance, Choreography/Composition, modern dance with the Doug Varone and Dancers company and the Merce Cunningham Trust, along with performing for Jennifer Archibald and Davalois Fearon at New York Live Arts (NYLA) to name a few. Her experiences and leadership in dance have taken her abroad to teach and learn in Panamá, at both local primary schools and at The University of Panamá. She has also traveled to Paris and Berlin for a study abroad program where she studied ballet, modern dance, composition, and yoga. She has created and performed original works as an undergraduate fellow and Student Artist-in-Residence at the Barnard College Movement Lab, a dance and technology space, and as a mentee in the Columbia Ballet Collaborative Choreographic Mentorship Program under the direction of Sidra Bell that featured guest instructors Kevin Pajarillaga, Francesca Harper, Emily Coates, and Gabri Christa.

While we welcome Elise, we are wishing last year's Associate, Jelani Taylor, well as he continues to expand his experience and career here in New York. In addition to working as an administrator at Ballet Academy East and continuing to create his own work, Jelani recently began a new position as the Artist of Color Council Coordinator at Movement Research. He was a wonderful part of our staff this past year, bringing his skills and bright presence to the office and we are excited to see how his career continues to develop.

There are plenty of opportunities everywhere to see something Cunningham and I hope we will see you at one of the events this fall.