Kaatsbaan Cultural Park will spotlight the groundbreaking artistry of choreographer and director Kayla Farrish with the premiere of two new works, DOCILE and A Beast, on Saturday, September 20, 2025, at 7 PM, and Sunday, September 21, 2025, at 2 PM, at the Studio Complex, 120 Broadway, Tivoli, NY.
A bold voice in contemporary dance-theater, Farrish draws deeply on Black histories, jazz improvisation, and magical realism to reimagine how movement can confront identity, resilience, and liberation.
“DOCILE” is a striking meditation on freedom and resistance, inspired by James Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son.” The work reflects on Baldwin’s pivotal decision in the 1960s to either remain abroad or return to America to join the resistance movements. Through powerful physicality and stark play with light and shadow, Farrish explores the untaming of the spirit and the discovery of truth. At its heart is the question: “What transformation and wildness is possible in reclamation and seeing our full humanity?”
In contrast, A Beast is an intimate duet that unfolds as a dialogue between two people navigating connection, confrontation, and vulnerability. With words, song, and movement that spill into moments of soaring flight and physical daring, the piece unravels how relationships uncover personal power and deepen self-discovery.
Farrish’s body of work is as expansive as it is inventive. A Bessie Award-winning choreographer, she has been commissioned by the Limón Dance Company, Gibney, Harlem Stage, and the Louis Armstrong House Museum, among others. Her projects span live performance, film, site-specific installations, and collaborations across music and visual art. She has been presented at Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Symphony Space, and National Sawdust, and is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Harkness Promise Award and the Watermill Center Nina Von Maltzahn Fellowship.