2006 grantee Jonah Bokaer is a Brooklyn-based choreographer who danced with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for seven years, during which he began making his own dances and founded a multi-disciplinary art and performance organization called Chez Bushwick. Bokaer received his FCA grant at age 25 and used it to fund performer fees, live music and stage design for three touring productions. The grant allowed him “to make the substantial leap from a solo choreographic practice into assembling a group of dancers to pursue group choreography, which opened up a new realm of artistic possibilities.” His FCA grant also helped finance the incorporation of Chez Bushwick as a nonprofit organization.
After being recognized by FCA, Bokaer was a finalist for the Rolex Mentor/Protégé Initiative in Dance. In 2007, Chez Bushwick received a special citation from the New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards. The following year, Bokaer and choreographer John Jasperse founded the Center for Performance Research in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which provides affordable space for classes, rehearsals and performances. Bokaer’s work has been presented at venues such as Dance Theater Workshop, the Guggenheim Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art and Teatro dell’Opera in Italy. In 2011, Bokaer was the first American recipient of the Prix Jeune Talent Choréographique, a prestigious award from the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques in Paris. In the same year he was also the first male choreographer to receive the Italian Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship and listed on Crain’s “40 Under 40.” Bokaer was also invited by the Guggenheim Museum to create a site-specific dance in response to artist Lee Ufan’s solo retrospective exhibition in July 2011.
