Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/603573
312 CULTURED JONAH BOKAER CHOREOGRAPHER, FOUNDER CHEZ BUSHWICK On the rarified stage where Jonah Bokaer performs, it quickly becomes clear why he's one of ballet's leading figures. "With each piece, my goal is to re-craft the art form of choreography," explains the 34-year-old innovator who has danced professionally since the age of 18 after he joined Merce Cunningham's legendary troupe as its youngest principal. Since then, he has choreographed 55 original works. "I start from scratch each time. I push myself for original vocabulary and I seek adventurous people to work with," he says. "It sounds bold, but, it's the truth." It's also true that Bokaer has spent his entire life "training, articulating and refining the aesthetics of what is physically possible." From his parents—a Tunisian screenwriting father and an American theater director mother—he informally learned that art was a lifelong endeavor and he remembers watching his parents work as his earliest, most vivid memories of art. As a young man Bokaer had the opportunity to establish a community space that gave emerging artists a creative studio where they could develop ideas. In 2002, the enterprise formalized as Chez Bushwick, and that in turn expanded into the Center for Performance Research which provides room and support for experimental concepts. He has staged projects in over 22 countries, and has received numerous grants, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as this year's John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Choreography. Next year also holds great promise as he anticipates the May debut of a collaboration with longtime friends Daniel Arsham and Pharrell Williams at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. "If you have two eyes, and you look closely, you'll see dance everywhere in our culture." —Julie Baumgardner PORTRAIT BY MICHAEL BEAUPLET