My name is Kristi Cole and I am a Berlin based multidisciplinary performer, choreographer, producer & filmmaker.
Kristi Cole (she/they) is a Queer performer, choreographer, artistic director, producer and filmmaker with a Bachelors of Arts in Dance and Political Science from The George Washington University (Honors, Magna Cum Laude, 2013) where she received the Elizabeth Burtner Theatre & Dance Award for her excellence as a performer, as well as a Luther Rice Research Fellowship.
She began her artistic career in New York City in 2013, working as a performer as well as presenting her own multidisciplinary performance projects over the past ten years. In 2019, she founded Kristi Cole & Guests with the mission of bringing together artists to create powerful and thought- provoking interdisciplinary work. Her work ranges from live performance for the stage and site specific installations, to movement based films and often utilizes cross-disciplinary dialogue. Her stage and film work has been presented in New York, New York, Jersey City, New Jersey, Atlanta, Georgia and Toronto, Canada.
Kristi was a 2020 New Work Grant recipient through the Queens Council on the Arts, resulting in an interdisciplinary Evening of Art & Performance, Value of Space, which Kristi co-curated, produced and presented. Kristi was selected as Artist-in-Residence (Cycle 2, 2021) through the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation. Additionally, she was a recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, May 2021. She served as an Art Commissioner with the Queens Council on the Arts Artist Commissioning Program 2021-2022, where she commissioned and supported the work of local Queens based dance and choreography projects. In 2022, Kristi was selected alongside their collaborator, Max Coker to attend the Everwood Farm Artist Residency to conduct artistic research for their new immersive multidisciplinary, performance art piece.
Her first fully self-directed, edited and choreographed dance film, Enantiodromia, premiered in November 2021 as part of a self-produced evening of Performance + Film in Woodside, Queens, featuring current and past collaborators ranging from Dance, Performance Art, Spoken Word and Video Work. The film has since been selected for multiple film festivals: Rogue Dancer Film Festival, Mignolo International Screendance Festival, Queens World Film Festival (Best Dance Film Nominee).
As a performing artist, Kristi has worked with Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Vicky Shick, Donofrio Dance Company, Lauren Beirne Dance Works, Brick by Brick Dance Projects, Amanda + James (Rehearsal Director), Spaces of Fontana, Lenka Vagnerova (Berlin), Michael Parmelee and M I C C A (rehearsal director, lead role). Additionally she has collaborated with filmmaker and photographer, Shannon Finnell and Sound Composer/ Audio Visual artist, Max Coker.
Kristi chose to relocate to Berlin, Germany in 2023 to continue to pursue her artistic career as a freelance multidisciplinary artist. Since arriving in Berlin, she has created a new work with collaborator, Madeline Robertson, which premiered at a self-produced evening of Performance. The event also included the works of other Berlin-Based performance artists. Kristi looks forward to continuing her artistic endeavors in Berlin.
Our Mission
I believe that art is a social platform to examine the world. By posing critical questions to the obstacles we face as a society, my work seeks to resonate with audiences and spark meaningful conversations surrounding complicated issues. I believe that authentic storytelling is a way for us to experience collective healing and find a regenerative path forward during these trying times we find ourselves within. I strive to create an opportunity for the audience to attach their own experiences to the ones embodied, through performance, before them in an effort to highlight our common connections through our shared experiences of being human.
The main avenue of achieving this goal is through my company, Kristi Cole & Guests’, mission of creating powerful and thought-provoking interdisciplinary work. As an artist and director, I believe it is crucial to include a multitude of unique voices, as we all benefit from the experience of witnessing and listening to perspectives different than our own. In all of my projects, it is my desire to incorporate a multitude of perspectives so that the work has greater capacity to genuinely and authentically connect with diverse audiences.
How can the work encourage viewers to dive deeper into understanding what it means for them on a personal level? It is my vision that my work provides space for us, as a society and community, to come together and better understand the answers to the pressing issues of our times. May the work motivate us all to question the world around us. Perhaps we will even feel inspired to take action in a way that is meaningful to the greater community and has the potential to enrich the lives of everyone.
For more information on upcoming performances and events, check out the upcoming shows page!
UPCOMING EVENTS
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An Informal Showing + Performance
29th September, 2023
Katapult, Berlin
An evening of Dance + Performance, featuring new works and works in progress by Berlin based FLINTA artists
Produced By Kristi Cole + Madeline Robertson
Doors 19:00 | Show 19:30
Followed by Post-Performance Discussion
Featuring Works By:
Kristi Cole + Madeline Robertson
Mei Bao + Kris Rulifson
Giuliana Corsi Kolling
Tickets Available Starting 29.08.23 at 8:00 CEST
Past Events & Performances
The 12th Annual Queens World Film Festival
ENANTIODROMIA
Nominee: Best Dance Film
November 4, 2022
Queens, NY
The Ace Hotel & CreateART Presents: Dance Is Enough
IN MY PLACE
October 26, 2022
Brooklyn, NY
Monday, December 6, 2021
Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
Featuring a short solo performance in addition to the screening of “Enantiodromia”, followed by a brief Q&A
Enantiodromia Premiere
Kristi Cole & Guests’ 2nd Birthday Party:
Film Premiere + Performances + Fundraiser
11/18/2021
Woodside, Queens, NY
Amanda + James: Summer Happenings Festival ‘21
Yours, For Now
June 12, 2021
Queensbridge Park, Queens, NY
THE CRAFT: VIRTUAL EDITION
DELUGE
March 4, 2021
Brooklyn, NY
WAXworks
IN MY PLACE
Nov 17, 2019
Triskelion Arts
Brooklyn, NY
Your Move: Modern Dance Festival
IN MY PLACE
Nov 13 + 15, 2019
Landmark Loew’s Theatre (Site specific Performance)
Jersey City, NJ
To Claim & Reclaim
A Short Dance Film by Kristi Cole & Shannon Finnell
Premiere: October 27, 2019
Nasty Women Unite Festival 2019
NYC
See the film and learn more about the filmmaker here!
Amanda + James Presents: Dance+
IN MY PLACE
Sept 27 + 28, 2019
Center for Performance Research (CPR)
Brooklyn, NY
VALUE OF SPACE
VALUE OF SPACE
Our first evening of Art & Performance, featuring works by Kristi Cole & Guests with special curation by Shannon Finnell is still live!
Check out the performance as well as the Virtual Gallery!
Kristi Cole & Guests
Max Coker (Musician, Sound Engineer)
Max Coker is a digital audio/visual performer and installation artist based in Brooklyn with a background in radio, sculpture, and software engineering. Education includes media studies, new media art, engineering and computer science from Stony Brook University and Brooklyn College. As MD at WUSB Stony Brook, responsibilities included management of control rooms, vinyl library archival and on-campus live performance engineering. As an artist’s assistant to collaborative duo LoVid based on Long Island, Max gained skills and knowledge of video technology and paradigms of video art performance.
Performance fills space with improvised sound mixing and real time video composite projections using an amalgamation of custom software and a collection of found sound and video. Showings include performances at Stony Brook University’s MFA open studios and Zuccaire gallery, Wesleyan University’s Zilkha gallery and DIY shows in Brooklyn and Queens at various venues.
Madeline Robertson (Performer)
Madeline Robertson decided to begin pursuing her dance training seriously while growing up at The Dance Gallery of South Dakota. During this time, she attended summer programs such as Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago before getting accepted to the dance conservatory at SUNY Purchase. She had the opportunity at Purchase to perform works by George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Adam Barruch, Sidra Bell, and Doug Varone as well as performing in and choreographing for other students in the program. Since graduating in 2017, she has been based in New York City as a freelance artist and has worked with A-Y Dancers, Joan Bradford, Emily Kessler, Depth Dance and others. She is excited to be a part of this project with Kristi!
Greisy Genao (Cinematographer)
Greisy Genao (she/they) is a poet and filmmaker from Queens, NY with a BA in English Writing and Film Studies from DePauw University. She was awarded the Posse Foundation scholarship to DePauw University in 2014, and in 2018 conducted research on Dominican folklore and film in the Dominican Republic as a Fulbright U.S Student Researcher. They have been published in the anthologies “Women of Eves Garden”, “Ritmo Que Late” and "Ni de Aquí, Ni De Allá" from the Dominican Writers Association, and Sarah Lawrence College’s “Lumina Journal." Their film work has been celebrated across the Dominican diaspora, and alongside being featured at the 2021 Golden Dragonfly International Film Festival in Santo Domingo, their latest short film “Si Ardiera La Ciudad” won first place for the “Dominicans in the Diaspora” short film competition of the 2020 Dominican Film Festival in New York. Greisy has also produced “Stories of the Diaspora," a series dedicated to capturing the narratives of multi-generational Dominicans in New York. As a multidisciplinary storyteller, Greisy seeks to explore and honor the connection between folklore and nostalgia as it appears in the hyphenated Dominican experience.
Therese Ronco (Performer)
Therese is a Brooklyn-based dance artist. She is very excited to be working with Kristi. Therese dances with Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, ChristinaNoel & The Creature, freelance projects, and her own work. She performs with MICCA, Jeff Shortt, and Effy Grey. Therese graduated with a BA in dance from Goucher College where she had the joy of performing works choreographed by renowned artists such as Andrea Miller, Doug Elkins, Pascal Rioult, Doris Humphrey, Jon Lehrer, and Gwen Welliver. She is originally from Massachusetts where she found her passion for the art form learning from Frances Kotelly and Richard Colton.
Shannon Finnell (Filmmaker/ Photographer/ Curator)
While strongly believing that the key to social change is compassionate relationships that lead to genuine support, Shannon Finnell’s work attempts to embody that lesson through the exploration and deconstruction of supportive gestures and moments. Pulling from her BA in Studio Art and Peace Studies from Goucher College in Baltimore, MD, the marriage of visual art and questioning oppressive social structures is where Finnell finds inspiration for her work. She received an MFA in Fine Art Photography from the Parsons School of Design in 2018 and continues to engage with concepts of support through her fine art practice. She brings this passion for support into her role as the Founder and Director of Arts Connective, an arts organization that aims to strengthen international arts conversation through hosting pop-up shows and sharing resources.
Kimiko Tanabe (Performer)
Kimiko Tanabe is from the great state of Colorado and currently resides in Brooklyn as a freelance performer and dancer. She is currently in process with Marion Spencer and Kristi Cole & Guests and collaborates with Lena Engelstein. She trained as a competitive gymnast before slowly making her way to the contemporary dance world. Kimiko holds a degree in English - Creative Writing and Dance from Colorado College. Aries by day, Scorpio by night, she is a lover of literature and finds herself making important life decisions under the eyes and influences of fiction. Drawing inspiration from the novel as form, she understands the body as a vessel to tell stories.
Emma Lalor (Performer)
Emma Lalor is a Queens-based dance artist. A native of Asheville, NC, Emma began her formal dance training with Heather Maloy and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts contemporary dance high school conservatory program. She graduated magna cum laude from Florida State University’s BFA Dance Program with Honors in the Major distinction. While in college, Emma developed a unique study abroad program and spent a semester at London Contemporary Dance School. She has been heavily influenced by the movement experiences and performances she witnessed during that time. Emma has performed repertoire by Trey McIntyre, Ohad Naharin, Alex Ketley and Zane Booker, and danced in new works by Maxine Doyle, Shannon Gillen, Luca Signoretti, Éric Oberdorff and other notable choreographers. She has been featured in creations by LED (Lauren Edson Dance), and Atlanta-based companies Staibdance and T. Lang Dance. She most recently performed in works by Annalee Traylor and Javi Padilla, and is delighted to be working with Kristi Cole for the first time.
Lea Torelli (Performer)
Lea Torelli is a New York based dance artist, choreographer, and administrator. A graduate of Muhlenberg College, she trained at American Dance Festival, Accademia Dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy and b12 in Berlin, Germany. Lea has worked with Shapiro & Smith Dance, Marianela Boan, Svea Schneider, Josh Pacheco Dance Theatre, Deirdre Towers, Beth Soll & Company, and Spaces of Fontana. She is currently collaborating with ChristinaNoel and the Creature and Thea Little. She is a cofounder of Futile Gestures and collaborates with them when not making solo work. When she is not dancing, Lea is an in home Pilates Instructor and freelance grant writer.
Support Us!
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help support our future work. No amount is too small, and every donation will be vital to the sustainability of our work.
Support the Work
Make A Tax-Deductible Donation today!
Kristi Cole & Guests is a sponsored artist with The Performance Zone Inc (dba The Field), a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization serving the performing arts community. Contributions to The Field earmarked for Kristi Cole & Guests are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
For more information about The Field, or for our national charities registration, contact: The Field, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 906 New York, NY 10038, phone: 212-691-6969. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained from The Field or from the Office of Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
Private Pilates
“Change happens through movement and movement heals.”
— Joseph Pilates
About Me:
I am a professional dancer, choreographer and certified Pilates instructor, living in NYC! I have been teaching Pilates and fitness since 2016 and have worked with a variety of populations. Through each class I strive to help my clients experience a transformation within their bodies. I see movement as a means to better understand the power and capacity of the body and that each movement experience helps us to deepen that connection. I believe in working deeply and efficiently, so that our effort delivers sustainable results. It is my goal to help my clients feel stronger, more aligned and more in control of their bodies, both on and off the mat!
private sessions AND AT-HOME WORKOUTS
Whether you are new to Pilates or if you have a longstanding practice, private sessions are a wonderful way to deepen and enhance your practice. I offer customized private and duet sessions. Each session is tailored to help you meet your individual goals. Sessions may be done in your home (with or without equipment) or in a studio with Pilates equipment readily available. To book, please inquire via the Contact page. Thank you!
Weekly (Virtual) Group Mat Pilates Classes
All classes are 45 Minutes via zoom and can be booked via the scheduling page.
“Every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things.”
— Joseph Pilates
For all bookings and inquiries contact me here:
Photo: Shannon Finnell