Choreographer Jerron Herman and Historian of Science and Technology Mara Mills discuss opera and disability and Herman’s approach to choreography and design for the upcoming 2025 world premiere of Sensorium Ex, a contemporary opera composed by Paola Prestini, with libretto by Brenda Shaugnessy and co-direction by Jay Scheib. In partnership with NYU Center for Disability Studies, the evening will investigate the ways that disability shapes time, with a particular focus on the possibilities and paradoxes of fermata in Herman’s work. Dance and music from the work will be part of the discussion.
Participant Bios:
Jerron Herman (CBA ’24) is a dancer and writer who is compelled to create images of freedom. The nuanced pieces Jerron exhibits uplift an early childhood desire to create joyful worlds in which others inhabit. He has premiered works at Danspace Project, Performance Space New York, and The Whitney Museum. Jerron’s VITRUVIAN premiered in NYC and has toured to the Baltimore Museum of Art curated by Johns Hopkins University, ODC in San Francisco and a digital release for Lincoln Center. He’s traveled to a ceramic residency at the famed EKWC in the Netherlands and exhibited for 1969 Gallery (Chella Man), LOMAA in Ontario, and ICA Philadelphia (Carolyn Lazard). Jerron is also the choreographer and co-director of Sensorium Ex, a new opera set to debut in 2025. Other accolades include a 2021 Grants to Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and a 2021-2022 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Dance from the Jerome Foundation. The 2021 PETRONIO Award and residency as well as a 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship by the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 07.
Mara Mills (CBA ’22) is Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University and co-director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies (CDS). She works at the intersection of sound studies and disability studies, and programs disability arts events at CDS. Mills is a founding editor of the journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. Most recently, she co-edited the book Testing Hearing: The Making of Modern Aurality (Oxford University Press, 2020) with Viktoria Tkaczyk and Alexandra Hui. She has published articles in Grey Room, differences, Social Text, PMLA, and Technology & Culture, among others. Mills received B.A. degrees in Biology and Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an M.A. in Biology and Ph.D. in History of Science from Harvard University. Mills’ public arts and humanities writing can be found at sites like Triple Canopy, Artforum, Public Books, Somatosphere, and AVIDLY—a channel of the Los Angeles Review of Books.
FOR IN PERSON ATTENDANCE: Per NYU Policy, guests are required to bring photo ID. Failure to do so may result in entry denial. Additionally, all in-person guests must be registered into NYU’s guest access system, and the information will be used for purposes such as emergency procedures and contact tracing.
This is an in-person event. The program with be recorded and posted to our Youtube channel. Please email nyucba@gmail.com with any accessibility needs.
Photo Credit: Jerron Herman by Adrian McCourt, and Mara Mills by Rinn Blair
