Bearnstow’s Young Artist Internship Program, which runs mid-June to late August, is an intensive summer program of dance, creative process, performance and teamwork for a select group of hardworking individuals who show genuine promise and commitment to dance and other performing arts.
2024 Applications are Open!
This summer Young Artist Interns will have the opportunity to participate in workshops with Maria Bauman, Janis Brenner, Claire Porter, K.J. Holmes, Angie Hauser, and Bebe Miller. Rob Flax’s strings workshop is open to interns as well if they are interested and he will be offering some elements of that workshop to collaborate with the dancers.
Be part of productions including: a site specific performance in downtown Mount Vernon, the end of season show at Vienna Union Hall showcasing their work, and several informal sharings throughout the summer.
Connect with the local community and many incredible artists who will come through as participants, retreat artists, and more
All while enjoying the beautiful nature of Bearnstow’s woods and Parker Pond.
Artist Internship Details:
Chosen artists receive the following:
- Full access to all workshops, instruction and mentoring by a faculty of professional artists and Bearnstow staff
- Interns gain experience working with dance, theater, music, and beyond through interdisciplinary collaboration with other artists and instruction by our workshop faculty.
- natural history lectures, hands-on instruction and trail walks
- Opportunity to perform in weekly informal showings throughout the summer
- Opportunity to lead creative session(s) for our youth Day Camp
- Opportunity to meet, study with, and create original work with other artists and students attending each workshop;
- Full use of our facilities and 65 acres of natural lands to explore and create your own work
- A performance produced by Bearnstow at the end of the season to showcase your creative work
- Documentation of work shown during the season.
- Personalized attention due to small class sizes, and invaluable insight into the aesthetic and process of each instructor;
- Chance to be part of a close-knit cohort of artists who collaborate on a program of their own choreographic work in a shared concert at summer’s end;
- Shared room and board throughout the season, and a weekly stipend ($100).
In exchange, the Interns work as a team of capable assistants who can “put their hand to anything.” Interns work in collaboration with Bearnstow’s staff, chef, and facilities caretakers to assist in Bearnstow’s kitchen, with cabin upkeep, and facilities maintenance. Throughout the season it is not unusual for Residents to go from devising recipes and serving incredible meals, to improvising on the shore of the pond, composing sound scores, creating original dance videos, and planning performance projects together outside of camp. Living, working, and making art together are central to the Bearnstow experience.
Summer Dates 2024
June 10 – August 25
Eligibility
Bearnstow’s Young Artist intern program is open to all artists 18+ currently engaged in the study of and/or practice of performing arts including: dance, physical theater, theater, music, and interdisciplinary performance.
We encourage all to apply. Bearnstow does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, physical or mental ability, veteran status, military obligations, or marital status.
All accepted artists must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 before the start of the season and will be required to show proof of vaccination.
To Apply
- Fill out the form through the “Apply Now Button”
- Send a letter of interest and resume/cv to molly(at)bearnstow(dot)org
Applications are Open now and Close February 29 at 11:59pm
Final Decisions will be made by the end of March
Please contact molly(at)bearnstow(dot)org with questions about the internship or application!
Past Artist Interns:
Meet the 2023 Young Artist Interns
Third generation Korean-American, Ari LaMora (they/them/theirs), graduated from the University of Oregon where they received degrees in both Dance and Cultural Anthropology. They also received their license in Massage Therapy which heavily informs their practice and process. Now based in New York, they have performed in an evening length show by Chaesong Kim, a solo excerpt by Willow Green, were a part of the Leimay Incubator Program, premiered their first screendance at Mark DeGarmo’s Virtual Salon Performance, and will be exhibiting portraits and performing in a movement installation at the Estia Festival. In their work, they are aware of the pathways our bodies create to efficiently complete a task. By surrendering to or rejecting said pathways, they explore the different ways in which we, too, can surrender to or reject things in our own lives.
Sonya Marx is a choreographer and dance artist living, teaching, and making in the borderlands of Southern Vermont and New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts on Abenaki and Wabanaki land. They have studied modern dance and improvisation with many wonderful teachers, including Ellie Goudie-Averill, Tori Lawrence, The Architects, Penny Campbell, Jungwoong Kim, Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, Claire Porter, Sara Shelton Mann, Abigail Levine, and Los Little Guys. They have had the pleasure of dancing in works by George Balanchine, Clifton Brown, Mucuy Bolles, and Vanessa Anspaugh, among others. Their choreographic work has been commissioned by Northfield Mount Hermon School, and presented at indoor and outdoor venues from Vermont to Ohio, including Kenyon College dance department, the American College Dance Association, Brattleboro School of Dance, Plex Arts Fest, and SoBo Studios. They received their bachelor’s degree in dance and English from Kenyon College in 2021.
Samara Ternoir (she/her/they/them) is a “Jane of All Trades” in the arts: dancer, choreographer, performer, poet/writer and published author, photographer, cinematographer, painter, and lover of all things creative. She enjoys exploring the bounds of being a multimedia visual and performing artist. They have a special love for social, erotic, and hip hop dance, but they move in whatever way their body desires. At Hampshire College, Samara is studying Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT), sex education and sexology. She is fascinated by the concept of performance in nontraditional spaces and subjects, as well as how we as individuals and a society exhibit ourselves through movement, sexuality, and identity.
Hannah Kraenbring is graduating from Goucher College this May with a bachelor’s degree in Dance and a minor in Studio Art. Before college, Hannah trained at Pennsylvania Regional Ballet in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She has studied ballet, modern, West African dance, improvisation, and composition at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland and has performed with the Goucher Repertory Dance Ensemble for the past four years. She has created four dance works at Goucher College, working with both live performance and dance film. Hannah is a multimedia artist, practicing forms of fine art such as watercolor, photography, sculpture, and printmaking. Her work is currently on display in the Rosenberg Gallery at Goucher College as part of the Student Showcase. Hannah is interested in the integration of art, nature, and dance and excited to explore these concepts at Bearnstow this summer.
Janis Debanhi is a scenic artist specializing in dance and performance for the past eleven years. She is particularly interested in circus arts, as well as in dances of a historical and cultural nature such as Vogue femme, dancehall, Brazilian funky, and burlesque. She believes that working with the strength that comes from sensuality can enhance the scenic discourse. For her, the recognition of her body and the balance that inhabits it are integral parts of her search as an artist.
2023:
Samara Ternoir, Hannah Kraenbring, Sonya Marx, Janis Debhaní, Ari La Mora
Photo by Kenneth Osborn
2022:
Mira Livia Berkson, Annie Kidwell, Max Laszewski, Janis Casillas-Estrada
2019:
[Back row] Heriberto “Chino” Mendoza; Ellen Oliver; Molly Hess (Bearnstow Director); Lucas Rollins-Page. [Front row] Laura Miola; Jonathan Trejo (Guest Artist)
2018:
[Clockwise from left] Ocoee Chapelle; Sophia Diehl; Daniel Ramírez; Symara Johnson; Bárbara Valencia
2017:
[Back row] Owen Prum; Chaesong Kim; Marc Ferraro. [Front row] Mario Hernández; Angela Cole; Ellen Oliver
2016:
[Back row] Ben Swenson-Klatt; Jonathan Trejo. [Front row] Ellen Oliver; Chaesong Kim; Eliza Malecki
2015:
[Back row] Allison Bradley; Harper Foote; Michal Freriks. [Front row] Megan Mizanty; Anabel Sagrero; Jmaw Moses
2014:
[From left] Emmanuel Becerra; Evelyn Langley; Tyler Rai; Ben Grinberg; Eri Matsui; Anabel Sagrero
2013:
[From left] Adam Kerbel; Cristina Woehlert; Nicole Garlando; Karina Culloton; Heriberto Mendoza
2012:
Emmanuel Becerra; Dasha Chernova;Tyler Rai; Ashley Tanberg; Nitzia Vieyra
2011
Nitzia Vieyra, Timo Wagner, Molly Hess, Lizzie Joy Loveland