UPCOMING:
July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2027
Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist (RCA), New York Live Arts

January 2026
Work-in-progress showing for Live Artery at New York Live Arts during APAP

Fall/Winter 2026
Premiere at New York Live Arts

this is the beginning, this is the end interrogates the phenomenon of history repeating itself through a two-part, unison, non-unison, non-hierarchical, canon dance. Performed by an ensemble of six dancers and two musicians, the interdisciplinary work scrutinizes leadership, agency, and the thresholds we encounter individually and collectively. Kotze examines how individual bodies carry the residue of political and social systems, and how the act of tearing down and rebuilding becomes both an artistic and human imperative.Cascading waves of intricate, rigorous, layered movement and sound engage the current socio-political challenges and reflect on two divergent forces: the need for collectivism to accomplish change and, its most dangerous manifestation, unthinking conformity.

Dancers: Lena Engelstein, Wendell Gray II, Molly Heller, Joanna Kotze, Symara Sarai, Hsiao-Jou Tang

Musicians: Maralie Armstrong-Rial, Ryan Seaton

Lighting designer: Kathy Kaufmann

this is the beginning, this is the end is being commissioned, produced, and will be premiered by New York Live Arts as part of the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Program (RCA), at Live Arts in New York City in Fall 2026, with lead funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund. this is the beginning, this is the end is co-commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works, and has been supported in part through residencies at Marble House Project, Milvus Artistic Research Center, LMCC’s RehearsalWeek, the Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow, and Loghaven Artist Residency, and is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. 

Joanna is a recipient of a 2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a 2025 NDP Finalist Grant Award, and a 2026 NYSCA Support for the Artists award (Choreography Commissions), all of which are contributing to the making of this is the beginning, this is the end.

During our Pillow Lab residency at Jacob's Pillow in March 2025, we developed this is the beginning, this is the end during a 10-day intensive working period culminating in a public work-in-progress showing.

The above Inside the Pillow Lab film was directed and produced by Nel Shelby Productions. The 2024-2025 Pillow Labs received lead support from: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation © 2024 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Inc.

To watch the video with subtitles, please go HERE.

At the Pillow, I collaborated with dancers Lena Engelstein, Wendell Gray II, Molly Heller, Symara Sarai, and Hsiao-Jou Tang; musicians Jennae Santos and Ryan Seaton; and writer-in-residence Lauren Slone. Together, we advanced the project through improvisational practices, structured material, and reflections on past and present strategies for survival and change.