Performance Co/Lab is an open invitation to all performing artists, creatives, and curious individuals looking to explore movement practices. Through a sustained program, participants will explore performance exercises such as contact improvisation, breath work, acting warm-ups, games, and techniques. Each session will introduce new and unique exercises throughout the duration of the Performance Co/Lab program. Performance Co/Lab is a bi-monthly gathering facilitated by the community for the community.

Co-facilitators Mary Chase and Carlos Páez González are excited to bring a wealth of knowledge and collaborative spirit to cultivate and sustain a movement-based and performance-focused shared space, through Performance Co/Lab at 421.

About the instructors 

Carlos Páez González

Carlos is a multidisciplinary theater artist and game designer. His work focuses on creating new realities where audience-participants explore new ways of being themselves and interacting with other humans and non-humans. Carlos has been involved in Theater since the age of 13, performing in public venues with community groups in Venezuela and Abu Dhabi. Some of his recent works are After the Mountain Wildfires, a participatory live performance with a game-like structure presented at Dubai Expo 2020, and Dinos Rock, an immersive and interactive play for children. Carlos holds a BA in Theater from NYU Abu Dhabi and is currently an artist fellow in the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Emerging Artists Fellowship.

Mary Chase

Mary Chase and her company C H A S E D A N C E create site-specific multi-media collaborations captivating audiences in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and now in the Middle East here in Abu Dhabi. Every place Chase lives and works she strives to create opportunities to grow towards cultural inclusion as a compassionate global citizen and artist. Bridging art-making with contemplative practice is paramount to Chase's artistic vision and process ethos. A few highlights over the years have been making work for The Centro Cultural National Theatre of Guatemala, the Castle Schoenbrunn in Vienna, community performances at the Center for World Music outside of Ubud, Bali, Ponderosa in Stolzenhagen, Germany, the National Steinbeck Center of California, in the Dance Barn in Wilton, New Hampshire, Chase Public in Cincinnati, or recently at Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC. Chase is a Jingui Golden Shield Qi Gong student, a Certified Laban Movement Analyst, and a Bartenieff Fundamentals Practitioner from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City. With 20 years of teaching, experience, she is a master performing arts teacher with a graduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin.