When Professor Julen Esteban-Pretel presented his proposal for a joint collaboration between four departments of Queens College (CUNY): Drama, Theatre & Dance, Art, Economics, and Sociology, the concept was, in part, to highlight A Year of Migration at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, which started in October, 2019, with the exhibition, Arte Cubano. Postponed by the pandemic until now, the focus of this exhibition is seventy mostly black and white photographs by Esteban-Pretel, seen here, selected from a collection of hundreds, documenting the dancers’ and choreographers’ portraits, backstage, rehearsal, and performance of four works by four QC dance professors including former dance concert director, Richard Move, with Guanglei Hui, Carolyn Webb and Edisa Weeks, and performed by QC students in 2017 titled Migrations. The photographs are accompanied by performance videos, props and costumes from the production. 

Julen Esteban-Pretel is an Associate Professor in Economics at Queens College, CUNY, and a New York City-based photographer with a PhD in Economics from New York University. Esteban-Pretel lived in Tokyo from 2004 to 2014 where he was a professor at the University of Tokyo, while at the same time, he photographed some of the biggest artists in rock, pop, metal and punk music. While Julen is best known for his documentary and live music photography, he also often shoots dance, portraits and city landscapes. 

Julen’s photography work has been published in books, magazines and newspapers, such as TOUR DREAMS, Primal Footmark #5 to #8, Rolling Stone Magazine, Metal Hammer, KERRANG! Magazine, Guitar Magazine, Rhythm and Drums Magazine, Switch, Quick Japan, PMC, Massive, The New York Times and The Guardian. His work has also been used on the covers of DVDs, album covers and DVD booklets for ONE OK ROCK, coldrain, Soziedad Alkoholika and Those Damn Crows.

MIGRATIONS Fall, 2017 Faculty Dance Concert
November 30, 2018
Queens College Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance

Wait for Me
Choreography: Richard Move
Dancers: Robyn Cascio, Maggie-Mae Cronin, Noni Byrd-Gibbs, Steven Jeltsch, Victoria Murgida, Asia Pharr, and Wei Yao
Music: Moby, courtesy of MobyGratis; Scream Pilots (Ambient); Wait for Me (Paul Kalkbrenner Remix)

Lost in the Journey
Choreography: Guanglei Hui
Dancers: Steven Jeltsch, Yichen Zhang, Sameerah Mohamed, and Inayah Webster
Music: Ludovico Einaudi; Orbital; Dominic Glynn
Costume Design: Whitney Locher

what’s in your suitcase?
Choreography: Edisa Weeks in collaboration with the Dancers
Dancers: Leah Davidson, Liselotte Fana-Mejia, Delsa Heredia, Sheryl Miller, Sameerah Mohammed, Jaria Morris, Brittany Stewart, and Elise Walters
Music: Monarch Dance, Beth Quist; Happy, Byron Stingily; Carnaval de Sao Vicente (jazzy carnaval mix) – Cesária Évora, Francois K. & Joe Claussell; Gracias A La Vida, Violetta Para (sung by Elise Walters)
Text: The Dancers and Edisa Weeks
Bag Construction: Nelly Reyes

Click here to download the screenplay for what’s in your suitcase?

Systems of Survival
Part 1 – Tradition/Community
Part 2 – Rebellion
Part 3 – Spiritualism 
Part 4 – Amalgamation/Gratitude/Celebration
Choreography: Carolyn Webb
Dancers: Ashley Ararat, Noni Byrd-Gibbs, Destiny Cabrales, Dominique Curd, Kevin Duong, Khiabet Leal, Jaria Morris, Manjari Jasmine Parikh
Musicians: Wen-Ting Wu, Brian Maulick, and Dmetri Fernandez
Music inspired by traditional rhythms of West Africa and the Caribbean
Special thanks to Michael Lipsey of The Aaron Copland School of Music 

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