33 1/3 & Under: Meet Multi-Disciplinary Artist Lena Azela Dahbour

Lina Azalea Dahbour is an excellent representation of the new breed of multi-hyphenate creatives who are choosing to call the Hudson Valley home.   

I first became acquainted with this 28-year-old dancer, performance and video artist, sculptor, and lighting designer when we were both performing at Avant-Garde Arama – an edge-pushing performing arts festival that began in the 1980s at P.S. 122 in New York City and relocated to our area along with its co-founder, Charles Dennis, four years ago. At the fest’s September 2023 edition at Kingston’s Lace Mill, Lina astounded the audience with Light Meditation. It was a piece that truly encapsulated her interdisciplinary approach – a captivating marriage of vigorous movement, music, props, and atmospheric lighting that was one of the standout moments of this two-day-long event.

In addition to performances at venues like ROSEKILL Artfarm and Kingston’s Green Kill Gallery, Catskill-based Lina can often be found teaching dance at her alma mater, SUNY Purchase, and Kingston’s North Node, and also curating events like the kitschy BADDANCE. And like many young artists in our area, she funds and furthers her artistic aims by applying for grants and working side gigs. To that end, you might even have met this energetic artist as she serves up slices at one of this writer’s fave pizza joints, Ollie’s on Broadway in Kingston.

Lina has a genuine passion for art that combines many forms of expression, as well as the community and natural wonders of the Hudson Valley. Read on to hear more about her journey and what’s ahead.

Light Meditation – Photos by Alice Chacon

INSIDE+OUT: Your work is incredibly varied, including the creation of movement and performance art pieces, video and sound, lighting design, site-specific sculpture, as well as participatory and event curation. How did you arrive at this inter-disciplinary formula for your art?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I am a maximalist—I enjoy art that feels like it’s bursting at the seams with vision. My background is in classical and contemporary dance. The other disciplines I work in are a result of my curiosity and the impulses and visions that come to me. I find myself craving “more” when working— I want more music, more sculpture, more color, more media, more people, more contexts— so I try to incorporate as many elements as I can. 

“I am a maximalist—I enjoy art that feels like it’s bursting at the seams with vision.”

When did you become interested in pursuing a life as an artist? What role did your study at SUNY Purchase play in your development? And who have served as your primary inspirations and role models?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I never consciously chose to become an artist— I feel slightly possessed by it. I become obsessed with my creative impulses and visions and need to see them through. I began my time at SUNY Purchase in the dance conservatory. I left due to an injury and returned as an interdisciplinary student, creating my own degree. I believe the intensity of my college experience influenced me to break artistic and curatorial rules. My main role model is Ellen Robbins, who has been my dance teacher since I was five years old. She is endlessly creative, supportive, and an outstanding producer. 

Light Meditation – Photos by Alice Chacon

Your recent work, Light Meditation, is a good example of how you effectively fuse multiple varied disciplines. How was this piece developed, and how has it evolved over your 12 performances to date?

Lena Azela Dahbour: Light Meditation was my first major work — a 25-minute-long multimedia dance piece that premiered at New York Live Arts. I choreographed the movement and designed the costumes, props, sculptures, and video art for the piece. I worked with another Hudson Valley artist, Matt Luczak, on the music. The project was born out of following whims, purchasing stuff on the internet, and experimenting in the attic of my house. Those whims then evolved into solo iterations of the project, which I performed for about a year before creating the entire piece. I would develop one or two of the costumes, props, or sound ideas for each solo show until I had a whole language to work with. Once I brought in other dancers, it was a joy to share the aesthetic universe with them and develop our own magic with it.  

Like many young artists, you are dividing your time and activities between the Hudson Valley and New York City. Tell us a bit about your work up here, specifically in the way of your artist residencies and curation work at ROSEKILL Art Farm in Kingston and Groundworks in Gardiner? 

Lena Azela Dahbour: The Hudson Valley has been transformative in my artistic endeavors. My first experience with the community up here was at a residency at ROSEKILL Art Farm in 2019. I found the land to be intoxicating and the artists to be open-minded and visionary. Jill and Hoke at ROSEKILL allowed me time and space to create experimental and site-specific works. Groundworks is also a wonderful space, run by the amazing Kristen, whose daughter, Maddie Leonard-Rose, was in my piece, Light Meditation. They gave me an enormous amount of studio space that helped with that project. Greenkill, run by Dave Schell in Kingston, was a space that helped me with video software, equipment, and expertise. I have found the people in the Hudson Valley to be exceptionally generous with their time and resources, and I feel incredibly grateful for them. 

Community Hazard is your latest work, a piece you have performed in venues in Hudson, Catskill, and Kingston as well as New York City. What was the inspiration for this work?

Lena Azela Dahbour: Community Hazard is a piece based upon my visions of how to care for somebody in crisis. In these visions, members of a community physically and energetically surround the person in pain, healing them with the interconnected strings of their energy. When someone is in crisis, they can take on a radioactive quality that makes others not want to be around them. Our culture’s general attitude towards these people is to isolate them— in hospitals, jails, or as social pariahs. Community Hazard asks audience members to physically and energetically hold someone (in most cases, me) who might be difficult to hold. I use caution tape as the material for the audience to hold me as a metaphor for the “hazard.” Performing the piece has fundamentally changed my self-esteem. I believe being held by people in a web of community, even if we are suffering in an extreme way, is the key to healing. 

“Community Hazard is a piece based upon my visions of how to care for somebody in crisis. In these visions, members of a community physically and energetically surround the person in pain, healing them with the interconnected strings of their energy.”

The life of an artist is a difficult one. How have the grants you’ve received from ISSUE Project Room and Franklin Furnace furthered and increased the scope of your work? And how important is it for artists to receive this kind of support?

Lena Azela Dahbour: Working with institutions is a variable experience and really depends on the institution’s values and leadership. I had a fantastic experience with Franklin Furnace. They take a hands-off approach, giving artists money and letting them do their thing undisturbed. That money allowed me to create Light Meditation, and I am deeply grateful for it. I believe it is essential for artists to receive financial or institutional support if it genuinely advances the artist’s own objectives. Sometimes, institutions attempt to utilize artists to further their own institutional interests, and I believe we need to be protective of our creative energy. 

In addition to performing, you undertake a great deal of curation, collaborating with Momenta, BADDANCE, and ROSEKILL Art Farm, among others. What do you seek to accomplish, and what inspires you to present an artist when you are working as a curator? 

Lena Azela Dahbour: I view curation and event production as a form of community service, a way to impact people’s lives positively. I established my event series, BADDANCE, while I was at SUNY Purchase in 2017, as a balm for the perfectionism that ran rampant in the dance world. I designed a curatorial experiment in which I tasked my classmates to create and present the most “bad” dance work they could conceive. Giving people the space to rebel against what they think art should be is transformative and liberating.

I co-founded Momenta with Lena Deutsch in 2022. Our mission is to give dancers and movement-based performance artists a voice in the New York City art world and in spaces that are not traditionally oriented towards these art forms. We are always looking to present artists with strong and unique voices. Check us out on Instagram at @momentanyc

In reading your CV, I see that you are also a teacher, working with your alma mater, SUNY Purchase, and in Kingston at North Node. Who are your students? Are they all accomplished dancers? Are they all ages? And what have you learned from being a student that you can impart?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I was lucky to return to SUNY Purchase to teach improvisation and contemporary dance to freshmen. The students there are a joy and very technically gifted. During my time there, I tried to impart the importance of a gentle and loving approach towards our bodies. At North Node, I was teaching an open-level ballet class. It attracted a diverse range of people, from those who had studied dance in college to individuals who had never taken ballet before. As a student, I often felt afraid of my teacher or the teaching environment. As a teacher, I strive to be casual and open, making it clear that the space is for the students, not for me to achieve my own goals.  

“I love so much about the Hudson Valley: the land, the people, the arts community…To me, there is a specific culture here that I think is valuable, of people who have lived an urban lifestyle and have then chosen to reconnect with themselves, the land, and significantly slow down”

When and why did you decide to live in the Hudson Valley? What is it about this area that you most love?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I moved to the Hudson Valley, specifically Kingston, in 2021. I grew up in New York City, and I was looking for a quieter place with access to nature and an arts community. It was a bit of luck that brought me here— a friend had a room open in an apartment at the time, and I leaped. I love so much about the Hudson Valley: the land, the people, the arts community. There is an abundance of physical resources. To me, there is a specific culture here that I think is valuable, of people who have lived an urban lifestyle and have then chosen to reconnect with themselves, the land, and significantly slow down. That specific life path gives way to a set of values that I cherish. Folks here are also very generous with their time and resources, and open-minded; they want to see weird and interesting stuff manifested.  

Where are some of the venues and events that you would recommend Hudson Valley art-lovers frequent to see inspiring work?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I recommend ROSEKILL Art Farm in Kingston/Rosendale, The Avalon Lounge in Catskill, Glasshouse Project in New Paltz, Opus 40 in Saugerties, and The Lace Mill in Kingston. 

Who are some of the local artists and creatives that most inspire you?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I am lucky to be surrounded by brilliant, creative artist friends up here! I am very inspired by the dancers Jillian Sweeney, Charles Dennis, Sayer Mansfield, Maddie Leonard-Rose, and Charlotte Stickles; visual artists Otto Ohle and Sludge Thunder;  musicians Nancy Kim, Meredith Kooi, and Music for Furniture; and curator Sarah Van Buren. 

What is it about the Hudson Valley that makes it unique to live + work here? 

Lena Azela Dahbour: The Hudson Valley has a unique combination of abundant natural resources, a strong local community, and proximity to a major city. People are collaborative and interested in making things happen. 

What impact do you, as an artist, have on your community?

Lena Azela Dahbour: Art moves people’s souls, makes them feel connected and seen, and inspires them. I believe my job as an artist in the community is to uplift and heal people.

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful in your career and just to enjoy life?

Lena Azela Dahbour: Clove Valley Community Farm in High Falls, run by Aileah, has given me a space to exist and connect with people and land, which has been so nourishing. Ollie’s Slice Shop in Kingston, run by Innis and Sophie, has provided me with flexible work and a fun environment that helps me manage my wild artistic endeavors. I really appreciate People’s Place in Kingston, which is an affordable thrift store that has made it possible for me to purchase a wide range of supplies, clothes, and art materials at a very low price. 

“Art moves people’s souls, makes them feel connected and seen, and inspires them. I believe my job as an artist in the community is to uplift and heal people.”

Photoz by Hudson Valley Visuals

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I wish we had more dance parties! Shoutout to Community Rave Network, which throws great dance parties. 

What would be your dream assignment/gig? 

Lena Azela Dahbour: To run my own dance company with a large team of dancers and creators. 

Who or what inspires you personally?

Lena Azela Dahbour: I am inspired by courage and novel visions. 

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know. 

Lena Azela Dahbour: I grew up in a huge apartment building in uptown Manhattan.

What is your favorite non-musical activity?

Lena Azela Dahbour: Being in nature— hiking, swimming, camping, observing. 

Photos courtesy of Lena Azela Dahbour + Hudson Valley Visuals + Alice Chacon  + Eli Jacobson +  Miao Jiaxin
Feature photo by Alice Chacon 

Follow/Connect with Lena Azela Dahbour Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.

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