Andre M. Zachery
André M. Zachery is a dancer, choreographer, and interdisciplinary artist, who was born and raised in Chicago. His involvement in the arts was destined due to family members’ who were artists. In 2002, he moved to Brooklyn and is now considered a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist of Haitian and African America descent. He is a scholar, researcher and technologist who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ailey/Fordham University and Master of Fine Arts in Performance & Interactive Media Arts from CUNY/Brooklyn College. As the artistic director of Renegade Performance Group (RPG) his practice, research and community engagement artistically focus on the merging of choreography, technology and Black cultural practices through multimedia work.
André’s works through RPG have been presented domestically and internationally, receiving support through several residencies, awards, commissions. These have included the CUNY Dance Initiative, Performance Project Residency at University Settlement, ChoreoQuest Residency at Restoration Arts Brooklyn, 3-Legged Dog (3LD) Art & Technology Center, HarvestWorks and a Jerome supported Movement Research, AIR. Awarded grants have been from the Brooklyn Arts Council, Harlem Stage Fund for New Work and a Slate Property SPACE Award. Commissions have come from the Brooklyn Museum, Five Myles/BRIC Biennial and Danspace Project.
RPG’s outstanding works have been favorably published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, Culturebot, Infinite Blogspot, Futuristically Ancient, Hyperallergic, the Brooklyn Rail, the Daily News and AFROPUNK.
As a technologist, André has collaborated with various artists through RPG, the design team of 3LD Art & Technology Center and The Clever Agency. These works have included design installations, immersive media productions, film editing and performance collaborations.
André has worked on projects across artistic mediums as a choreographer, media designer and consultant. Some of those artists are Daniel Bernard Roumain, Cynthia Hopkins, Davalois Fearon, Dance Caribbean COLLECTIVE, Arin Maya, Rags & Ribbons, The Clever Agency, Kendra Foster, and Spike Lee. As a scholar, André has been a panelist and presented his research at institutions such as Duke University, Brooklyn College, University of Virginia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Research papers presented, focused on a myriad of topics including Afrofuturism, African Diaspora practices and philosophies, Black cultural aesthetics, technology in art and performance and on expanding the boundaries of art making within community. He has taught at Brooklyn College and been a guest faculty member at the dance programs of Florida State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, The Ohio State University and University of California Los Angeles. In addition, he has been a leader of group talks and facilitator of discussions.
André is a 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard Fellow in Choreography and 2019 Jerome Hill Foundation Fellow in Choreography.