VESSEL is a short-process residency for choreographers to expand their creative capacity and sharpen their decision-making within a condensed timeframe. Designed and hosted by Elyse Fahey, VESSEL invites choreographers to create a 30+ minute work in 2 days.
VESSEL 2027 CHOREOGRAPHER
MADRONE MATYSIAK
Madrone Matysiak is an independent dance artist and choreographer based in Taos, New Mexico, USA. She is also a professional producer and photographer.
Madrone is interested in how the Self presents and interjects when in performance and in our daily lives. She uses a broad dynamic palette, gestures, and theater-informed composition to create works that investigate the loneliness of the stage, communication with beings whose language we do not speak, and transitions from one phase of life to another. The compositional approach informs her production and portrait photography.
She has danced with J. Garcia Dance Company, Kelsey Paschich, Vladimir Conde Reche, Amanda Hamp and AGA Collaborative, ARCOS Dance, Donna Jewell, and Elyse Fahey in Albuquerque, and visiting guest artists Lee Wei Chao, Francesca Harper, and Miguel Gutierrez. Internationally, Madrone has performed with lawine torren in Sölden, Austria and toured as movement director and choreographer of a theatre piece in Beijing, China.
She creates work for stage and film, and frequently collaborates with theater artists and directors. Most recently, she performed a new work by Erik Ehn at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City.
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VESSEL 2026 CHOREOGRAPHER
ELYSE FAHEY
Elyse Fahey is a multidisciplinary dance artist from Albuquerque, NM. After completing her training at the Merce Cunningham School in New York in 2006, she began her professional career working with Doug Varone and Dancers, J. García Dance Company, Donna Jewell, and as a freelancer. Her choreography and performance have featured at Carmel Dance Festival, SOLOCOREOGRAFICO in Germany and France, winning the Audience Choice Award, and Cora Dance Festival in Italy. Elyse was selected as one of six Artistic Development mentees worldwide with Alleyne Dance in the UK, and received a full scholarship to From The Soil Movement in Brooklyn, NY in 2025. She has received local recognition through Authentically Albuquerque, UETF’s Resiliency Residency, and The Keshet Makers Space Experience. Elyse is the executive director of Studio Sway, a community hub for freelance and independent contemporary dance artists, where she hosts ongoing classes, artist residencies, intensives, and performances.
Elyse was the first choreographer to generate a new work through VESSEL. ‘sparkling bones’ was made in 10 hours over 2 days. The piece also featured as 1 of 15 mainstage productions in the Albuquerque Fringe Festival in 2026.