For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sarah France
equusprojects.onsitenyc@gmail.com
763-229-3824
JoAnna Mendl Shaw
joannamendlshaw@gmail.com
917-533-4946
The Equus Projects Presents:
INTERSPECIES LISTENING
JUNE 20-21, 2026 – 2 PM
TICKETS $25
LITTLE T RANCH – 736 ODELL LAKE RD EXT, HOBART NY 13788
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT WWW.EQUUS-ONSITE.ORG
Hobart, NY; June 20-21, 2026:
The Equus Projects, in collaboration with equine trainer and musician Dan McCarthy present Interspecies Listening: Lessons With A Master June 20-21in Hobart, NY. The Equus Projects is a company of skilled professional dancers trained in horsemanship who explore the artistic possibility of dancing with horses. Designed as a theatrical framing of the work of Dan McCarthy, this 80 minute site-specific performance merges dance, improvisation, horsemanship, live and electronically composed music, and visual installation. The work features McCarthy playing live guitar against a rich sonic landscape created by musician JP Davis. Audiences interested in attending Interspecies Listening should be aware that the performance will be outdoors, and will involve a short walk from parking to the performance site. Those with
accessibility or mobility needs are encouraged to contact The Equus Projects with any questions or requests for assistance.
Tickets are available online through the Equus Projects website, https://www.equus-onsite.org/performance-hobart-ny. Advanced ticket purchase is strongly recommended, as seating is limited at each performance.
BIOS
Choreographer/Equus Projects Artistic Director: JoAnna Mendl Shaw
Choreographer and dance educator JoAnna Mendl Shaw has been expanding the parameters and strategies for dance-making since 1998. Her company, The Equus
Projects, tours extensively, creating site-specific works in immersive collaboration with local communities.
Shaw has taught on faculty at NYU, The Juilliard School, Alvin Ailey BFA and Certificate Programs, Princeton University, Mount Holyoke College, Montclair State,
Marymount Manhattan, and as a Visiting Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. She has been a Visiting Artist at University of Florida, Ohio State, Colorado State, Dickinson College, Point Park College, University of Wisconsin.
Shaw is the recipient of NEA Choreographic Fellowships and NEA grants for The Equus Projects’ Interdisciplinary Performances. She has brought her practice of Physical Listening into elementary schools and academic think tanks, the Naval War College, NYU Medical School and Stanford School of Medicine. Shaw is a certified Laban Movement Analyst and author of Physical Listening, A Dancer’s Interspecies Journey.
Equine Trainer and Musician: Dan McCarthy
Dan McCarthy is an accomplished musician and equine trainer. He has lived in upstate New York for over 20 years, coaching equestrians and training horses at multiple equine rescue facilities. Seemingly worlds apart, music and horsemanship both call for heightened embodied thinking, a form of physical genius.
McCarthy began his musical training at age 7, studying with teachers Ronnie Lee; Billy Bauer; and Charlie Parker, who attuned McCarthy to the backbeat and swing which later helped Dan connect to the horses’ rhythm. He also studied later with Aaron Richards, Nicholas Zenovich, and Ray Gogorty. Dan spent over 25 years teaching and playing professionally as a jazz and classical guitarist, ran a full-service music store, and his career included gigs as the house band at the Montauk Yacht Club and playing at CBGB in NYC. In Oneonta he ran The Guitar Clinic and has played in bands and clubs throughout the region.
The Equus Projects
The Equus Projects creates site-specific performance works that viscerally engage with the geographic and cultural environments. Their work often brings dancers and horses into shared landscapes. Equine works are created in collaboration with local equestrians and their horses.The Equus Projects company is a core of highly accomplished professional dancers who have extensive natural horsemanship ground skills training. Horsemanship deeply informs all choreographic content, shapes the company's Physical Listening studio practice, and lies at the foundation their teaching. The company brings a unique inter-species lens into the dance world and beyond. The Equus Projects has taught Physical Listening sessions for the Strategic Studies think tank at the Naval War College, offered workshops at NYU Medical School, done corporate leadership training sessions, performed as the keynote event for the Creative Problem Solving Institute and taught pre-med students in the School of Medicine at Stanford University.
The Equus Projects dancers are actively merging sensing and thinking inside performance works constructed as a complex interweaving of scored events and rigorous
choreographic material. The performers function in a constant state of real time decision-making, drawing audiences into a state of visceral sensory awareness.
The Equus Projects is a 501c3 Nonprofit Dance Company.
