Pioneer Winter Collective

Pioneer Winter Collective Democratizing performance through the unexpected. As a young q***r artist, he uses social and cultural narratives to anchor his work.

Pioneer Winter is a Miami-based choreographer, and director of the Pioneer Winter Collective – invested in interdisciplinary collaboration, transmedia, physical theatre and contemporary dance. The Collective is interested in creating and presenting work that is risk-taking, progressive, and experimental.

🌳 The 2026 Grass Stains artists created powerful site-specific work, and we’re excited to share what they each developed...
06/03/2026

🌳 The 2026 Grass Stains artists created powerful site-specific work, and we’re excited to share what they each developed.

Share some love with Hattie Mae Williams (), whose work was situated by the wayfinder fountain on the south side of the park.

Hattie reflects:

“Never leave a space the same way you found it. Your breath is felt and left behind. The offerings you gave are swallowed up by the elements, hungry more.”

🙏 Sincere gratitude for our process doula , as well as our community partners , , .

About the artist:

Hattie Mae Williams is a Miami‑based choreographer and interdisciplinary artist, and founder of The Tattooed Ballerinas, a company dedicated to site‑specific performance since 2003. She merges dance, film, installation, and public intervention in unconventional spaces like laundromats, cemeteries, and supermarkets. Williams trained at New World School of the Arts, Ailey/Fordham BFA , and Goddard MFA program. Support for her work Includes a Knight Arts Challenge award for Culture Concrete.

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The 2026 Grass Stains artists poured their hearts and souls into their site-specific work, and we’re excited to share wh...
05/29/2026

The 2026 Grass Stains artists poured their hearts and souls into their site-specific work, and we’re excited to share what they each developed last week.

Let’s keep going with dance artist Cecilia Benitez ()!

Cecilia’s performance was situated among the baobab trees - at the tension point between “War Giro” by Carlos Luna & “Shells Used to Build Roads…” by Lawrence Weiner; however most of the inspiration behind the performance came from the themes in Sir Isaac Julien’s “Vagabondia.”

Below are some of Ceclia’s own reflections:

“My durational solo emerged as a response to the labor of dance: the continuous physical, emotional, and aesthetic work involved in performance. Moving between effort and display, the performance lingers in the space where practice and performance blur. I considered the body as a site of visual art, while reflecting on the economic disparities between dance and visual art institutions, where dancers are often underfunded and rarely regarded as artists in their own right. Rather than presenting a finished or perfected performance, the work foregrounded the ongoing labor required to sustain performance and spectatorship.”

Sincere gratitude for our process doula , as well as our community partners , , .

About the artist:

Cecilia Benitez is a Miami‑born dancer and choreographer with a BFA from Point Park University. She performs with Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Adele Myers and Dancers, and Syncopate Collective. Her choreography has been commissioned by Miami Light Project, Pioneer Winter Collective (Grass Stains 2022), Bistoury Physical Theater and Film, and supported by Miami Dade County Cultural Affairs. Benitez’s work blends physical intensity, humor, intimacy, and everyday ritual.

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Thank you, Syncopate Collective () for having me this past Tuesday night. We breathed as one body, negotiated hold and r...
05/28/2026

Thank you, Syncopate Collective () for having me this past Tuesday night.

We breathed as one body, negotiated hold and release, sustained and refrained, moved through duets and quartets, flocked and un-flocked, paraphrased each other in colander duets. Through all of it their hearts stayed wide open. I loved the energy and joy. And super happy to meet new dance people in Miami.

Grateful to be wrapping such a busy month with communal practice. I can’t wait for the next time!



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✨ Just a tiny recap from last night! Thank you everyone who came out! Grass Stains residency culminated last night at p...
05/22/2026

✨ Just a tiny recap from last night! Thank you everyone who came out! Grass Stains residency culminated last night at presented by and - as part of the special event Searching for Collective Memory.

🌳 Darryl Brown (), Nina Osoria Ahmadi (), Lisa Kusanagi (.kusanagi), Arsimmer McCoy (), Nicole Pedraza (), Cecilia Benitez (), Hattie Mae Williams () in this year’s journey alongside returning process doula Gabri Christa () and me!

Following the Grass Stains performances & guided experiences by , the night concluded with a panel curated by moderated by Corey Davis of Maven Leadership Collective () featuring Vanessa Charlot, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, and Lise Ragbir.

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Grass Stains artists, our visiting process doula Gabri Christa, and our partners, Commissioner and Maven Leadership Coll...
05/18/2026

Grass Stains artists, our visiting process doula Gabri Christa, and our partners, Commissioner and Maven Leadership Collective, gathered for a pre-residency gathering at 🍊💕

This year, Commissioner () invited us to bring Grass Stains into partnership with their “Searching for Collective Memory” program at The Bass Museum of Art () alongside Maven Leadership Collective (), creating a shared residency rooted in site and public encounter.

We’re excited to welcome Darryl Brown (), Nina Osoria Ahmadi (), Lisa Kusanagi (.kusanagi), Arsimmer McCoy (), Nicole Pedraza (), Cecilia Benitez (), Hattie Mae Williams () into this year’s process alongside returning mentor Gabri Christa ().

Over the next week, the artists will develop site-responsive performances, culminating in a public evening of tours, interventions, and conversation on Thursday, May 21.

🌳 Highlighting our returning Grass Stains mentor !I’ve known Gabri Christa for more than a decade. Our relationship bega...
05/13/2026

🌳 Highlighting our returning Grass Stains mentor !

I’ve known Gabri Christa for more than a decade.

Our relationship began through her role as an advisor for the ScreenDance Miami Festival, and over time Gabri became a personal mentor as I navigated the many hyphenated roles of artist, producer, and educator.

Gabri models what it means to remain an artist who constantly seeks growth while supporting the development of others. Through her mentorship with Grass Stains, South Florida artists experience her rare combination of rigorous feedback, empathy, and curiosity.

It’s an honor to bring Gabri back to our community. 💜

🌟 Recovery in Motion returns this July for a special 5-week summer mini cycle at Miami Theater Center.🗓️ Wednesdays · 7:...
05/13/2026

🌟 Recovery in Motion returns this July for a special 5-week summer mini cycle at Miami Theater Center.

🗓️ Wednesdays · 7:30–9:00 PM
July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

Recovery in Motion is a movement and theater workshop space for people in recovery to reconnect with their bodies, creativity, and community through guided movement, reflection, improvisation, and shared experience.

No dance experience needed.
Free to attend.

Miami Theater Center
9806 NE 2nd Ave, Miami Shores

👯 💃 🕺🏽 .campos 🕺🏽 💃 👯‍♀️

Grateful to our partners and supporters who help make this space possible.

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Address

Miami, FL
33138

Telephone

+17869258292

Website

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