PIETER INCUBATOR SERIES
The Pieter Incubator Series shares stories from people who have been rooted in and nourished by Pieter’s community over the years.
September 2026: Jay Carlon
Jay Carlon (he/him) is a Los Angeles based artist working across performance, film, installation, and community gathering. His practice explores migration, postcolonial identity, queer futurity, grief, ritual, and collective healing. Rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration and site-responsive performance, his work blurs the boundaries between dance, visual art, experimental sound, and social practice. Jay’s collaborations with Pieter span over a decade, and highlight the space’s vibrancy as a hub for LA’s performing artists.
Could you tell us a little bit about who you are, and how you first got involved with Pieter?
“My name is Jay Carlon. I use he/him pronouns. I have been a part of the Pieter community since about 2010. I've been taking classes, attending shows, contributing to the Free Boutique... I've taught workshops there, and I've received commissions from the organization. And I'm still a big fan!
I first got involved with Pieter when [dancer-choreographers] Rashaun [Mitchell] and Silas [Riener] did a performance there with Jmy [James Kidd]. I ended up seeing it and was like, What is this performance? Who are these dancers passing through Los Angeles? There might have been a class attached to the event, like a Cunningham [technique] workshop, or something somatics-based. At the time, I was in grad school at Cal State Long Beach. Being at Pieter, I felt like I'd stumbled into a pocket of Los Angeles that lived in the shadow of Hollywood. It started brewing something interesting in me.”
You mentioned that exploring and trying new things has been an important part of your Pieter experience. You also mentioned that you've taught workshops at Pieter, and that you've gotten some commissions from Pieter too. With all that in mind, what does the phrase "Pieter is an incubator" mean to you?
“When I hear the phrase "Pieter is an incubator," I completely connect it to my relationship with this space. It's one hub of a community that I've been a part of for over 15 years. I can go to Pieter if I have an idea, and I know that someone there -- whether it's the director or a board member, or someone I'm crossing paths with in the space -- can help support that idea.
One way Pieter has helped incubate my work is by offering me space to develop workshops, like The Body as Site and Queering Technique. I also got a commission from Pieter and Metro Art in 2021, and created my dance film, "Baggage," at Union Station [in downtown Los Angeles]. And in every case, I had a lot of mentorship, whether it came from Jmy, or Dorothy [Dubrule], or Nguyen [Nguyen, a Pieter board member], or other members of the Pieter community.”
Why do you think it's important to support Pieter, especially during the Emergency Fundraiser?
“Pieter is a place where experimental performance, critical studies, and communal dance forms all come together. I don't know many spaces in Los Angeles that offer the breadth of offerings that Pieter does. I mean, it's my favorite space in Los Angeles! I love the new location, and I love that programming like [Bernard Brown's performance/installation] Sissies can happen there, it was so beautiful.
Just to shine a light on Bernard: I've seen that dance in all its iterations, including the version at REDCAT [that premiered as part of the theater's New Original Works Festival 2024]. I loved that version, but the Pieter show exceeded it: it had a real community vibe, especially with the audience being set up in the round... and that's what work is about! Black dance, queer Black nightlife. I felt Pieter was supporting all those things by supporting Bernard's work. I'm really excited to see more performance activations in the space. And hopefully this fundraiser can help make that happen.”
What felt "interesting" to you? Could you name or describe that quality?
“To me, Los Angeles dance is not afraid of spectacle. It's not afraid of healing. It embraces a lot of desires that so many postmodern artists, and the institutions that support their work, have been afraid to acknowledge and integrate into their practices. Pieter feels like an intersection: it embraces the weirdos, and the postmodern, experimental folks too. It's a diverse tapestry of what Los Angeles stands for. It's also a space where we can explore as artists.
Early in my Pieter experience, I was back and forth between LA and New York a lot, and at Pieter, I really felt like I had the freedom to fail. I don't think I had that freedom in New York City, and in other large cities.”
What future dreams do you have for Pieter?
“The future dreams I have for Pieter extend to the future dreams I have for Los Angeles. I want to experience more frequent adult dance class offerings! Classes of all levels, for people of all abilities... technique classes, composition classes, community workshops. I would love to see Pieter to continue being a place where there's a regular class schedule and subsidized rental pricing. The dream that I have for this space is that it can truly serve as a center for Los Angeles dance.”
If you could come up with three words to describe Pieter, what would they be?
“Pieter is radical. Pieter is accessible. Pieter is fucking smart.”
👉🏽 Watch the interview on Instagram!