Inside the Pillow Lab: Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group

In this residency, choreographer Reggie Wilson returned to the Pillow to develop "Sublimation of Clarity" [working title], with contemporary interdisciplinary artist Nicholas Galanin as part of their multi-year collaboration. Wilson develops dance and kinesthetics, Galanin sound and visual elements, and together they create and weave a unique soundscape for the new work that explores evocative and provocative questions and responses rooted in human experiences and life changes imposed by loss, personal grief, connections to the Mississippi Delta blues, perspectives of resilience, and ideas around the word “community.” This foundational phase sought to sublimate hubris through deep listening, trust, and authentic exchange, embracing what emerges from the process. Wilson and Galanin aimed to unearth intangibles of growth, leadership, belonging, and community while building pathways toward self-realization and self-determination. Founded in 1989, Reggie Wilson / Fist and Heel Performance Group is a Brooklyn-based dance company that investigates the intersections of cultural anthropology and movement practices. Wilson draws from the cultures of Africans in the Americas and combines them with post-modern elements and his own personal movement style to create what he calls “post-African/Neo-HooDoo Modern dances.” Reggie Wilson / Fist and Heel Performance Group made its Pillow debut in 1996 and has returned in several seasons since, including for presentations in the Doris Duke Theatre in 2014 and the World Premiere of POWER in 2019, which was developed in two Pillow Lab residencies. Nicholas Galanin is a Sitka Tribe of Alaska multi-disciplinary artist and musician of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent whose work examines the complexities of contemporary Indigenous identity, culture, and representation. Galanin holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from London Guildhall University in Jewelry Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Indigenous Visual Arts from Massey University in New Zealand, prior to which he apprenticed with master carvers and jewelers in his community. He is represented by Peter Blum Gallery in New York, his music is released by Sub Pop Records in Seattle, and he lives and works with his partner Merritt Johnson and their children in Sheet’ka (Sitka), Alaska. Residency Dates: February 11 – 22, 2026 Video by Nel Shelby Productions.