Panel Discussion on Art & Therapy

How do we touch the unseen? How does art become a place to breathe again?

In this evening gathering curated by the Quadrant International Art Association (QIAA), artists and therapists come together to share not theories, but living gestures, sound, movement, and visuals as portals to healing.

You’re invited to witness, listen, and take part in moments of collective creation. Through conversation and real-time art therapy practices, we’ll explore how creativity restores connection to self, to others, and to the world.

Panelist:

This gathering brings together artists whose work is rooted in the body as a site of memory, transformation, and communal restoration.

Fay Van Alstyne Simpson , founder of the

Lucid Body acting technique, works at the intersection of somatic awareness and emotional expression, guiding performers toward presence and authenticity.

Jakob von Eichel is an actor and founding member of Primitive Grace Theatre Company, whose practice foregrounds relational listening, ensemble work, and character embodiment shaped by a global artistic journey.

Fatima Logan-Alston, dancer and choreographer, draws from diasporic movement vocabularies to bridge history, identity, and the generational body through performance and community engagement.

Derick McKoy Jr, contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and educator, channels rhythm, storytelling, and collective memory into his creative and pedagogical practice.

Jose Urrea, M.Phil., MT-BC, is a Colombian-born multi-instrumentalist, certified Nordoff-Robbins music therapist, and PhD candidate at NYU whose interdisciplinary work bridges music therapy and music education. His current research uses qualitative and arts-based methods to explore how music therapy–informed practices support the well-being and artistic development of university music students within cross-cultural contexts.

Host:

Valkyrie Yao:

Directed and choreographed works have been presented at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Gibney, Dixon Place, The Tank NYC, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Artist residencies, including LA Dance Festival, Choreographers’ Institute, Abrons Arts Center, and Mark Morris Dance Center

Work presented at National Sawdust, Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale MoCA, XV Florence Biennale, and The Wrong Biennale

2025 Interdisciplinary Arts Fellow with Ballet Arizona

Member of CID–UNESCO, with honors from NDEO and the China Scholarship Council

Theme: Nomad Secrets

Date: December 7

Time: Expert panel discussion 4-6pm, Performance Salon 7pm-9pm

Location: FiDi Creatives 106 Fulton St, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10038

Curated by Fay Simpson and Jonathan Bock

RSVP for Performance Salon here:

https://impacttheatrenyc.org/event/performance-salon-nomad-secrets/