JENELL TAYLOR
Staff Writer
Last Thursday, a collection of dreamlike classical piano fantasies filled a room of the Carnahan-Jackson Dance Studios, providing the pre-professional division of the Chautauqua School of Dance with a gently pensive accompanying score for their 9 a.m. ballet rehearsal.
At the front of the studio, dressed in baggy blue jeans and a paint-splattered white T-shirt, sat Joel Nessim, cross-legged and sketching silently.
The 22-year-old is a rising senior at the Rhode Island School of Design, spending his first summer in Chautauqua Institution focused on enhancing his artistic knowledge and practice in Chautauqua Visual Arts’ 2026 School of Art residency program.
Nessim will participate in the immersive, six-week faculty-led program that mentors emerging artists in a variety of fields such as drawing, fiber arts, ceramics, woodwork and printmaking.
Artists-in-residence will often sit in on dance rehearsals to observe and draw the dancers as they move, providing the artists with live subjects to reference while refining their techniques.
“[The residents] have classes with visiting artists, which is really amazing,” Nessim said. “It’s all pretty self-paced.”
As far back as his memory can take him, Nessim has nurtured his creative interests through the exploration of many artistic mediums, though he remains partial to oil paint. However, for this session, he swapped out his paint palette in favor of a black ink brush pen, a pencil and a large sketchbook.
The task of capturing moving subjects — dancers in particular — can prove to be a trying one. Rather than remaining in a state of stagnant comfort, Nessim invites the challenge. He feels it adds a necessary intrigue and depth to his sketches that allows him to capture impermanence in transitional stages.
“Drawing is a way of experiencing,” he said. “I like to watch [the dancers], and sketching them is just a different way of watching.”
Drawing the dancers means more to Nessim than a live backdrop for practice. When he finds himself away from his brushes and paints, he also likes to dance. The act of movement brings him to a space similar to where he goes mentally while painting.
Using swift pen strokes, Nessim draws his figures with a control that mirrors the precision of the pirouettes and grand jetés that flowed in front of him. In less than 10 minutes, he’s drawn about eight forms — all in various stages of motion and position.
The forms appear faceless and ambiguous upon first glance, but Nessim’s technique works to quickly reveal the dancers’ adagio: the sequence of sustained, controlled movements that are foundational to ballet.
“I don’t feel like any of the poses that I’m drawing really exist, because I’m catching them in between movements,” he said. Pointing to the figures in his sketchbook, he continued, “Maybe this is when they were spinning — like this, with their arms up.”
Nessim said he’s excited for more opportunities like this to arise while he continues his residency. These up-close, interactive experiences enable him to further cultivate his practice and enrich the breadth of his artistic capability.
“I love this collaboration with the dancers,” he said. “I really admire them and what they are able to do with their bodies — it’s crazy!”
So far, Nessim’s residency experience has been an impactful one. Although his time in Chautauqua is centered around advancing his education and evolving in his craft, he is also concerned with spotlighting the individuals who are willing to lend their talents so he can strengthen his own. What he asks of readers is simple: “Go watch the dancers.”
