Tushrik Fredericks is a Johannesburg-born interdisciplinary artist, choreographer and performer whose practice is rooted in ritual, rhythm and embodied movement research. His work investigates identity, vulnerability and the body as an archive of lived experience, exploring how movement can become a means of expression, transformation and returning to oneself. Having left South Africa at seventeen, Fredericks spent over a decade living and working primarily in New York before returning to Johannesburg, where he is currently based.
A 2026 TED Fellow and recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation's Chris Hellman Dance Honor, Fredericks has collaborated internationally with contemporary dance artists and companies including Shamel Pitts/TRIBE, Sidra Bell Dance New York and ate9 Dance Company. His performance in Shamel Pitts' Touch of RED received a Bessie Award nomination. He graduated from the Peridance Certificate Program in New York City in 2015 and subsequently served as assistant lecturer to Sidra Bell at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia from 2016 to 2018.
His independent choreographic practice includes (territory) of the heart, presented at the International Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival Stuttgart, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in New York, and the 2026 ICA Live Art Festival in Cape Town. His quartet til Infiniti (2025), supported by a Princess Grace Special Projects Grant, premiered at Triskelion Arts in New York and is archived in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. His collaborative work to begin with no end, co-choreographed with Rebecca Margolick, received the Baryshnikov Arts Center Open Residency Award in 2023.
Fredericks is also the founder of INFINIT WORKS, an evolving platform for movement, creation and research, dedicated to cultivating artistic expression, experimentation and exchange across disciplines and communities.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Movement has always been one of the ways I understand myself and the world around me.
Growing up in Johannesburg, I remember the energy of dance circles forming in clubs and communal spaces. People gathering, shouting, encouraging one another, and creating something together through rhythm and movement. These experiences have stayed with me. They taught me that dance is not only about what the body does, but also about what we feel, share and experience together.
Today, my practice moves between choreography, performance and movement research, rooted in three principles: ritual, rhythm and embodiment.
I am interested in what happens when we give the body time to move beyond what is familiar or expected. Repetition is an important part of my process. I often return to simple movements, allowing them to change through rhythm, duration and physical effort. I am curious about the moments when something unexpected begins to emerge, when movement becomes less about form and more about an honest expression of what is happening within us.
My own experiences of identity, belonging and living between different cultures continue to shape the questions I bring into the studio. I am drawn to the many sides of being human: strength and softness, vulnerability and resilience, individuality and collectivity. I don't necessarily want to resolve these contrasts, but rather explore how they can exist together.
Through my work, I hope to create experiences that invite people to feel, reflect and connect, whether through an intimate gesture or an intense physical encounter. I am interested in what becomes possible when we allow ourselves to be fully present, both as individuals and together.
At the heart of my practice is a simple curiosity: what can we discover about ourselves and one another when we allow the body to speak?
Movement Practice
My movement practice is rooted in three interconnected principles: ritual, rhythm, and embodiment.
Ritual is the approach. I engage dance and performance with the same intention, care, and wholeheartedness one might bring to a spiritual practice. Movement becomes an act of presence, attention, and meaning-making.
Rhythm is the language. Beyond groove, rhythm encompasses time, pace, nuance, repetition, and change. It shapes how we listen, respond, connect, and move through the world.
Embodiment is the practice. It is the act of being fully present within oneself, aware of the space around us and our relationship to it. Through action and experience, embodiment invites us to bring our full selves into each moment.
Together, ritual, rhythm, and embodiment create a framework for movement that values presence, connection, and transformation. Through dance, I seek to cultivate deeper relationships to ourselves, to one another, and to the world around us.
40 - 60 MIN PERFORMANCES
(territory) of the heart
choreography and performance by Tushrik Fredericks
soundscape by TT Britt
physicalizes the experience of the human heart; grappling with identity, vulnerability and expressing the inner potential that lies within humanity to soar, challenge and find serenity.
to begin with no end
co-choreographed with Rebecca Margolick Lighting by Connor Sale
using spirituality as a vessel for connection and a common denominator between two distinct yet interconnected religions. Empathy, trust, and intimacy are shared within the multitudes of relationships we embody with each other. Grounded in the performers’ religious backgrounds—Muslim and Jewish—they navigate the complexities of their identities to give access to be with each other and see from the other side.
til infiniti
choreography by Tushrik Fredericks
performers: Claude Johnson, Nouhoum Koita, Channce Williams and Tushrik Fredericks Soundscape by TT Britt
Clothing by Dauan Jacari
Lighting by Connor Sale
a dreamlike work that explores the variety of black and brown fantasies and utopias through diverse and multi-dimensional physical expressions of becoming, flourishing, shedding, and primal unity.
