The
Cocoon
Residency
A by-invitation performing artist residency in Albuquerque, NM, providing exceptional artists with rehearsal/performance space and financial support to grow their creative practice.
Produced by Elyse Fahey and hosted by Studio Sway,
The Cocoon offers each artist-in-residence the rare
opportunity to co-design their residency experience.
Each annual Cocoon cycle is generously funded by Sandra Abruzzo:
dancer, artist, intuitive guide and visionary patron of the arts.
"I have come to know Elyse as a beautiful dancer and gifted artist who explores the shadow and light of the human experience through her work.
I am honored to help Elyse support each Cocoon artist-in-residence,
so that they can create freely and share their unique gifts with the world."
-Sandra Abruzzo
2027
cocoon
artist-in-residence
announcement
coming
soon!
2026 Cocoon
Artist in Residence
bobcat
ranf
photo: Andres Salazar
'The Cocoon Residency gave me something incredibly rare as a choreographer: unrestricted access to space, resources, and time, with the freedom to take big artistic risks without compromising my own instincts or integrity. I was able to experiment, share what I was making with an audience, take in feedback, then return to the studio to keep questioning and reshaping. Having the opportunity to present two sold-out performances, and to connect with the community Elyse has cultivated around Studio Sway, made the residency feel like a true incubator rather than simply a place to rehearse. That combination of freedom, resources, feedback, and community helped me discover a stronger sense of my own artistic voice. To have an opportunity like this in Albuquerque, surrounded by the singular beauty and magic of New Mexico, made the experience even more meaningful.'
-bobcat ranf
Therapy unleashes a tirade of raw admissions, mutating bodies, destabilizing realities, and bleeding secrets. Characters move through fever dreams, conjuring nostalgia for a world before branding and masks erased authenticity.
This transgressive dance-theatre production romps through popular culture in 2026, seen through the eyes of a post-hope generation.
This panoply of surreal pleasures spirals toward one unruly thought: maybe we’ve all lost our f*cking minds.
THERAPY premiered at Studio Sway in March to sold out audiences,
and was featured in the Abq Fringe festival in June 2026
Bobcat Ranf is a multi-disciplinary artist and movement educator originally from Montana whose practice spans dance, choreography, acting, writing, storytelling, and podcasting.
For over a decade, Bobcat performed his own work and danced for numerous choreographers in New York City, including long-term collaborations with Raja Feather Kelly’s the feath3r theory. In 2017, he was a Brooklyn Arts Exchange Upstart artist-in-residence, and in 2019, he joined the 54th cohort of the esteemed New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Artists. In 2020, his work was selected for Movement Research at Judson Church. His first evening-length work, he rip his shirt off completely, was selected for ANTfest, Ars Nova’s renowned annual theater festival, in 2021. He has also performed internationally in Taiwan, Germany, and Canada.
He holds a B.F.A. in Choreography and Performance from the University of Montana and attended the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School on scholarship from 2006-2008. As a movement educator he integrates his knowledge as a 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher and years of experience teaching Pilates and working in clinical rehabilitation. Now based in Albuquerque, NM he balances his artistic practice with life as a muggle, helping small businesses meet their HR goals.
His upcoming podcast, Bobcat’s MAD Thoughts, is a narrative-driven blend of surreal essays, sketches, and monologues unpacking the absurd realities of being just another triggered, oat milk-loving, avocado toast-eating, 30-something homosexual millennial navigating the late stage capitalistic hellscape and chasing every new fad in desperate search of validation.
photo: Andres Salazar