Nyx Hauth
\\ Bio //
Nyx (they/them, @nyxhauth) is an artist, musician, songwriter, and producer who uses their lived experiences as a nonbinary, queer, second gen South Asian/Bengali American to explore themes of impermanence and reclamation using electric/acoustic lever harp, spoken word, and dance. Their art is rooted in their experiences as a grassroots organizer for environmental, economic, racial, and LGBTQ+ justice. They combine this with their academic conflict resolution pursuits, researching anti-trans legislation, to create unique interactive performances centering healing and transformation. Nyx has released a full length studio recorded album, Funeral Afterparty, with their band The Dead Friends Club (@tdfcmusic).
\\ Mission //
Nyx believes creative expression is expansive, and incorporates music, spoken word, and dance in performance. Their work explores the impermanence of everything, and humanity’s deep struggle to accept it. They create unique, memorable experiences through improvisational and interactive elements. Creating unreproducible performances aligns with their view of art and existence as transitory. It is an extension of their self view; as an agender person they are at a crossroads of nonexistence internally and unexistence externally.
They began decolonizing their creative practice informally, learning from the examples of others such as Alok Vaid-Menon, whose 2016 performance at Grinnell College as part of the duo DarkMatter deeply resonated with Nyx. They continued their practice more formally through workshops with The Haus of Glitter in 2021. Since then, they have been on a continual path of unlearning and relearning, discarding the harmful molds and inviting in healing to be able to embody it through their work and to their audiences.
They center healing and transformation in creation and performance, aiming to create community in each small act. They also create community as co-leader of the NYC-based Queer Producers and Songwriters Music Group with Ellie Kim (she/her) and Blake Campbell (they/them).
\\ Background //
Musically, Nyx is influenced by J-rock and prog/jazz rock, such as Elephant Gym, Chon, and Eve. Their playing style is informed by their background in traditional Irish/Celtic music, having qualified for and competed in the world competition of Irish music four times. They continued studying music in college, playing various genres including rock, pop, funk, and jazz. They have learned from harp players such as Maeve Gilchrist, Gráinne Hambly, Dr. Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, Deborah Henson-Conant, and Taylor Ann Fleshman. In spoken word they look up to current poets such as Alok Vaid-Menon and Kit Yan, and look back on words of Rumi, Audre Lorde, and Oscar Wilde. Their background in dance includes ten years of Irish dancing and a dance minor from Boston Conservatory at Berklee focusing on movement, acrobatics, improvisation, contact skills, and more learning from the likes of Mary Jo (Clark) Cange, Olivier Besson, and Jun Kuribayashi.
