April 13, 2007
Kat Wildish, Ballerina and Dance Educator, 4-13-07
Kat Wildish is a high-caliber dance instructor, currently teaching multi-level ballet and pointe technique for children and adults. Kat also trains teachers for the Dance Educators of America.
Kat is one of America ’s few ballerinas whose career has traced a path through the likes of Balanchine, Baryshnikov, and Nureyev, as well as Europe ’s most-revered choreographers, performers, and master teachers. Her performing credits include New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and numerous international companies. Kat is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Ford Foundation Scholarship under which she attended the School of American Ballet .
Posted by David Lemberg at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
Hassan Christopher, Artistic Director, Company of Strangers, and Monica Gillette, Filmmaker and Professional Dancer, 2-16-07
Hassan Christopher’s career in the performing arts has spanned nearly 15 years. Using an experimental approach he draws from classical, modern and contemporary urban dance forms to realize his vision of “Post-Hip Hop kinetic storytelling.”
Christopher began dancing in his native Chicago as a Deep House freestyle artist influenced by Breaking and martial arts. On a dare he took a dance class and ended up with a two-year scholarship to Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. Christopher’s passion for dance led him to NYU's Tisch school of the arts where he studied contemporary dance and experimental theater.
After New York, Christopher traveled to Eastern and Southern Africa, Brazil, India, Southeast Asia and Japan to study the styles, roles and social relevance of the performing arts within different cultures. His travels deeply influenced his belief in the transformative power of dance and theater.
Before Founding the Company of Strangers Christopher danced with David Rousseve, Diavolo Dance theater, Hiedi Duclker's Collage Dance theater, Rosanna Gamson World Wide, Julliard's Laura Glenn, Bill Evans, KT Niehoff and Maureen Whiting Company. He continues to perform and develop relationships with inspired contemporary dance artists.
Christopher recently finished choreographing/co-directing an expanded version of Sable and Batalion's critically acclaimed Hip Hop theater Musical, JOB The Hip Hopera. He is currently producing a collection of original Dance Electronica blending elements of House, Hip Hop, R&B and Blues as material for future Company of Strangers performances.
Christopher is Dance Faculty at UCLA LMU and the Edge Contemporary Dance Center in Hollywood. His teaching and performing continue to take him to new destinations around the globe.
Monica Gillette is an experienced filmmaker and professional dancer. She grew up training as a ballet dancer on scholarship with Stanley Holden Dance Studio and with the Joffrey Ballet. She also fell in love with the craft of film editing and quickly rose through the ranks of the commercial film world, working on such shows as The Sopranos, and Dick Wolf's Crime & Punishment. Since leaving Hollywood to return to dancing full-time, she has toured the U.S., Germany and Japan and has worked with several choreographers, including Patrick Corbin, Noemie Lafrance, Joe Goode, Yvonne Rainer, John Malashock, Helios Dance Theater, Company of Strangers, and most recently with the rock band Fischerspooner.
Monica now merges her two passions through dance films, which have screened at Dance Camera West, and she just completed a film with Johannes Wieland, which premiered as part of a live performance in New York City.
Posted by David Lemberg at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2007
Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith, Performers and Choreographers, 2-9-07
While in the process of enjoying two distinctly individual careers in performance and choreography, Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith met and discovered a shared desire to make dances that confront conventional notions of dance making. They formed casebolt and smith in the spring of 2005. Their focus on collaboration has enabled them to collide two diverse histories, exposing layers of social, cultural, gendered, sexual, and educational differences.
casebolt and smith have presented work all over Southern California including Focus Fish Studios in Hollywood, Garrison Theater in Claremont, Burnight Theater in Norwalk, Anatomy Riot and The Loft in Los Angeles, and 4x4 at the Bluefoot Lounge in San Diego. casebolt and smithwere selected to participate in Hothouse; a three-week residency at UCLA designed to foster the development of new work by Los Angeles–based dance makers, curated by Victoria Marks. Their first full evening, Popped!, premiered in September 2006 at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. Their work has been described as “offering terrific dance-theater insight into the human condition” (David Lemberg, ARTSCAPE) and as “funny and accessible” (East Valley Tribune).
Popped! will be remounted at Scripps College February 16th and 17th, 2007. casebolt and smith can also be seen premiering a new work at Anatomy Riot in Los Angeles on February 12th.
Liz Casebolt is a dancer/choreographer/educator currently residing in Los Angeles. She has a B.F.A. in dance from New York University. While in New York, Liz danced with Partridge/Benford/Dance/Music and Claire Henry and Dancers. She has danced in works by Cliff Keuter, Michael Montanero, Ellen Bromberg, Ann Carlson and many others. In Phoenix, AZ Liz was a principal dancer with Frances Cohen's Center Dance Ensemble, performing lead roles in Hamlet, La Llorona, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the title role in The Snow Queen. She was also a founding member of Lisa Starry's Scorpius Dance Theatre, and was the Artistic Director of lizcasebolt&dancers. The Arizona Republic wrote: “Casebolt turns her head or kicks a leg, and you know she expects the world to take note.”
Joel Smith received his Master of Fine Arts degree for Experimental Choreography from UC Riverside in 2004. His choreography has been produced at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA on several different occasions, various college campuses around southern California, and his career as a concert-dance artist has taken him to New York City, Boston, Miami, Phoenix, and to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has been invited by professors in dance studies at both UCLA and UCR to deliver lectures on making dances, the choreographer’s process, and branding in the commercial world: choreographies of a product.
Posted by David Lemberg at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2007
Robert Weiss, Artistic Director, Carolina Ballet, 2-2-07
Robert Weiss, former principal dancer with New York City Ballet and past artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet, was selected in April 1997 as the founding artistic director of the a professional company known as Carolina Ballet, based in Raleigh, NC.
Carolina Ballet serves the ever-expanding Triangle community that includes Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Research Triangle Park, Fuquay-Varina and beyond. After only seven seasons, Carolina Ballet with a budget of $4.3 million is being recognized as one of the top ten ballet companies in the country. The company totals 31 dancers and has performed 62 times in Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Chapel Hill and Wilmington between September 2005 and May 2006.
During the 2005-2006 season (Carolina Ballet’s eighth season) the company revived Romeo and Juliet and presented another Raleigh premiere of a Balanchine work, Agon, along with Weiss’ Petruschka and a new ballet by Weiss, Petit Ballet Romantique, to music of Leo Delibes. The second half of the season opened with Shakespeare Suite in which Carolina Ballet presented three ballets based on works of William Shakespeare – The Moor’s Pavane choreographed by Jose Limon; Love Speaks choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett to readings by an actor of several of the bard’s sonnets; and Tempest Fantasy, a premiere choreographed by Robert Weiss to the 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning score of Paul Moravec.
Three new ballets choreographed by Robert Weiss, Tyler Walters, and Timour Bourtasenkov were presented in the spring on a program called Spiritual Journey to beautiful liturgical music as an Easter celebration. The season ended with a brand new full evening Cinderella choreographed by Robert Weiss to commissioned music by Karl Moraski. With the exception of Messiah in 1999, Cinderella exceeded ticket sales for previous Carolina Ballet productions.
There were several highlights to the eighth season beyond the success of the productions. In the fall Carolina Ballet officially launched its 3-year “World Class American Ballet – Make it Yours” campaign to raise $10.5 million to stabilize the company and ensure its future. The company received an invitation to travel to China to present Swan Lake during a seven-city two and a half week tour in the fall of 2006; and the company embarked on a collaboration with UNC Wilmington for a summer residency on the campus starting in July 2007.
Carolina Ballet was one of four companies in the country to receive a fellowship grant to participate in the New York Choreographic Institute program. Tyler Walters and Timour Bourtasenkov were selected by the Choreographic Institute to each create a ballet on Carolina Ballet dancers during a two week period at the end of the season, culminating with an informal presentation in the studio.
Posted by David Lemberg at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
John Malashock, Artistic Director, Malashock Dance, 2-2-07
John Malashock is recognized as one of California’s most productive choreographers over the last 20 years. He brings his many year of experience in the dance and theatre field to his current endeavors as Artistic Director of Malashock Dance, where he has created nearly 60 original choreographic works. He founded Malashock Dance in 1988 after a distinguished performing career with Twyla Tharp Dance in New York.
John began his performing career with the Utah Repertory Dance Theatre, where he worked with such prominent choreographers as Lar Lubovitch, Anna Sokolow, Donald McKayle and Jennifer Muller. With the Tharp Company, John performed worldwide, was featured in numerous television specials (Dance in America, The Catherine Wheel, Twyla Tharp Scrapbook), appeared in the Academy Award winning Film Amadeus, and performed in benefit concerts with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Cynthia Gregory.
John has many collaborative credits to his name. He has choreographed for productions at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theatre and the San Diego Repertory Theater. He was commissioned by the San Diego Symphony to choreograph Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence and by the La Jolla Music Society to choreograph Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with Esa Pekka Salonen for SummerFest La Jolla. The San Diego Opera commissioned his choreography for its productions of Aida, their World Premiere production of Conquistador, and their new production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, which moved on to New York and San Francisco.
Malashock, a four-time EMMY Award winner, has garnered much attention for his media collaborations. John received Emmys for his choreography in the KPBS-TV produced specials of his works, Apologies from the Lower Deck and The Gypsy’s Wife. He collaborated with UCSD-TV on The Soul of Saturday Night and Love & Murder, for which he won additional EMMYs – and these production have gone on to air nationwide on PBS affiliate stations. His 2000 work, Blessings and Curses, received the San Diego Dance Alliance's Tommy Award for Outstanding Overall Production, as well as the KPBS Patte Award for Outstanding Dance Theatre.
John is also a respected teacher and leader within the dance community. He has taught numerous workshops and residencies with Malashock Dance, the Tharp Company and at major universities. He has served as a faculty member at the American Dance Festival, California State University Long Beach, and in Japan at the American Dance Festival/Tokyo. John is a fellow and affiliated artist of the Los Angeles– and Israel–based Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Most recently, he founded The Malashock Dance School at the Company’s new home – Dance Place San Diego at NTC Promenade, which he was instrumental in developing for the San Diego dance community.
Posted by David Lemberg at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2007
Mira Cook, Dancer and Choreographer, 1-26-07
Mira Cook is a dancer and choreographer. She began her training at the age of 3 and was performing regularly by the age of 6 with the Youth Ballet Theatre of Austin (TX). Ms. Cook went on to dance in the corps de ballet as a trainee with Ballet Austin and in leading roles with the Austin Dance Ensemble. She has danced in programs at Boston Ballet, University of Utah, and most recently LINES Contemporary Ballet's professional workshop.
Ms. Cook is in her fifth season as a company dancer with City Ballet of San Diego. She recently performed as Principal in City Ballet’s production of Rubies by George Balanchine.
Choreography by Ms. Cook includes Two Fold, performed by City Ballet of San Diego in 2006, Radial performed by members of City Ballet of San Diego in 2005, and Midnight in a Perfect World, performed by the Austin Dance Ensemble in 2001.
Posted by David Lemberg at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2006
Rebecca Bryant, Dancer/Choreographer, 10-6-06
Rebecca Bryant collaborates with dancers, musicians, actors and visual artists on dance pieces that combine movement, sound, text and visuals. She is an improvisor as well as a choreographer, and has become known for creating work that is overtly political and often humorous. Rebecca creates work as a solo artist, as a Lower Left Performance Collective core artist and as co-founder of the past)(modern performance duo (with percussionist Don Nichols).
Rebecca brings dance to the community by performing in traditional theaters as well as site-specific locations, including art galleries, fountains, abandoned electrical factories, public parks, rusted spiral staircases, mall escalators, swimming pools and cliff sides. Currently based in San Diego, Rebecca has taught and performed around the U.S. and abroad.
Rebecca is a recipient of the Glorya Kaufman, Jean Irwin and Forti Family Awards (1999-2000), a Regents Conference Travel Grant (2001), an Artsbridge Scholarship (2000), and a residency at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program (2005). Her choreographic work was selected for the Gala Concert at the Southwest Region American College Dance Festival in 2000.
Rebecca holds a BA in Visual Art from the University of California, San Diego, where she specialized in photography, painting, film and installation. She received an MFA in Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she focused on performance theory, body modalities and dance education in addition to her choreographic and improvisational work.
Posted by David Lemberg at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)
Daniel Marshall, Artistic Director of LaDiego Dance Theater, 10-6-06
Daniel Marshall began his dance career in California at the San Diego Creative School of Performing Arts. By 1997 Mr. Marshall became Artistic Director of the San Diego Contemporary Dance Ensemble. Under his direction the company grew from eight to 12 members. Mr. Marshall set several pieces on the company, including Lover’s Lament and Blessed Assurance.
In 1997 Mr. Marshall received the Tommy Award (Best Male Performer/Choreographer). In 1999 he become a member of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. In 2001, Mr. Marshall was named “One of the 25 Dancers to Watch” in Dance Magazine.
Mr. Marshall received the National Choreography Award in 2002. He is now Artistic Director/Founder of LaDiego Dance Theater in San Diego, and was appointed Artistic Director of San Diego Civic Youth Ballet from 2005-2006. In 2006 Mr. Marshall directed and choreographed the musical Cats for the San Diego Junior Theater. He is currently dancing with California Ballet.
LaDiego Dance Theater was established in 2004 by Artistic Director Daniel Marshall. Mr. Marshall brings together both seasoned professional dancers and highly talented local youth to perform in his company. LaDiego is a nonprofit 501(C)3 Contemporary Ballet Company.
Company mission: To inspire the community to participate in the power, passion and beauty of dance. Through performance and education, we aim to encourage innovation and experimentation, fusing classical and contemporary styles, to rediscover the common vocabulary of dance. We invite you to help bridge the gap between the symphony hall and the streets, to articulate the relevance of dance beyond the realm of music television, bringing dance back to dance.
LaDiego has performed widely, and also produced annual productions including Power, Passion & Beauty 2004; Young & Gifted 2005 & 2006; and Dance N Designs 2005 & 2006. The company is currently setting pieces for the premier of Harlem Nutcracker "Land of the Sweets", Saturday, 18 November 2006, at the Educational Cultural Complex, San Diego, CA.
Posted by David Lemberg at 05:48 PM | Comments (0)
September 30, 2006
Lynn Simonson, Founder of the Simonson Technique and Co-Founder of Dance New Amsterdam, 9-29-06
Lynn Simonson is the mind and body behind the Simonson Technique which she has been teaching for over 35 years. The Simonson Technique is a concert jazz dance form founded on anatomically based principles of body awareness and alignment. Her Technique is currently taught in 19 countries worldwide.
For the last ten years Lynn has directed Expanded Dance, an annual summer retreat for holistic dance practitioners located in Rockport, MA. She is a choreographer in her own right and was director of the Jazz Project and New Vision for Dance at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for over 12 years. Lynn's expertise in concert jazz, anatomy awareness classes and her educational methods in training future teachers has her sought after by dance schools and organizations worldwide. Lynn devotes her time away from Dance New Amsterdam as a tireless international guest teacher.
Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), one of New York City’s premier dance service organizations, offers professionally produced performance opportunities for dance artists as well as dance education of the highest caliber at all levels. Established in 1984, DNA serves over 2000 dancers from across the globe in 130 classes each week, as well as presents more than 40 concerts in its 135-seat theater each year. DNA’s commitment to the creation, education and presentation of contemporary dance includes artist residencies, subsidized low-cost rehearsal and administrative space, a Commissioning New Works Performance Program and a host of other programs dedicated to presenting the unique range of today’s contemporary artists. As a unique organization able to provide the entire range of dance services to both artist and audience under a single roof, DNA is proud to have been the first cultural institution to relocate to Lower Manhattan post 9/11, and helped ignite the cultural revitalization of this vital area.
DNA is home to the Simonson Technique, an organic approach to movement created and developed by Master Teacher Lynn Simonson. Based on principles of anatomy and kinesiology and inspired by jazz music, this comprehensive technique has received recognition from dancers throughout the world for over 35 years. Hailed as an intelligent and logical method to prepare the body for dance, the Simonson Technique, with its emphasis on injury prevention, comprises a complete dance technique that not only trains dancers in jazz dance, but prepares them equally well for working in modern dance and other dance vocabularies. Offered daily at four levels — from beginner through advanced — Simonson Technique classes currently make up over one-third of the classes at DNA. The Simonson Technique is also taught by certified teachers in 19 countries worldwide.
Posted by David Lemberg at 03:02 PM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2006
Jillian Chu, Founding Director, BOUNDcontemporaryDance, 9-8-06
Jillian Chu is the Founding Director of BOUNDcontemporaryDance, San Diego’s newest dance company. As a performing artist Jillian has worked and trained through Laban Centre London, Point Park University, Hubbard Street 2, Thodos Dance Chicago, Allyson Green Dance, Gabriel Masson Dance, and the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective. She was awarded “Outstanding Performer” by the American College Dance Festival Association in 2002 and invited to dance at the Kennedy Center.
Jillian has always looked for opportunities to create work. In Chicago, her choreography was featured in the acclaimed “New Dances” annual series and performed by Virtuoso Performing Arts and Accent On Dance. She has been presented in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh as well as San Diego’s Sushi Performance and Visual Art, Stage7 Dance, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the San Diego Dance Alliance.
In 2006 Jillian created BOUND as a platform to further explore and facilitate the creation of dance works with her peers. She has gathered some of the nation’s most beautiful and engaging performers connected by a common thread — the search for truth in movement and communication — and a strong personal bond to one another. Together BOUND dancers share with audiences the power of movement as an entry point into the human condition through dance that is visually and intellectually stimulating.
In December 2006 BOUNDcontemporaryDance & A.S. Peterson Dance premiere ONETOECHO… honoring the passion ONE artist can share with their community. This contemporary dance concert features choreographers in Southern California who are investigating fresh movement concepts. ONETOECHO is part of San Diego State University’s Presenting Series and sponsored in part by “Dream Homes” magazine.
BOUND’s first ever public event took place in April 2006 in the artsy, thrifty, and colorful neighborhood of North Park in San Diego. BOUND was also invited to be a part of the Sushi Performance and Visual Arts New Wave Showcase, which highlights emerging artists.
Posted by David Lemberg at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
Charles Santos, Executive Director, TITAS, 9-8-06
Charles Santos, Executive Director of TITAS, located in Dallas, TX. Mr. Santos has had an extensive career in the field of presenting, performing and producing. He studied dance at UT Austin and danced with Sharir Dance Company for nine years. He founded the Austin Festival of Dance, benefiting AIDS Services of Austin in 1992. Mr. Santos moved to New York in 1995 to further his career in arts management as the Managing Director/Development Director for Eos Orchestra. After two years of concerts at New York’s Lincoln Center, 3 CDs and publishing two associated books, he continued his career as the Producer for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA), a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. At DRA he produced events with such luminaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bill T. Jones and Bebe Neuwirth, as well as creating a grass-roots national fundraising program with dance students across the country.
Before beginning his position at TITAS as Executive Director in October 2001, Mr. Santos was the Managing Director/Producer for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York, producing the highly acclaimed Evening Stars series at the World Trade Center. Evening Stars was named as “Best of New York” festivals for the extraordinarily high caliber of music and dance artists being presented annually on the plaza of the World Trade Center.
Founded in 1982, TITAS is the premier Texas presenter of major dance attractions in a series format, with one of the most successful programs in the Southwest United States.
After achieving success with its dance presentations, TITAS began the companion series of music events in 1988. Since then, TITAS has continued to deliver a growing audience for the world's finest performing arts at affordable prices and has established education and outreach programs not available elsewhere in the community.
Now entering its 23nd season, TITAS has presented over 130 of the world's finest performing ensembles, ranging from the greatest classical companies, to the young American ensembles currently leading the dance world, to ethnic troupes rich in the history of other cultures. The eclectic nature of TITAS programming provides the community a window to the world from Dallas that would not otherwise be open.
Posted by David Lemberg at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2006
Jimmy Gamonet, Artistic Director, and Iliana Lopez, Ballet Mistress, Ballet Gamonet (Miami, FL), 8-18-06
Mr. Jimmy Gamonet received Gold Medals in both the Performance and Choreography categories at the 2nd International Dance and Choreography Competition in Peru in 1979 and, in 1980, and participated in the Third International Ballet Competition in Osaka, Japan. In 1983, he won the highest award for Choreography at the Dance Competition of the Americas in Miami.
The works of Jimmy Gamonet De Los Heros have been performed throughout North America, South America and Europe, and include nearly three dozen set on the dancers of Miami City Ballet during his 14-year collaboration as Resident Choreographer with the company.
Mr. Gamonet’s works have been commissioned/underwritten by AT&T, The Wolf Trap Foundation, The Catherine Filene Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, Neiman Marcus, Barnett Bank of South Florida, The Firm of Steel Hector & Davis and The Windmere Corporation, among others.
Mr. Gamonet's work in ballet's neoclassical style — both abstract and narrative — has been noted and rewarded at a national and international level. He has received three separate Choreography Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, including the prestigious three-year Fellowship, awarded to artists whose “work on a level of national excellence over time extends the aesthetic boundaries of the discipline”. The State of Florida also acknowledged his accomplishments with several Choreography Fellowships. In recognition of his contributions to the art form, Mr. Gamonet was one of eight choreographers chosen for the National Repertory Program.
In 1997, Mr. Gamonet developed a course curriculum for an innovative Choreographers Workshop. His mission: to build a training program with a final goal of educating, nurturing and encouraging aspiring choreographers to continue serious work in the field of dance composition. For several years Mr. Gamonet has been a member of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Dance Advisory Panel and has served as judge panelist of the International Ballet Competition in Peru for the past 8 years.
Miss Iliana Lopez joined the Miami City Ballet as principal dancer in 1987.
Miss Lopez danced principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Theme and Variations, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Serenade, Raymonda, Nous Sommes, Partita, Transtangos, and Supermegatroid, among others, and she originated many lead roles in Ballet Gamonet's repertoire such as Carmen, Purple Bend, Concerto for la Donna, D Symphonies, Movilissima Noble, Caplet, Symphony Allemande, Prokofiev Piano Concerto, The House of Bernarda Alba, Grand Pas Classique.
In 1997 Miss Lopez appeared on the cover of Dance Magazine. In 2000 she received the National Medal of Arts "Arturo Michelena" in Venezuela, for her outstanding contribution to the arts. She appeared on the cover of Pointe Magazine in 2001 and on the cover of Dancer Magazine in 2004.
Miss Lopez was invited to the White House by President Clinton and the First Lady, following a performance gala at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and was given the Key to the City of Baton Rouge, LA in 2003. March 12, 2004 was declared Iliana Lopez Day by the City of Hialeah, FL.
Miss Lopez became a Ballet Mistress in 2004, when she retired from the stage, and now she joins long-time friend and colleague Jimmy Gamonet de los Heros at Ballet Gamonet as Ballerina and Ballet Mistress.
Posted by David Lemberg at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
Jodee Nimerichter, Associate Director, American Dance Festival, 8-11-06
The American Dance Festival, now celebrating its 73rd anniversary, began in 1934 as the Bennington School of Dance in Bennington, VT. Founded by Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, and directed by Martha Hill, it was the desperately needed laboratory in which they could experiment, train students and create the early works that made modern dance one of the great cultural triumphs of the 20th century. The Festival, held at Connecticut College in New London, CT from 1947 to the fall of 1977, was relocated in 1978 to the Duke University campus in Durham, NC, where it remains today, headed by Charles Reinhart, ADF’s director since 1968. With its numerous programs for dancers, students, choreographers and artists, ADF supports and develops new modern dance works, both nationally and internationally, while preserving the history of the field. Its school is one of the country’s oldest training institutions for dancers.
At the heart of ADF are performances by professional dance companies, ranging from the experimental to the established. The Festival has premiered over 580 works — many of which have become landmarks in American dance — by artists such as Martha Graham, José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Erick Hawkins, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Pilobolus, Meredith Monk, Martha Clarke, Mark Morris, Bill T. Jones and Eiko & Koma, among countless others.
Since 1987, the ADF Black Tradition in American Modern Dance project has preserved, celebrated and created access to classic dance works by African-American choreographers. Developed from this project was the ADF-produced, Emmy-Award winning television series “Free to Dance: The African American Presence in Modern Dance.” Jodee Nimerichter joined ADF as Associate Director in January 2003. She assists with the day-to-day administration/management and long-range planning of the Festival. She helps curate ADF seasons and has traveled nationally and internationally, including Argentina, Israel, The Netherlands, and Germany, to see work. Ms. Nimerichter is active in the dance field serving as a guest panelist and is involved in the group, Next Generation of Arts Administrators.
Prior to returning to ADF, Ms. Nimerichter was a production member of the award-winning series, GREAT PERFORMANCES/DANCE IN AMERICA, at Thirteen/WNET New York. There she co-produced the performance documentary, “Born to Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre”, which was broadcast in February 2003.
Ms. Nimerichter has also co-produced television recordings of the Broadway revival of “The Women”, starring Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Johnston, and the Broadway musical “Fosse” which was the first DANCE IN AMERICA program recorded in hi-definition. She was associate producer for the live broadcast of the Broadway production “The Man Who Came To Dinner” (which was the inaugural production in the PBS series, STAGE ON SCREEN) and “Fosse Millennium 2000”.
Posted by David Lemberg at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
Judith Fugate and Medhi Bahiri, Co-Artistic Directors, Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY — 7-21-06
Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY was founded in 1997 by Co-Artistic Directors Judith Fugate and Medhi Bahiri.
Judith Fugate, former Principal Ballerina with New York City Ballet, danced roles in virtually every ballet in the NYCB repertoire, counting among her partners Peter Martins, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Helgi Tomasson. She left the company in 1997 to pursue a career as freelance Guest Artist and Co-Artistic Director of Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY (formerly DanceGalaxy). Miss Fugate has toured extensively with groups led by renowned artists such as Mr. Baryshnikov, Cynthia Gregory, and Mr. Martins. She has appeared on Live from Lincoln Center with Ray Charles in Peter Martins’ ‘A Fool for You”. In the Metropolitan Opera's production of La Traviata, conducted by Placido Domingo, she was partnered by Fernando Bujones and Peter Boal.
Miss Fugate works as repetiteur for the Balanchine Trust and has staged his ballets in the Uniterd States, Europe, Asia, and South Africa.
Medhi Bahiri, International Guest Artist, brings a wide and diverse background in dance to his position as Co-Artistic Director of Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY. He has been Principal Dancer with Ballet West and Boston Ballet, and a member of Maurice Béjart's Twentieth Century Ballet. As Principal Guest Artist, Mr. Bahiri has appeared with: Ballet National de Mexico, Ballet de Santiago (Chile), Universal Ballet of Korea, Ballet du Louvre, Tulsa Ballet, and Ballet Philippines. Touring in the United States and Europe, his partners have included Cynthia Gregory, Ann Marie D'Angelo, Valentina Kozlova, Cheryl Yeager, Evelyn Cisneros, Marie-Christine Mouis, Christine Spizzo, Christina Fagundes, and Laura Young, among others. Mr. Bahiri is a winner of the First Prize of the Prix de Lausanne dance competition (recognized for his outstanding artistic achievement and original style) and the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. As a noncompetitor he was distinguished as Best Partner at the Jackson and Tokyo ballet Competitions.
The mission of Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY is to present audiences with the highest level of professionalism and artistry possible; cultivate, educate, and develop new audiences; provide expanded artistic opportunities for accomplished dancers and choreographers, and keep the cost of production and ticket prices affordable. As part of Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY audience development and community outreach, the company offers lecture/demonstrations, master classes, and open rehearsals.
Posted by David Lemberg at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)