Each visiting company presents a lecture/demonstration on the first day of its residency and teaches a week of contemporary technique and, in the afternoons, repertory. Students also have the opportunity to observe open rehearsals, showings of works-in-progress, and public performances. Together, the companies provide a multileveled, kinetic, and aesthetic experience.
Students are expected to arrive at 9:00 a.m. the first day of each residency.
The director will discuss program policies/procedures and placement class. Students will also receive a packet which includes information about Summer Residency performances. Each three-week workshop meets Monday through Friday, typically from 9:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. The day begins with a one-and-three-quarter-hour ballet class focused on alignment, strength, balance, line, and coordination and continues with a one-and-a-half-hour class in contemporary dance.
David Dorfman Dance, May 25 - 29
David Dorfman’s choreography is marked by an intense, taut physicality that sometimes is nothing short of athletic brinkmanship. Since its founding in 1985, the company has performed extensively in New York City in such venues as the Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, and Danspace Project. The company has also toured throughout North and South America, Great Britain, and Europe.
David Dorfman has been honored with four fellowships from the NEA and two from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from the Yard, and an American Choreographer’s Award. He is also the recipient of a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for choreography.
Ellis Wood Dance, June 1-5
ELLIS WOOD, choreographer, teacher and perfomer, is the Founding and Artistic Director of Ellis Wood Dance. Prior to founding Ellis Wood Dance, Wood danced in the companies of Stephen Petronio, Dan Wagoner, Bay Area Repertory Dance, and in the works of various New York City choreographers. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley in Dramatic Art/Dance, where she studied with her parents Marni and David Wood, who both danced with Martha Graham. Wood was awarded a 2006 Joyce SoHo Residency in New York City, received a 2002 NYFA Fellowship in choreography, and was one of ten choreographers in NYC nominated for the "Emerging Choreographer Award" given by the Downtown Arts Festival in collaboration with The Colbert Foundation. Wood has received five DTW First Light Commissioning Grants and is honored to be an Artist in Residence at Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City.
ELLIS WOOD DANCE performs, teaches and does residencies both nationally and abroad. The Company has been in residence at various colleges and universities such as UC Berkeley, Rutgers University, and New World School for the Arts as well as at The Yard on Martha's Vineyard. Ellis Wood Dance has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop for seven seasons, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, The Martha @ Mother series, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, LMCC Evening Stars Series and
other NYC venues. She has traveled to perform in such festivals and theaters as: The Tanzwoche Festival, Germany, The Fringe Festival in Portugal, Tseh School in Moscow, Russia, The Palucca Schule in Dresden, Germany, Overtoom 301 in Amsterdam, Dance Acadamien in Upsala, Sweden, The Fringe Festival in Toronto, Canada, Jacob's Pillow, The New Performance Gallery and Cowell Theater in San Francisco, The Fire Island Festival, The Generation X Festival and Panorama Sesi De Danca, Brazil. Ellis Wood Dance will be in residence at Dance New Amsterdam in March 2007.
Keigwin + Company, May 18-22
"...Keigwin achieves astonishing feats of dancing...a parcel of pure explosive energy mediated by impressive technical skills." - Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
Larry Keigwin (Artistic Director), a native New Yorker, has choreographed and performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and for many prestigious dance companies. From 1997-2000, he was the Associate Artistic Director of Dendy Dance & Theater and received a Bessie Award for his performance in Dendy"s "Dream Analysis". Keigwin has danced in the companies of Jane Comfort, John Jasperse, Doug Elkins, Zvi Gotheiner, Ben Munisteri, David Rousseve, and in Doug Varone's "Le Sacre du Printemps" for the Metropolitan Opera. In the world of musical theater Keigwin was the Associate Choreographer for "Carnivale" (featuring the Radio City Rockettes), the Disney musical workshop, "When You Wish", and the Off-Broadway musical, "The Wild Party" (in which he also danced.) Keigwin also appeared in the Broadway production of "Dance of the Vampires".
KEIGWIN + COMPANY was established in 2003 with its premier performance at the Joyce Soho theater in New York City. Since then, the company has performed throughout the City in such venues as Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, Thalia Theater at Symphony Space, Mother @ Mother, Galapagos Art Space, and in the clubs Avalon and Marquee. Nationally, Keigwin + company has been presented by the American Dance Festival, the Bates Dance Festival, Summerdance Santa Barbara, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, and the Fire Island Dance Festival. Recent funding includes Greenwall foundation, Christian Keesee Charitable Trust, Dan and Diane Vapnek Family Fund, and the Royce Family Fund. Recent commissions include the American Dance Festival, Hofstra University, Moving Arts Project, California Institute of the Arts, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, Zenon Dance Company, and Bates College. Keigwin + Company is busy peparing for their upcoming engagements at The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU, The Thalia Theater at Symphony Space, and summer touring dates in Miami and Maine.
Gina Gibney Dance, June 15-19
Gina Gibney's ..work, glows like a fire, beats like a heart, and rumbles like an earthquake. Dancers stomped out unexpected rhythms, … entwined themselves around each other in ways never imagined, all the while speaking a kinesthetic message of life or death. Gibney created a sizzling celebration of life, a churning of energy that only the most intense moments in life demand.
Gina Gibney Dance was founded in 1991. In 1997, in response to Ms. Gibney's growing concern that women in professional dance were losing artistic and financial ground, the company was reconceived as an all-female troupe. Gibney's work is distinguished by intricately crafted, intensely performed movement with a deep sense of connection and emotional inevitability. Physically dynamic and strongly lyrical, Gibney's work honors the power of women's identities, while speaking to our common experiences as human beings. The company's work has been presented at The Duke on 42nd Street, Danspace Project, The Joyce Theater's Altogether Different series, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Joyce SoHo, Central Park SummerStage, Symphony Space, The World Trade Center, The Cleveland Museum of Art, DANCECleveland, The Cleveland Public Theater, Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine Saint-Denis, L'Agora de la Danse (Montréal), Gibraltor Point Center for the Arts (Toronto), and elsewhere.
Gibney graduated with honors and received an MFA in Dance from CaseWestern Reserve University. She is a recognized leader in developing community initiatives, such as the Women at Work Domestic Violence Project, which brings movement, creativity and personal empowerment to families who have survived domestic abuse. She is an officer of Danspace Project's Board of Directors, and a frequent dance curator, panelist, and advisory committee member.
Battleworks Dance Company, June 8-12
Robert Battle founded Battleworks Dance Company in 2001 and the company premiered in August 2002 at the World Dance Alliance’s Global Assembly in Düsseldorf, Germany. Selected as the American representatives to the festival, the company was chosen for its unique outlook on the future of modern dance. Since then, Battleworks has performed nationally and internationally at such venues as Dance Theater Workshop, The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the River to River Festival’s Evening Stars series, and the International Baltic Ballet Festival.
Robert Battle is a graduate of the Julliard School, where he received the Princess Grace Dance Scholarship and the Martha Hill Prize. Upon graduation, Mr. Battle joined the Parsons Dance Company (1994-2001), and began setting his own work on the company in 1998. His works are also in the repertory of The Hubbard Street Repertory Ensemble, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, River North, Introdans, and PARADIGM. Mr. Battle regularly conducts residencies at Universities throughout the country and teaches master classes in NYC and abroad. In 2005, Battle was honored at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with a medal proclaiming him one of the “Masters of African-American Choreography” and he has recently been honored with the coveted Princess Grace Statue Award for achievements in choreography.
Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, June 22-26
Since its inception in 1985, Evidence has built a repertory that is recognized for its generous physicality and kinetic storytelling with a focus on contributing to and contextualizing both current tales and acknowledged history.
The company has performed in New York at Performance Space 122, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, and Aaron Davis Hall. It has toured throughout the United States and has been presented at numerous international festivals in Brazil, France, and the United Kingdom.
Ronald K. Brown’s work has been commissioned by companies including Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, and Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire. He is the recipient of ADF’s Humphrey/Weidman/Limon Award, and awards and fellowships from the NEA, the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund, and a New York State Regional Initiative Artists’ Project.
