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Four
choreographers have been invited to participate in the annual
National Choreographers Initiative at Irvine Barclay Theatre. The
choreographers invited by Director, Molly Lynch, come from a variety
of backgrounds and are leaders in the dance community.
The choreographers invited this year are:
Ron De Jesus, Graham Lustig, Charles
Moulton, Gina
Patterson.
The
process for the National Choreographers Initiative begins with a
three-week rehearsal period that takes place in the dance studios at
the University of California, Irvine, culminating in a public
performance, NCI Discovery, on July 22, 2006 at 8pm at Irvine Barclay Theatre.
During the three weeks of intense creative effort, choreographers
and dancers will produce 4 new dance works. Each choreographer is
given complete freedom to choose the style and theme of the work.
Artistic Directors from dance companies around the country have been
contacted for their input and involvement and will be invited to
preview the new works for possible inclusion in their company's
repertoire. [The choreographers retain the right to promote and
license the works they have created to other companies.]
Ron
De Jesus –
was a member of Hubbard Street Dance
Chicago for 17 years. After leaving the Company in 2002, he
joined the original cast of Twyla Tharp and Billy Joel’s Broadway
musical Movin’ Out. His
choreographic works have been presented by many dance organizations,
including HSDC and HSDC2, Gus Giordano’s Jazz Dance
Theater, Momenta Dance Company, and Luna Negra Dance Theater. He has
received numerous awards including the Chicago Dance Festival 2004
“Best Choreographer” and the Chicago Music and Dance Alliance
Award 2004. He has worked with many well-known choreographers
including Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Lou Conte, Nacho Duato, Bob Fosse,
Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, and Alonzo King. He has also performed
and been involved with various television and film projects.
Graham
Lustig
– received his dance training at the Royal Ballet School. In 1980
he joined the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. During that time he
created four works for the company’s repertoire. He has
choreographed for numerous companies including the Scottish Ballet,
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, Singapore Dance Theatre,
American Ballet Theatre, Chautauqua Dance Festival, Hong Kong
Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, and the Sacramento Ballet.
Washington Ballet chose him as its Choreographer-in-Residence in
1993. During this three-year tenure, his works were performed at the
Joyce Theatre in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.,
and on tour. In 1999 he was named the artistic director of American
Repertory Ballet and in 2003 was named a charter member of the
Artists Council for Americans for the Arts in Washington D.C. He has
served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, 2003
& 2005 Dance Grants and Policy Panels and currently serves on
the Board of Directors of the Choo-San Goh and H. Robert Magee
Foundation.
Charles
Moulton
– has created and set works on Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak
Project, The Joffrey Ballet, The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, The
Ohio Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, and many other companies in the
U.S. and abroad. A 1983 Guggenheim Award winner, he is the recipient
of the first Dorothy B. Chandler Performing Arts Award in 1989,
three Jerome Foundation awards and three Meet the
Composer/Choreographer awards. He has received funding from the
National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Arts Council, and
The Zellerbach Family Fund. Moulton has choreographed and directed
numerous works for television and film. His collaboration with John
Sanborn and Mary Perillo, Visual
Shuffle/Fractured Variations, won the 1987 Los Angeles Film
Festival Blue Ribbon. He most recently completed choreography for
over 1000 dancers in The Matrix Reloaded. He began his career in New York, dancing with
the Merce Cunningham Company from 1973 to ‘76. He is a co-founding
director of Performance Space 122, in lower Manhattan, and currently
resides in northern California.
Gina
Patterson
– started her dance career as an apprentice with Pittsburgh
Ballet. She has danced with Ballet Florida and is currently a
principal dancer with Ballet Austin. She performs a diverse
repertoire including works by Vicente Nebrada, Ben Stevenson, Peter
Martins, Val Caniparoli, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Daniel Ezralow, Sean
Lavery, and Trey McIntyre. Her choreography has been commissioned by
Ballet Austin, Dayton Ballet, Ballet East, Montana Ballet, and
Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts
in Dallas. Three of her works were presented at the Ballet
Builder’s Showcase in New York. She has been awarded the Choo-San
Goh Award for Choreography in 2002, the B. Iden Payne Award for
Outstanding Choreographer by Austin Circle of Theaters, and won the
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2 National Choreography Competition in
2005.
The
first NCI took place July 22, 2004 with the idea of promoting the
creation and production of professional dance. Under the direction
of Molly Lynch, NCI provides an opportunity to engage outstanding
choreographers from around the U.S. in the creative process. There
is a need nationwide to have a workshop setting where choreographers
can create works of their choosing and have time to experiment and
develop their craft. Through this project, NCI provides this
opportunity and therefore supports these national choreographers,
dancers, and the greater dance community.
Past
participants in NCI have seen their work continue on to other
companies or venues. Val Caniparoli’s piece from NCI 2005
premiered at Richmond Ballet in March 2006, and says his piece
“has legs and has really progressed because of the [NCI]
project.” Christopher D’Amboise used some of his NCI
choreography and concepts in his new play, The
Studio, which premiered at South Coast Repertory Theatre April 7th.
Luca Veggetti is staging a piece for Paris Opera Ballet and
Cincinnati Ballet this season and says: “Some of the ideas
developed there [NCI] will probably flow into it.”
Choreographers
from 2004 have also premiered their works elsewhere. Lynne
Taylor-Corbett expanded her Appalachia Stories into a full evening’s work, Jamboree, for Carolina Ballet, which premiered March 2005 and was
aired on public television in June 2006. Ann Marie DeAngelo’s
work, Guy in the White Shirt,
will be presented by Marymount Manhattan College in May of 2006. James Sewell’s piece Anagram
(originally titled Modular)
premiered at the Joyce Theatre in N.Y. this month. Peter Pucci's Whisper On the Wind will be performed at Symphony Space, N.Y., in
the fall of 2006. |
