NM's Dance at Socrates artists announced
Norte Maar's Dance at Socrates Program 2015
Free public performances Saturdays at 4pm August 8, 15, 22
August 8 at 4pm
Randy James / 10HL Projects
Edisa Weeks / DELIRIOUS Dances
Randy James, Founding Artistic Director of 10 Hairy Legs, has made a significant impact in the field of dance for more than three decades locally, regionally, nationally and internationally as a highly regarded dancer, choreographer, teacher, guest lecturer, panelist and staunch advocate of the arts. His impact in the field led The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to cite him as “The Patron Saint of New Jersey dance” in 2010. As a choreographer, James has created more than 40 works on his own companies and on 16 other professional companies throughout the United States, garnering positive reviews from The New York Times and The Village Voice. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State honored him three times with Choreography Fellowships in 1995, 2002 and 2014 in recognition of his artistic excellence and named him "Distinguished Teaching Artist." As an Associate Professor of Dance, James has been a member of the dance faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, since 1998.
10 Hairy Legs, founded by Randy James in 2012, is a dance company – comprised entirely of men – performing James’ work as well as existing and newly commissioned works. 10 HL does not reflect a specific point of view about the male experience, but rather celebrates and explores the tremendous technical and emotional range of the male dancer. Randy James, at the forefront of this generation's choreographers, educators and arts advocates, is the driving force of 10 Hairy Legs, serving as its Artistic Director. In 2015 10 Hairy Legs launched 10 HL Projects, which includes women for specific productions outside of the all male company. The first of these is a new full-length work based upon C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, choreographed by James that will have its World Premiere at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in January 2016.
Sketches for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by Costume Designer Abraham Cruz.
Edisa Weeks is a Brooklyn based choreographer, educator and director of DELIRIOUS Dances, as well as a huge fan and advocate for composting, recycling and Materials for the Arts. Edisa has had the joy of dancing for Reggie Wilson Fist and Heel Performance Group, Dance Brazil, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., Jane Comfort & Co., David Gordon Pick-Up Performance Group, Jenni Hong, Jon Kinzel, Annie-B Parsons’ BIG DANCE THEATER, Sally Silvers, Spencer/Colton Dance, Muna Tseng, Kevin Wynn Collection and Marie Brooks Children’s Dance Theater. From 1991 – 2001, Edisa Co-directed Avila/Weeks Dance with Homer Avila. She also appeared in the movie “Rachel Getting Married” Directed by Jonathan Demme. Raised in Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Brooklyn, NY, Edisa holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA in dance from New York University’s TISCH School of the Arts where she was an Alberto Vilar Performing Arts Fellow. She has received several awards including grants from Artists International, The Brooklyn Arts Council, Dixon Place, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, The Puffin Foundation, as well as choreographic residencies at Djerassi, Joyce SoHo, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and The Yard. In addition she teaches technique, improvisation and choreography at Queens College.
DELIRIOUS Dances creates intimate environments that merge theater with dance, to deliriously explore our deepest desires, darkest fears and dearest dreams. DELIRIOUS has performed in a variety of venues including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, chashama arts, Harlem Stage, The Kennedy Center, The Mermaid Parade, Summer Stages Dance Festival, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Yard, as well as in storefront windows, senior centers, sidewalks, swimming pools and numerous living rooms - including living rooms in Berlin, Germany, as part of Haus Kulturen der Welts 50th anniversary celebration. www.deliriousdances.com
August 15
Project 44 / Gierre Godley
RudduR Dance / Christopher Rudd
with invited guests: L&K Dance, Jenni Hong Dance
Established in 2010, PROJECT 44 (Queens, NY) is an all male dance group that serves as the artistic platform for choreographer Gierre Godley. The company strives to erase all preconceived notions about masculinity and the role of a male performer in the arts. With a visceral approach to choreography, the works of PROJECT 44 aim to showcase the beauty, versatility, and athleticism of male performers. PROJECT 44 has performed at various venues including: Bronx Academy of Art and Dance (Blaktino Festival), 92nd Street Y-Buttenweiser Hall (Green Line Series), The Secret Theater (Queens Fringe Festival), Steps on Broadway (Steps Laboratory Series), Green Space Studios (Fertile Ground & Green Space Bloom Series), Symphony Space (The Young Choreographer's Festival), Dixon Place (NYC10 Series), The Ailey Citigroup Theater (BalaSole Dance Company featured soloist), Salvatore Capezio Theater (MEN presented by Sobers & Godley), 2012 FAB! Festival, 2012 Clinton Hill Arts Festival (Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew), the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Moving Men Series (Dixon Place), Steffi Nolsen Dance Foundation- Choreographers Showcase (Purchase College), 2013 REVERBdance APAP (Baruch College), the Kumble Theater at Long Island University, and has been presented by the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center. In 2012 the company embarked on its first international tour with performances at Centro Maxime D'Harroche (Barcelona, Spain) and Z-Arts (Chorlton Arts Festival). Mostly recently PROJECT 44 completed their first residency as a company at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. This residency laid the ground work for the company's tour to Montreal, Canada. Since, PROJECT 44 made its Berlin debut in August of 2014 with the premier of their work "JOHN" and had their first NYC season at Danspace Projects at St. Marks in January of 2015. www.project44dance.org
Christopher Rudd (Kingston, Jamaica/Miami, Florida) began dancing at the age of 9 in Miami, FL at the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet (TAYB). Through the auspices of the TAYB Scholarship Program, Mr. Rudd pursued a classical ballet path. Just two years later, Mr. Rudd became the first black person in the US to dance the title role in Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, an accomplishment for which ABC’s Peter Jennings named him Person of the Week in 1991. A graduate of New World School of the Arts (NWSA) in Miami, Mr. Rudd has performed with such companies as Alberta Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Carolina Ballet - of which he was a founding member - and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, where he rose to the rank of soloist. He also worked on the creation and danced for Cirque Du Soleil's Zaia, Cirque's first resident show in Asia. Mr. Rudd also performed in the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Throughout his career he has worked with various choreographers such as Shen Wei, Diddy Veldman, Christopher Wheeldon, Mauro Bigonzetti, Robert Weiss, Donald Mahler, and Tyler Walters to name a few. He has been featured in roles by George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Margo Sappington, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Jose Limon, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, and Jean-Christophe Maillot. Mr. Rudd has always felt the desire to create dance but has also felt the need to dedicate himself as a dancer first to dive into as many roles, experience as many styles, be exposed to as many cultures, listen to as many beliefs, see as many wonders, and to learn as much as he could. He experimented with pieces of his own, choreographing for Duke University, North Carolina School of the Arts, and for Alberta Ballet’s Workshop. He choreographed and danced in the opera Don Giovanni for the Musiktheater Vorarlberg in Goetiz, Austria. Upon moving to New York he produced a weekend at the Cunningham Studios entitled No Relations, highlighting his own work as well as the work of fellow choreographer Hattie Mae Williams. After being chosen to participate in Harlem Stage’s E-Moves 14: The Takeover, he was awarded their New Work Fund grant for “A Bird in the Hand,” which was presented at E-Moves 15. He was also selected to choreograph for Peter London Global Dance Company’s Emerging Choreographers showcase. Mr. Rudd’s work was chosen to be presented for the Ailey/Fordham BFA Senior Concert. As a result, he was commissioned to choreograph for the Alvin Ailey School’s Summer Intensive. Recently, he completed a residency at STREB Lab for Action Mechanics where he was named one of 2015’s emerging artist and awarded The GO! Emerging Artists Commissioning Program grant by SLAM. Mr. Rudd is the first recipient of The New World School of the Arts Alumni Foundation’s Inspiration Grant. He believes now is the time for him to share choreographically what he has learned through dance. www.ruddurdance.com
L&K Dance
Lara Gemmiti and Kate Morales began work on combined solo projects in August of 2014, when Lara produced a show featuring Kate and Alex Schell of AMS Project at Brooklyn's Sardine Gallery. Their process calls for extreme focus on a potent memory, and to then identify and extrapolate the gesture, sound, rhythm and structure for the piece. This specific impetus results in solos that are highly individualistic in movement style. Once each dancer's choreography is complete, the accidental similarities are exploited, and the structure adapted to showcase the overlap in experience. This is their third creation of this nature, and they are currently working on an evening length that combines the stories of two more women. Lara is a dancer and choreographer based in Ridgewood, Queens. Originally from Toronto, Canada, she received her BFA in Dance from Ryerson University and her MFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, she has shown and performed work in Toronto, New York and Boston. After receiving her B.Ed 2013, Lara has taught dance in Public and Private schools in the Toronto and New York City area. Kate is a dancer and choreographer based in Ridgewood Queens. She received her BFA from Cal Arts in 2011, and since then has performed on stages from Venice, CA to Midtown Manhattan. She's also written about dance for Broadway World, xoJane and The Kitchen, an Experimental Literary Journal.
Jenni Hong, made in Taiwan, is the artistic director and choreographer of Jenni Hong Dance, founded in 2005. Her choreography has been presented in Taiwan, Italy and the United States. In New York City, Jenni's work have been presented by DanceNow/NYC, Danspace Project, Joyce SoHo, The Puffin Room, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), Tisch School of the Arts/New York University, "the Featured Length Independent Choreographer (FLIC) Fest" at Irondale Center, Green Space, Triskelion Arts, Space on White, Wassaic Dance Project Festival, Waterside Dance Festival, and "EMOVES-13" at Harlem Stage. In Taiwan, Jenni's evening-length work, mach.com, was presented by the prestigious Crown Festival (15th Season) via Dance Forum Taipei in 2010. Jenni has worked and collaborated with artists including Kirstie Simson, Gibney Dance, Jana Hicks, Nathan Trice, Dance Forum Taipei, A Moving Sound, Guido Tuveri, Akiko Furukawa, Delirious Dances/Edisa Weeks, Erica Essner, David Appel, among others. Jenni was a guest teacher at Tisch, NYU as part of the Artist in Residency Festival with Gibney Dance from 2005-2009. Since 2005, she has been teaching Yoga and movement awareness to survivors of domestic violence, seniors, LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities in New York City. Jenni is a RYT-500 hour certified Yoga teacher, teaches yoga in various studios in New York and most recently at Muhlenberg College in PA. She graduated cum laude from Clark University and received her MA in psychology from Columbia University. Jenni is the grant recipient of the Manhattan Community Arts Fund (MCAF) from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, as well as the recipient of Triskelion Arts Space Subsidy Program made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. www.jennihongdance.com
August 22
Meagan Woods & Co.
Julia K. Gleich / Gleich Dances
with invited guests: BOOMERANG, Brynt Beitman
Meagan Woods graduated with a BFA in dance from Rutgers University, earning the Margery Turner Award for choreography. She has performed professionally with Liz Lerman, SHUA Group and Insurgo Stage Project. Meagan originated Dance Within the Art at the Zimmerli Museum, an annual program featuring original choreography based on the gallery artwork. She also guest lecturers for the Zimmerli and other museums. She has presented work at NJPAC, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Grounds for Sculpture, Crossroads Theater, George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theater, Alfa Art Gallery, and The Historic Loew's Theater. Her choreography was presented during a TED talk and can be found on ted.com. She is co-producer of Your Move, New Jersey's annual modern dance festival presented by Art House Productions and co-curated by Julia Gleich. Meagan choreographs at St. Peter's University, Rutgers University, and for Art House Productions' plays and musicals. meaganwoodsandcompany.com
Julia K. Gleich, co-founder of Norte Maar, is a critically acclaimed choreographer, teacher, scholar, and mathematics aficionado interested in re-contextualizing ballet: creating new environments for traditional works and illuminating the relationships between the traditional and the contemporary. Her company, Gleich Dances has performed in the UK and US including seasons at NYC’s Joyce SoHo (’01, ’03) and CPR (’11,’12) with critical notice in The New York Times, Village Voice, The New Criterion and Brooklyn Rail. She was an invited speaker at The Brooklyn Museum for her work The Brodmann Areas which explored the cerebral cortex responsible for memory, emotion, aspects of language and vision, etc. She collaborates with psycho-physicist Denis Pelli in an exploration of peripheral vision through dance. Ms. Gleich is also a founder and director of Aegis Live Arts creating unique locational dance works that enliven history and architecture in London. Her most exciting moment in performance was dancing alongside Sara Rudner at the National Academy Museum in NYC. Gleich’s site-specific dance works include performances in drained pools, on piers, in train stations and an annual stint in the WalMart parking lot in Plattsburgh, NY (’04-’07). She was commissioned to create a site-specific work for the opening of St. Pancras International Eurostar station in 2007. She has collaborated with composers, musicians, designers, directors and writers and welcomes new ideas to challenge her own aesthetic. In 2014-5 Gleich was awarded the Distinguished Alumna by the University of Utah Ballet Department. Ms. Gleich is Head of Choreography at London Studio Centre and technique faculty at Trinity LABAN Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She was Choreographer-in-Residence for Brooklyn Ballet and master teacher for Burklyn Ballet Theatre, VT. She has taught at Peridance, Broadway Dance Centre and Brooklyn Ballet in NYC, and for Michael Clark Company on the largest dance floor in Europe at Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London. She has been on faculties of the University of Utah Ballet Department and Manhattanville College and Molloy College in New York. Ms. Gleich earned an MFA from the University of Utah. She was on the Board of Directors for the American Dance Guild. Advocacy is a strong part of Gleich’s motivation to create and to produce dance.In her role as co-founder of Norte Maar, she produces annually CounterPointe: Women Making Work for Pointe, in both London and NYC. Her article, Illuminations, about her journey in ballet, recently appeared in Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies. Gleich has presented scholarly papers and panels for CORPS de Ballet International, Higher Education Academy, UK, Laban International Conference, UK, Middlesex University, University of Northampton, Coventry University, and for the Society of Dance History Scholars. Her practice-based research on vectors and dance was published in the Dynamic Body in Space. She is proud to have been this year’s guest curator for Your Move: New Jersey’s Modern Dance Festival. www.gleichdances.org
BOOMERANG is a daringly physical, poetically-nuanced dance and performance project created in 2012 by co-directors Matty Davis and Kora Radella with founding member Adrian Galvin. Recognizing the body as an evolving repository for both physical and psychological life, BOOMERANG sifts through and siphons from the rich, eclectic histories that constitute the personhoods of the people with whom they work. BOOMERANG’s work has been presented in NYC at venues including Judson Church, Center for Performance Research, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, the Irondale Center, and at the United Nations, as well as in Cleveland, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. They’re also found of alternative spaces and have performed in the mountains, parks, vineyards, and schools. This past June and July, they made their European debut with performances in Berlin and Barcelona. March 2016 will feature their first commissioned evening-length, in collaboration with composer/musician Greg Saunier of the band Deerhoof, at Dixon Place. For more information, please visit www.boomerangdance.com
Matty Davis is a co-director and the principal performer within BOOMERANG. He is also a visual artist, jewelry-maker, and athlete. Far from the stage and studio, he has mounted guerilla-style performances in Death Valley, rural Oklahoma, and on deserted trailers in the Great Smokey Mountains. As a visual artist, he pits the body against radical undertakings and journeys that explore physicality and endurance, archetypes and personal history, and the origins of materials and mark-making. In 2015, he was selected as one of 80 international artists from 25 countries to participate in Robert Wilson’s Summer Program at the Watermill Center. He has studied at Kenyon College, the American Dance Festival, P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, Belgium, and is currently pursuing his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. More information about his work can found at www.mattywdavis.com
Kora Radella is the choreographer and co-artistic director of BOOMERANG. In addition to her work with BOOMERANG, she is the artistic director of Double-Edge Dance, whose work has been performed in cities including Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Basel, Cleveland, London, and New York City. Noted for her use of "awkward grace," she researches being on the edge of control, pushing both physical and psychological balances. Radella's primary teaching interests include contemporary dance technique with dynamic release principles, improvisation, choreography, and movement for actors. Radella is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Kenyon College and a certified yoga teacher (500RYT).
Brynt Beitman is the Artistic Director of BeitmanDances. He is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and a graduate of The Juilliard School. During his studies, he was selected to create work under the choreographic mentorship of Margie Gillis at Springboard Danse Montréal. In 2012, he was granted a residency at Team Gallery (NYC) as part of an installation by visual artist Massimo Grimaldi. Beitman was awarded Runner-Up in Northwest Dance Project’s Pretty Creatives Choreographic Competition 2013. His work has been shown at the Peter J. Sharp Theater, Alice Tully Hall, Dance New Amsterdam, Bryant Park, Galapagos Art Space, Montgomery Arts Theater (Dallas, TX), McFarlin Auditorium (Dallas, TX), Spurrier Auditorium (Rochester University, Rochester), and Moyse Hall (McGill University, Montréal). He also performs with TAKE Dance, Heidi Latsky Dance, and Lydia Johnson Dance.
