Dance at Socrates - Meet the Artists

(In case of inclement weather, performance may be delayed or cancelled.)

Week 1 - Saturday, August 11, Performance at 4pm 

Kristina Hay and Hilary Brown | HB² PROJECTS
Julia K Gleich | Gleich Dances
Sarah Louise Kristiansen

with Krista Jansen

Kristina Hay and Hilary Brown | HB² PROJECTS
Photo by Aitor Mendilibar

HILARY BROWN is a New York City based choreographer and performer, originally from Toronto, Canada. Brown graduated from École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, and has since participated in projects with dance and visual artists including Bouchra Ouizguen, Jillian Peña, Melissa Riker, Doug Elkins, Linda Tegg and Candice Breitz. In 2013 she co-founded the performance collective, Same As Sister with Briana Brown-Tipley. Their cross-disciplinary works/commissions have been presented at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club (AUNTS @ La MaMa Moves!), Danspace Project (Platform 2018), Centre d'Art Marnay Art Centre (2017 Artist Program Residents), Movement Research and Bailout Theater at Judson Memorial Church, BRIC Arts | Media House (2015 BRIClab Residents) and New York Live Arts (2014-15 Fresh Tracks Residents), among other venues. S.A.S. were also the recipients of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2017 Emergency Grant. Brown recently formed HB² PROJECTS, a platform to expand her collaborations in performance. Her first partnership was with composer/drummer, Lamy Istrefi Jr. through Exploring the Metropolis’ 2017-18 Choreographer + Composer Residencies.  hbsquaredprojects.com

KRISTINA HAY is a Norwegian contemporary dance artist who performs, collaborates and creates across Europe and North America. Hay was trained at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, where she later performed professionally in productions of The Nutcracker, The Bat and Cinderella. She continued her training at London Studio Centre in the UK, where she graduated with a double distinction and was a member of INTOTO DANCE, under the direction of Sue Booker and Leesa Phillips. During this time she toured works by Henri Oguike, Jose Agudo and John Ross. In recent years, Hay has had the privilege of working with Luke Birch, Diana Scarborough, Meredith Bruno Company, Robert Kenny, Feeling Blue Collective, Jessica Nina Barlow, Human Dance (Wellington, NZ) and Same As Sister (New York, US). With S.A.S., she has presented cross-disciplinary works/commissions at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club (AUNTS @ La MaMa Moves!), Danspace Project (Platform 2018), Centre d'Art Marnay Art Centre (2017 Artist Program Residents) and Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church. S.A.S. were also the recipients of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2017 Emergency Grant. As an independent choreographer, Hay has shown work; You Are Someone Else, Fix and Filter, and collaborated with artists in both London and New York City. In 2018 she obtained her US O1 Visa for Extraordinary Ability, and will use this status to broaden her focus on collaboration and the different creative processes that emerge from it.

Julia K. Gleich | Gleich Dances
Photo by Sergio Carrasco

JULIA K. GLEICH is a 2014 recipient of the University of Utah Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award. Gleich was on faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and was Head of Choreography at London Studio Centre. In September 2017, after 15 years choreographing and teaching in London, Gleich returned to her NYC home to premiere Martha (The Searchers) in collaboration with Guggenheim Fellow Elana Herzog. The ballet explored captivity narratives and iconic women from John Ford's Westerns, receiving critical notice by Leigh Witchel in dance.log. In 2013 she received a major Arts Council England grant. Gleich has choreographed seven full-length ballets and a Nutcracker for Clytie Adams Ballet, with a cast of 250 performed annually since 1996. Her work has been presented in alternative venues across NY and London, including a durational event at the National Academy Museum featuring dance luminaries such as Sarah Rudner, Sally Silvers, Douglas Dunn and Molissa Fenley. She has received critical notice in the New York Times, Village Voice, Brooklyn Rail, New Criterion and dance.log. She is Co-Founder of Norte Maar in NYC and writes about contemporary ballet, liminality, and vector mathematics, not necessarily in that order. gleichdances.org

Sarah Louise Kristiansen
Danish choreographer

SARAH LOUISE KRISTIANSEN has worked internationally in prestigious venues including The Royal Albert Hall, The Kremlin Theatre, The Gwangju Bienale, The ICA and has completed further training at Millenium Dance Studios and EDGE Pac in Los Angeles. Addionally she has spent time in the Shaolin Temple in China, researching Shaolin Wushu martial arts. Sarah Louise has travelled the world dancing and running successful projects globally, including with her company Making Dance Happen, which she decided to establish to promote community development through international research excursions for young Artists. She has been commissioned to choreograph performances in collaboration with dancers and participants in South Korea, Italy, Ghana and a series of high profile London venues including Sadler’s Wells and The Place.  sarahlouisekristiansen.com

Krista Jansen
Photo by Lina Dahbour

KRISTA JANSEN is a dancer and choreographer born, raised and based in New York City. Her choreography has been performed at Dixon Place, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New York Live Arts, STUFFED at Judson Church, The FAB! Festival, The DancenOw RAW festival, and the Harkness Dance Festival. Krista is one-half of the dance company Jansen & Holm, and a teaching assistant to Ellen Robbins, whose modern dance classes for children ages 5-15 were Krista’s first experience in dance, choreography, and improvisation. www.kristajansen.wordpress.com is a great place to sign her mailing list, look at dance-y pictures, and stay updated on her performances. 

Week 2 - Saturday, August 18Performance at 4pm

Movement Migration | Blakeley White-McGuire
Project 44 | Gierre Godley

with
Janice Rosario & Company
Carlos Fittante | BALAM Dance Theatre

Movement Migration
Choreography by Movement Migration artist BLAKELEY WHITE-MCGUIRE and invited dancers

MOVEMENT MIGRATION is a collective of seasoned dance artists collaborating to create and perform dynamic and poignant dance works that portray the depths of the human experience; the dances are shared with audiences locally and globally in performance and educational venues. Directed by Kim Jones, the ensemble’s members are steeped in the celebrated traditions of classical ballet and modern dance, each having achieved professional expertise in distinct technical training and performance disciplines. The group members come from many places in the world and span four decades in age. From these varied backgrounds, the artists bring their passions, freedom, and inexplicable beauty of expression. “Migration” signals the transformation and convergence of technical training and individual approaches into a collective creativity that traverses cultural boundaries and transfers movement knowledge from person to person and community to community. movementmigration.org

BLAKELEY WHITE-MCGUIRE is a critically acclaimed, award-winning dance performer, maker and teacher. She embodies the iconic lead roles of modern dance, most notably as Principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company (2002 - 2016, 2017). Through this work as well as contemporary interdisciplinary collaborations, she has performed on the world’s greatest stages including Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera, Beijing Opera, Theatre du Chatelet, Sadler’s Wells, Hollywood Bowl, Teatro Greco di Siracusa and the Herodion. Blakeley has created original works for The Museum of Arts and Design, Downtown Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow’s INSIDE/ OUT, The Art Mill, the Key West Modern Dance Festival and Rivertown Artists Workshop. Her writings expressing the 21st-century dancer experience have been published by The Dance Enthusiast, Dance Films Association, The Huffington Post, Dance Magazine and Performance Research Journal, U.K.

Project 44
Photo by J. Smithwick Fine Art

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. project44dance.org

A 2010 graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (MFA), GIERRE GODLEY is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher currently living in NYC. He began is training Arkansas under the direction of C. Michael Tidwell and Arleen Sugano. Gierre has also had the privilege of training at the Ailey School and Millikin University (BS Biology, Dance Minor). He has been on faculty at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy (LA), Fancy Feet Dance Studio (Bronx), the Centre for the DansArts (Arkansas), and is currently a Adjunct Professor at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale. As a choreographer Gierre has created works for The Steffi Nossen Dance Company, The Ailey School, Threads Dance Projects, and the Tidwell Project Dance Ensemble. In 2010, Gierre created PROJECT 44, an all male troupe dedicated to showcasing the beauty of male artistry throughout the arts. The group has performed in various national and international venues.

Janice Rosario and Company

JANICE ROSARIO is a NYC-based dancer; choreographer. A native of Upper Manhattan, Janice studied on scholarship at Ballet Hispánico, Ballet Academy East, Boston Ballet, and The Ailey School. She is a graduate of F.H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and a 2015 alumna of Hunter College, where she majored in Dance. The year of her graduation from Hunter, Janice was awarded numerous choreographic commissions including: her full-length concert debut over two nights presented by The Moving Beauty Series for which she was awarded a solo commission; March 2015, her international choreographic debut at the Tobago Contemporary Dance Festival; March 2015, Chen Dance Center's Newsteps commission; May 2015, and an invitation from David Parker to present a four night solo concert at the West End Theater; September 2015. Additionally, her new works have been presented and commissioned by CounterPointe; April 2016, Triskelion Arts' Split Bill Series; December 2016, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival; May 2017, Dance at Socrates; August 2017, Fast Forward Split Bill Series; September 2017 and the EstroGenius Festival; March 2018. In Fall 2017, Janice completed her residencies at Columbia University and Hunter College. She debuted her new work at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts' 2018 Graduation Dance Concert in June 2018. This summer she will be creating a new work for the Dance Institute of Washington and in the fall for The Alvin Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. In addition to her choreographic endeavors, Janice has taught master classes at F.H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, Hunter College, Harvard University, High Tech High School, the American Youth Dance Theater and at the Contemporary Dance Festival in Tobago. She also served as a guest artist for the Archcore40 2016 Summer Dance Intensive. She will be guest teaching at Sacred Heart University this summer.  janicerosarioandcompany.com

Carlos Fittante | BALAM Dance Theater
Photo by Julie Lemberger

CARLOS FITTANTE, Artistic Director of BALAM Dance Theatre, specializes in Baroque, Balinese, and Spanish escuela bolera dances and works as a choreographer, dancer, and teacher.  Known for spirited, elegant choreography and performances, he has received praise from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, and Dance Magazine. He has performed throughout the United States and internationally with the Boston Early Music Festival, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 2nd Encuentro de Baile Contemporáneo in Mexico, and the International Arts Festival in Bali. A teacher and movement coach, his customized choreographies serve diverse communities at the grass-roots level. A graduate of the School of American Ballet, he holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Wisconsin, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queens College: City University of New York. http://balamdancetheatre.blogspot.com/

Week 3 - Saturday, August 25Performance at 4pm

Kyle Marshall Choreography
Kathryn Alter and Dancers

with
Thomas/Ortiz Dance
konverjdans
and young choreographers: Amelia Sanders and Gia Taylor

Kyle Marshall Choreography
Photo by David GonsierDancer and Choreographer

KYLE MARSHALL is a 2018 NY Dance and Performance “Bessie” Jury Award recipient and a 2017 NJ State Council of the Arts Choreography Fellow. His dance company, Kyle Marshall Choreography (KMC) sees the dancing body as a site for celebration, an igniter of social change and a container of history. KMC has performed at venues including: Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Joe’s Pub at the Public, Actors Fund Arts Center, NJPAC, NYC Summerstage, Wassaic Arts Project, and Conduit Dance (PDX). Commissions have included: "Dance on the Lawn" Montclair's Dance Festival, NJPAC and Harlem Stage. Kyle currently dances with the Trisha Brown Dance Company and doug elkins choreography etc. Kyle is a graduate of Rutgers University with a BFA in Dance. kmchoreo.com

Kathryn Alter and Dancers
Photo by Stephanie Berger

KATHRYN ALTER attended Interlochen Arts Academy, and graduated from Purchase Conservatory of Dance with the highest honors in 2001. Ms. Alter has been a member of the Limón Dance Company since 2003. She is also a founding member of Riedel Dance Theater, and has worked with Alan Danielson and Kazuko Hirabayashi. She is on faculty at the Limón Institute, and teaches internationally. She is a part of the N.A.D.I.N.E. Project and helps to organize the Limon Company Choreographer showcases. Her most recent choreographic commissions were created at Stephens College in Missouri, and for Nemian Dance Company in Mexico City. Last year she premiered the duet, Incarnatus Est as a part of American Dance Guild’s Bare Bones, and was a featured choreographer this year as a part of Spring Movement at Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn. In addition to New York venues, Ms. Alter has presented work in Arizona, and Massachusetts. Kathryn Alter on Fractured Atlas

Thomas/Ortiz Dance
Photo by Christopher Duggan

THOMAS/ORTIZ DANCE made its debut at The Bronx Academy of Art and Dance in 2001. The company has since performed at Joyce SoHo, the Puffin Room, Clune Center for the Arts (CT), DeBaun Center for the Performing Arts (NJ), as well as performances at Bridge for Dance, Dance Space Raw Materials, DanceNow Festival, “The Remember Project” for Dancers Responding to AIDS at St. Marks Church, and Dance for Life in Bryant Park (NY). Their 2005 presentation at the Merce Cunningham Studios was singled out as a “critic’s pick” in Show Business Weekly. The company went on to perform their 2006, 2007 NY season at Dance Theater Workshop; 2007, DRA, Dancing at the Crossroads Time Square (NY); 2008 season at Alvin Ailey Studio; 2008, American Dance Guild at Dance New Amsterdam(NY); 2009 John Prinz and Friends at the Ailey Studios (NY); 2009 Dance New York Festival Lincoln Center(NY); 2009 Master Dance Series (FL); 2010 Nazareth College Rochester (NY); 2008, 2009, 2010, Latin Choreographer Festival (NY); and in 2010 a commissioned choreography for Connecticut Ballet (CT), DUMBO Dance Festival (NY) 2010,2012,2015, Jewish Community Center (NY)2011, Jacobs Pillow Inside/Out 2012, In-Sight Co. Dance Festival (NY) 2012, Wave Rising Series (NY) 2012, CoolNYC Festival (NY) 2013, In-Hale Dance Festival (PA) 2014, DancingWheels Cleveland (OH) 2014, Green Space Blooms Festival (NY) 2014, Rider University Emerging Choreographers Competition (NJ) 2014, NYC10 Dance Initiative at Dixon Place (NY) 2014, International Festival of the Arts and Idea, New Haven (CT) 2014, Southern Vermont Dance Festival (VT) 2014, Noel Pointer Foundation Benefit BAM Fisher (NY) 2014, 2015, Curtain Calls’ Kweskin Theater, Stamford (CT) 2014, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center (NY) 2014, Moving Beauty Series (NY) 2015, Kaatsbaan Artistic Residence (NY) 2015, Green Space Take Root Festival (NY) 2015, Spring for Dance St. Louis, (MO) 2015, New Canaan Library Art Showcase (CT) 2015, 8 In show Dixon Place (NY) 2016, Spotlight Soiree, Palace Theater, Stamford (CT) 2016, Battery Dance Festival (NY) 2016, The Round Table Showcase (NY), (NJ) 2016, Style Point Fashion Showcase, Dixon Place (NY) 2016. thomasortizdance.org

konverjdans | Tiffany Mangulabnan, Jordan Miller, Amy Saunder

KONVERJDANS is a contemporary ballet company co-founded in 2016 by artistic directors Amy Saunder, Jordan Miller and Tiffany Mangulabnan, three dancer-creators who hail from Zimbabwe, the US and the Philippines, and who come together (converge) in the name of creating art in New York City. konverjdans is dedicated to celebrating the convergence of different art forms, backgrounds, and experiences by always creating dance in collaboration with other artists - musicians, visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, and others; to always performing with live music, highlighting the importance of musical collaboration in dance; and to performing in a wide variety of spaces, making dance accessible to diverse audiences. konverjdans hopes eventually to conduct outreach programs in the directors' home countries of the United States, Zimbabwe and the Philippines. konverjdans was a Selected Choreographer at the 2018 Women in Dance Leadership Conference in New York City, and has been presented several times by Norte Maar. They have presented work at venues such as Danspace Project, Mark Morris Dance Center, Gibney Dance Center, The Actors Fund Arts Center, Socrates Sculpture Park, JOHN DOE Gallery,  The UNRULY Collective ArtHouse, The Muse Brooklyn, Lovecraft NYC, Bizarre Bushwick, The Paperbox NYC, and others. konverjdans.com

Young Choreographer, Gia Taylor
Photo by Lina Dahbour

GIABELLA TAYLOR loves dancing, singing, acting, and the process of creating art in all its forms. Gia Taylor (12) began dancing at the Lucy Moses School when she was 2.  She currently studies modern dance and composition with Ellen Robbins and ballet and character dance at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School (Affiliated with ABT).  Gia is a student at PPAS (the Professional Performing Arts School) in midtown Manhattan and balances her dance skills with painting, songwriting, singing, acting, and piano studies.  In August 2016, Gia was part of the Broadway For All Showcase at the Sheen Center, where she performed the solo song, ‘Mama knows best’.  Gia has repeatedly been featured as a soloist in the Family Matters Showcases at NYLA (since she was 6) and in December 2015 danced the lead child role in Dances Patrelle’s, The Yorkville Nutcracker, at the Danny Kaye Playhouse.  www.giabellataylor.com

Young Choreographer, Amelia Sanders
Photo by Lina Dahbour

AMELIA SANDERS has created her own choreography since she was 5 years old. She has studied modern choreography and improvisation with Ellen Robbins since 2010. Amelia’s choreography has been performed at New York Live Arts, 92Y, and Mary Anthony’s loft. She also studies at the Taylor School and is a founding member of the Paul Taylor Teen Ensemble. She assists with children’s classes both with Ellen Robbins and at the Taylor School. Amelia has studied Isadora Duncan technique with Lori Belilove and was a member of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation’s Junior Company. She has since continued her study of Duncan with Loretta Thomas and Catherine Gallant and has performed with Ms. Gallant’s Dances by Isadora. She has also studied with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence and received Beth Young Scholarships to their Summer Dance Workshops. She has performed The Unanswered Question by Anna Sokolow with the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble. Amelia plans to pursue a life in dance.