The Department of Dance at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts will present a one-night-only concert of works by alumni choreographers at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on January 28, 2011.
The Department of Dance at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts will present a one-night-only concert of works by alumni choreographers at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, January 28, 2011. Entitled Past/Forward: A Tisch Dance Alumni Celebration, the program will feature works by Bruno Augusto, Jeanine Durning, Hilary Easton, Naomi Goldberg Haas, Patricia Hoffbauer, TLang, and Gary Schaufeld.
Past/Forward, co-produced by the Department of Dance and the Skirball Center, highlights the work of several generations of Tisch Dance choreographers, and is part of a regular occurring series that presents the work of Tisch Dance alumni. Past/Forward showcases a range of alumni choreographers, from the newly graduated and emerging, to the more established who are now heading their own companies.
Past/Forward will take place for one night only on Friday, January 28, 2011, at NYU’s Skirball Center, located at 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South). Curtain is at 8 p.m. General admission is $25; students and seniors are $12. Proceeds from the concert will be used to support future presentations showcasing the talents of Tisch Dance alumni. For detailed information, visit Skirball Center online at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu, or call 212.352.3101. The box office is open Tuesday through Saturday, from noon to 6 p.m.
About the Department of Dance at the Tisch School of the Arts:
The Department of Dance at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University is a conservatory training program that offers an intensive curriculum for students committed to entering the profession as dancers or choreographers. It seeks exceptionally talented students who have learned through previous experience that they are physically and imaginatively capable of committing themselves to a training that reflects the standards of professional work. It provides a full range of technical training, and, for those interested in choreography, a solid base for creative work.
NYU Skirball Center:
The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for New York University and lower Manhattan. Led by executive producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and senior director Michael Harrington, the programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU's mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. A vital aspect of the Center's mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu
Artist Biographies:
Bruno Augusto was born in Angola where he began dancing at the age of five. He graduated from the National School of Dance in Havana Cuba and later performed with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba. He returned to Angola and performed with Companhia de Dança Contemporanea de Luanda. In 1998 Bruno came to the United States and performed with Tony Powell/Music and Movement, Rincones & Co. Dance Theater, and CityDance Ensemble. Bruno attended Towson University on full scholarship and received a B.F.A. in dance performance. In the spring of 2010 Mr. Augusto obtained his M.F.A. in dance performance and choreography. He was the recipient of the Dean’s fellowship from The Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Jeanine Durning is a dance and performing artist. Originally from upstate NY, she has been based in NYC since the late 80’s. Durning has been creating both solo and group performance on a project basis with a core group of collaborators, mainly presented by Dance Theater Workshop and Danspace Project in NYC. Central to her choreographic practice in the last few years are the overlapping ideas of memory, biography and documentary, within and through the frame of live performance. Her works, out of a kennel, into a home (2005) and Ex-Memory: waywewere (2009) further these ideas. She has received grants and awards for her choreography from various foundations including the Alpert Award and the New York Foundation for the Arts and has received numerous commissions from performers, companies and universities, to create original works. Durning has worked as performer and collaborator in the work of many choreographers including Deborah Hay (2006, 2008/09), Susan Rethorst (2005, 2007, 2008), Chris Yon (2006/07), and David Dorfman (1993-2002), to name a few. Jeanine's work as a facilitator of movement and creative practices has been an integral part of her ongoing inquiry of the body, performance and daily life. Within the past two years, she has been guest teacher at SNDO (Amsterdam), SODA (Berlin), Wesleyan University (CT), Wilson College (PA), and is currently adjunct faculty at Tisch School of the Arts, Dance. Jeanine has a BFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and recently received a Masters in Choreography from Amsterdam School of the Arts (AMCh). Durning’s current research focuses on fundamental questions of how body/movement, thought/imagination and language/speech interact and intersect which has recently manifested as a solo performance project called inging.
Hilary Easton + Company: The New York Times described Ms. Easton’s choreography this way: “Watching the piece unfold, you realize two things about Ms. Easton’s work over the last 15 years or so and why it is so intelligent and engaging. She choreographs like a poet, weaving together piercing, and elliptical observations. And she knows her dancers lovingly and well.” Hilary Easton + Company was established in 1992 and has since performed at venues throughout the US, including American Dance Festival, The Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church (5 NYC seasons), Dance Theater Workshop (4 NYC seasons), PS 122, The University of Texas/Austin, Central Park Summerstage, The Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe, The Yard, Mount Tremper Arts, Kaatsbaan Center for Dance, Bard College at Simon’s Rock College, Bennington College, and the 92Y-Harkness Dance Festival. The company recently premiered Light and Shade, at Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYC. Hilary Easton + Company has been honored with the Paul Taylor Fellowship, and grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Soros Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Bossak-Heilbron Foundation, Meet The Composer, The Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and The Maxine Greene Foundation for Social Imagination, the Arts, and Education.
Hilary Easton: In addition to her own company, Ms. Easton has choreographed for companies/artists including The Talking Band, The Joffrey II, Headwaters Dance Company, Spectrum Dance Theater, David Van Tieghem and Jean E. Taylor. As a dancer Ms. Easton has performed with a wide range of choreographers including Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company, Kinematic, XXY Dance/Music, and Monica Lévy Performance Group. Ms. Easton is an educator who has taught at Princeton University, Connecticut College, The University of Montana, and New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She is an educational consultant for arts organizations such as The New York Philharmonic School Partnership Program, Lincoln Center Institute, and VSArts.
Naomi Goldberg Haas has worked in concert dance, theatre, opera and film. Highlights include collaborations with the music ensemble The Klezmatics, composer Michael Nyman, playwright Tony Kushner, directors Brian Kulick and Oskar Eustis and Disney animation. Her work with the Silesian Dance Theater and persons with disabilities was presented in 2010 at the International Contemporary Dance Performance Festival in Bytom, Poland and the Chutzpah Festival in Vancouver, B.C. Originally trained at the School of American Ballet, with a MFA from NYU Tisch Dance, she performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet. She is Artistic Director of New York City based Dances For A Variable Population, creating theatrical dance with professional dancers and diverse communities. The company has been presented in venues throughout New York City including The Public, La Mama Etc, The Joyce Soho, Dance New Amsterdam, outdoor festivals at Chase Plaza, Governors Island and Battery Park, and the Whitehall Terminal for the Staten Island Ferry, in Chatham NY and in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center. Most recently, Friends of the High Line commissioned DVP for a series of site specific performances with dancers ages 21 – 85 in Fall, 2010.
Patricia Hoffbauer is a Brazilian-born choreographer, director, performer, and educator. Besides creating her own work, she has developed a 10-year artistic collaboration with writer/performer George Emilio Sanchez with whom she has toured throughout the United States and Latin America. In 2002-03 Ms. Hoffbauer and Mr. Sanchez were the Viola Farber Artists-In-Residence at Sara Lawrence College. At the end of that residency they presented Hoc Est Corpus/This Is A Body at Symphony Space in April 2003. Her latest collaboration with Mr. Sanchez, Milagro, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in April 2004. They did a three-week run of their piece The Architecture of Seeing: REMIX at La MaMa for a 10-year anniversary. Their collaborations and her individual work have been supported by the NEA, NYFA, NYSCA, & The Rockefeller Foundation. Hoffbauer has taught at Wesleyan University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Miami Dade Community College, Sara Lawrence College, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts’ summer program, Pratt Institute, and Yale University. Currently she teaches at Hunter College’s Dance Program and at Princeton University. In 2002 Ms. Hoffbauer was invited by Yvonne Rainer to perform her 1961 solo Three Seascapes at Jacob's Pillow, since then she has been working with Rainer and the Raindears. Her new work Para-dice premiered at Danspace Project as part of the Platform series in the fall of 2010.
TLang: A native of Chicago and former dancer with the Metropolitan Opera House, Marlies Yearby’s Movin Spirit Dance Theater and Nia Love’s Blacksmith Daughter Dance Theater, Artistic Director, T. Lang established her company in New York in 2006. Since then, she has been creating a singular body of work that has accumulated critical acclaim. T. Lang’s works have been presented throughout numerous prestigious venues which include The Alliance Theatre, Dance Space Project at St. Mark’s Church, Movement Research at Dance Theatre Workshop, Wave Rising Festival, P.S. 122, DUMBO Dance Festival, Dance New Amsterdam, Cool New York Dance Festival, Reverb Festival, Fertile Ground, Throw, The Flea, WAX, and Dixon Place. In addition to leading her own company, T. Lang is an Assistant Professor in Dance and Director of Spelman Dance Theatre at Spelman College. She also is a guest choreographer and teacher at studios and universities around the nation. She holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts in performance and choreography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters in Fine Arts in performance and choreography at Tisch School for the Arts NYU.
Gary Schaufeld is a 22-year-old New York native, whose movement exploration began while romping around his bedroom to the tunes of Long Island's #1 Pop Music radio station. At age seven he was a finalist up for the role of 'Poor Baby' in the Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Whistle Down the Wind', which subsequently ceased production and never made it to the stage. At age eleven, Gary was a regular performer for New York Knick's Basketball, where he jazz/funked at every half-time in Madison Square Garden for two years. At thirteen, he returned to the stadium as a back-up dancer for pop music superstar Aaron Carter, for his single, "Aarons Party" (Come get it!). In high school, he was invited to Beijing, China to represent the United States and perform at the Beijing International Dance Festival, held at the Olympic National Stadium. After high school Gary attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned his BFA in Dance. While a student he performed original works by Ronald K. Brown, Sean Curran, Renee Redding Jones, Brook Notary, Laura Peterson and Gus Solomons Jr. among others. Gary apprenticed for Gina Gibney Dance and ZviDance, and performed with the companies of James Martin, Patricia Noworol, Sean Curran, and Johannes Wieland. He has been a guest teacher at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Akron (Ohio) Dance Department, the Crested Butte Music and Dance Festival (Colorado), and currently instructs contemporary partnering under the guidance of Joy Kellman. He is thrilled and very honored to currently be collaborating and performing with Sydney Skybetter/skybetter & associates and Larry Keigwin, as a member of Keigwin + Company.