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TWYLA THARP | Twyla Tharp Website >> Since her graduation from Barnard College in 1963, Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than one hundred twenty five dances, five Hollywood movies, directed and choreographed two Broadway shows, written two books and received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, seventeen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts and numerous grants including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1965, Ms. Tharp began the dance company Twyla Tharp Dance. In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre where Ms. Tharp created more than a dozen works. Since that time Ms. Tharp has choreographed dances for many companies including: The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Boston Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance and The Martha Graham Dance Company. In 1991, Ms. Tharp regrouped her company Twyla Tharp Dance and created a program with Mikhail Baryshnikov called CUTTING UP, which went on to become one of contemporary dance's most successful tours, appearing in twenty eight cities over a two month period. Since 1999 Twyla Tharp Dance and has been touring internationally to critical acclaim. Ms. Tharp's work first went to Broadway in 1980 with When We Were Very Young, followed in 1981 by her collaboration with David Byrne on The Catherine Wheel at the Winter Garden; and her 1985 staging of Singin' in the Rain, which played at the Gershwin for three hundred sixty seven performances, followed by an extensive national tour. In 2002, Ms. Tharp and Billy Joel's award-winning dance musical Movin' Out premiered on Broadway, and a national tour will begin in January, 2004. The recipient of a 2003 Tony Award for Movin' Out, Ms. Tharp was also honored with the 2003 Astaire Award; the Drama League Award for Sustained Achievement in Musical Theater; and both the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography. In film Ms. Tharp has collaborated with directors Milos Forman on Hair (1978), Ragtime (1980) and Amadeus (1984); with Taylor Hackford on White Nights (1985) and with James Brooks on I'll Do Anything (1994). Her television credits include choreographing Sue's Leg for the inaugural episode of PBS' Dance in America, co-producing and directing Making Television Dance, which won the Chicago International Film Festival Award; and directing The Catherine Wheel for BBC Television. Ms. Tharp co-directed the television special Baryshnikov by Tharp, which won two Emmy Awards as well as the Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Director Achievement. Ms. Tharp wrote her first book in 1992, her autobiography Push Comes to Shove. Her second book, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life was published in October, 2003. Ms. Tharp continues to create works and lecture around the world.
Few artists of our time have had the profound impact on their art form that Paul Taylor has had on dance. People in cities and towns throughout the world have seen and enjoyed live modern dance performances due largely to the far-reaching tours he pioneered as a virtuoso dancer in the 1950s, and that his two companies have continued to this day. Fifty years after he made his first avant garde works, he is revered as “the world’s greatest choreographer,” with a collection of 125 dances performed by the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2 as well as renowned dance companies here and abroad. He has set movement to music so memorably that for millions it is impossible to hear certain orchestral works and popular songs and not think of his dances. He has influenced dozens of men and women who have gone on to create their own dances and/or establish their own troupes. As the subject of the widely seen documentary, Dancemaker, and author of a critically acclaimed autobiography, Private Domain, he has demystified his creative process as few artists ever have. At 76, Paul Taylor may be the most sought-after choreographer working today, commissioned by leading companies, theaters and presenting organizations the world over. Having made his first dance and started his own Company in 1954, Mr. Taylor spent seven seasons dancing with the Graham Company. He created the landmark Aureole in 1962 and continued to dance and choreograph until 1975, when he retired as a performer and created his signature work, Esplanade. Classic works then poured forth, including Cloven Kingdom… Airs… Arden Court… Lost, Found and Lost… Last Look… Roses… Musical Offering… Company B… Piazzolla Caldera… Promethean Fire… and dozens more. During the 1950s, Mr. Taylor began to bring modern dance to America’s college campuses and small towns as well as larger cultural centers, and in 1960 his Company made its first international tour. It has since performed in more than 500 cities in 62 countries. In 1966 the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation was established to help bring Mr. Taylor’s works to the largest possible audience, facilitate his ability to make new dances, and preserve his growing repertoire. In celebration of the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s 50th Anniversary, the Foundation presented Mr. Taylor’s work in all 50 States between March 2004 and November 2005. Mr. Taylor was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 1993. He is also a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, an Emmy Award, three Guggenheim Fellowships and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and in 2000 was awarded France’s highest honor, the Légion d’Honneur.
Antony Tudor (1908-1987), born in England, was a dancer, choreographer and teacher known as the “king of psychological dance-drama.” He began his training in 1928 and danced in many of his early ballets. He started Dance Theatre in 1937, moving to the United States in 1938 to dance and choreograph for the new ballet company, Ballet Theatre (now known as American Ballet Theatre). A versatile artist, Tudor choreographed a number of musicals in London and then on Broadway. In 1950 he became the director of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Met School. He left American Ballet Theatre to work with the New York City Ballet and stayed from 1951 to 1952. Later he was on the faculty of Juilliard, where he choreographed many ballets for this students. In 1974, Tudor rejoined American Ballet Theatre as Associate Director. Tudor was given the Carina Ari Gold Medal in 1973 and the Dance Magazine Award in 1974. In 1986, he was presented with the Kennedy Center Honors by President Ronald Regan.
James Sewell’s ballets have been performed by more than a dozen companies in the United States and Taiwan. Special projects and commissions have included choreography for the SAB Summer Workshop and a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to create a work for the Feld Ballet. As a dancer, Mr. Sewell was a lead dancer with Feld Ballets/NY for six years and has performed as a guest artist with many companies, including the New York City Ballet and Denishawn. In 1981, George Balanchine created a role on him for the Dance in America television production of L'enfant et les Sortileges. Mr. Sewell also serves on Dance/USA's board of trustees. James Sewell is the Artistic Director of James Sewell Ballet of Minneapolis, MN.
Alexandre Proia was born in France and is a graduate of the School of Paris Opera Ballet. He was a member of the Boston Ballet from 1981-83 and was a featured dancer with the New York City Ballet from 1984-95, where he danced the Company's extensive repertoire, including George Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Peter Martins Poulenc Sonata, Fearful Symmetries, Ecstatic Orange and Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of A Faun, Ives Song and In Memory of... Since retiring from New York City Ballet in 1995, Mr. Proia has worked as an independent performer, teacher and choreographer. For twenty years Mr. Proia has explored various artistic directions. Choreography credits include: New York City Ballet, Paris Opera and The Stars of Paris Opera Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Symphony Space (NY) Skidmore College, Adelphi University, American Repertory Ballet, Two river Theatre Company, Proia Dance Theatre at SomArts Cultural Center in San Francisco (first workshop performance November 23, 2003) and three time Council of the Arts of New York Grant recipient for choreography. Television and film credits include: The Nutcracker, The Cosby Show, Eye On Dance, Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen) and several independent films.
Patrick was born and raised in Potomac, Maryland where he started his dance training at Art Linkletter Totten Studios in Cabin John Shopping Center between the ages of three and five, depending on who you talk to. He continued studying tap and jazz with Russell Jay at The Dance Company in Fairfax, Va. and ballet with Bernard Spriggs at D.C. City Ballet and Mary Day and Alistair Munro at The Washington School of Ballet. In 1983 Patrick moved to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet. After a year at SAB Patrick briefly joined the Kansas City Ballet. Upon returning to New York in 1984 Patrick joined ABTII under the directorship of Richard Englund and Jeremy Blanton. In 1985 Patrick joined the Joffrey Ballet where he danced until 1989 in works by Gerald Arpino, Jiri Kylian, Laura Dean, Mark Morris, James Kudelka, Mark Haim, George Balanchine, John Cranko, Pilobolus, Frederick Ashton, Vaslav Nijinsky, Leonid Massine, William Forsythe and the great Paul Taylor. In 1989 Patrick joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company where he danced until 2005. Patrick was featured in five PBS Great Performances between 1988 and 2004 and the 1998 Academy Award nominated documentary Dancemaker. In 2001 Patrick was the recipient of the New York Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement with The Paul Taylor Dance Company. Patrick has staged his own work as well as the work of Paul Taylor on companies through out the United States. Patrick founded his own company CorbinDances and Patrick Corbin Dancers in 2003 and continues to present his own work in New York City.
David Anderson performed in the 1960's as a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet. He was featured with that company in the first televised production of the Nutcracker with Cynthia Gregory. In New York City he was a member of the American Ballet Theatre, a soloist at Radio City Music Hall and in the original production of Applause, starring Lauren Bacall. He collaborated as choreographer and dancer with Walter Terry, historian and dance critic, in Jubilant My Feet, a program on dance and religion; and directed his own company, davidandersondance. His work as a free lance teacher has taken him to Amsterdam Montpellier, Munich, Seoul and Stockholm. David has served as choreographer-in-residence for the Montgomery Ballet and then as artistic director for the 1995-96 season. In 2000, David choreographed Fall from Earth, a ballet commemorating Holocaust survivors and victims, for the Alabama Contemporary Dance Company. David has received numerous honors, including choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Alabama State Council on the Arts and awards for choreography at Panoply in 1999 and 2002. In addition to his work in dance, David is a trained Pilates instructor. |
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