Grounded Aerial Brings EMOTIONALLY CHARGED CHOREOGRAPHY AMPLIFIED INTO THE AIR to the Lehman Center Tonight

Artistic Director Karen A. Fuhrman announced that GROUNDED AERIAL, a visceral aerial Dance Company, will present EMOTIONALLY CHARGED CHOREOGRAPHY AMPLIFIED INTO THE AIR tonight, January 25th at 8pm at the Lehman Center for Performing Arts (250 Bedford Park Boulevard, West Bronx).

Featuring dancers Caitlin E. Campbell, Angela Cascone, Cassandra Glaser, Madeline Hoak, Blaine Horton, Marissa Maislen, Kenneth Stephen Neil, and Stephanie Sutherland, with never-before-heard commissioned works by composers John Medeski, John E. Oyzon, Jacob Robineete, and Trevor Exter, and a commissioned piece choreographed by Paul McGill, GROUNDED AERIAL is thrilled to present a glimpse of their new repertoire.

EMOTIONALLY CHARGED CHOREOGRAPHY AMPLIFIED INTO THE AIR is an evening of theater, dance and aerial with enticing characters, gymnastic feats, original live music, and choreographic debuts of Grounded Aerial's new repertoire.

Conceived and directed by GROUNED AERIAL Owner and Artistic Director, Karen A. Fuhrman, with Aerial Rigging Design by Director of Production, Aaron Verdery, Lighting Design is by Driscoll Otto and Costume Design is by Brynn Almni. Described as an "an inventive, thought-provoking spectacle" by The Examiner.com, GROUNDED AERIAL is a visceral aerial Dance Company that theatrically utilizes the dimensions of each space by piercing through the air with character-driven purpose. They believe in spectacle for a reason. Their technically trained dancers come from such backgrounds as Fuerza Bruta, De La Guarda, Momix, Blue Man Group, The Met, Keigwin + Company, STREB, Cirque du Soleil, and Pilobolus.

Tickets for EMOTIONALLY CHARGED CHOREOGRAPHY AMPLIFIED INTO THE AIR are available for purchase through The Lehman Center's website, or by calling 718.960.8833. Ticket prices range from $25 to $35. The Lehman Center for Performing Arts is located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard, West Bronx, NY 10468.

For more, go to www.GroundedAerial.com, or follow on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Grounded-Aerial and Twitter: @GroundedAerial.

BIOS:

KAREN A. FUHRMAN (Artistic Director). With her M.A. from NYU in choreography and higher dance education, Ms. Fuhrman specializes in both ground and aerial choreography. She has performed with Pilobolus, seen with 2007 Oscars Award Show, Ellen Degeneres, Good Morning America, and the Conan O' Brian show. Other credits include Cavalia of Cirque du Soleil, De La Guarda (Off-Broadway NYC), and MOMIX Dance Company. She has also danced for the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, MTV, PBS, ABC, and SHOWTIME. With Grounded Aerial, Ms. Fuhrman's choreography has appeared at Yerba Buena's Art Festival (San Francisco), Microsoft's worldwide Vista and Office Logo launch, benefits in Lake Tahoe, Limelight night club (NYC), Company y Company (Barcelona, Spain), Bidvest International Awards Ceremony (Johannesburg, South Africa), Skirball Theater (NYC opening for Neil Diamond), Baila! (National Palace of Culture in Guatemala City), Spiderman II release party, Usher (NYC Gala), Madeski, Martin, and Wood Concert (Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC), the KimMel Center in Philadelphia, the ESPY awards for ESPN, the Lincoln Center NYC, America's Got Talent, Beach House music video, Studio 54, and most recently debuted on Broadway with the hit musical Matilda. Ms. Fuhrman wrote, directed and produced an aerial play, Insectinside, with a cast of fourteen dancers, actors, and aerialists. The theatrical spectacle premiered in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Park Slope Brooklyn. Grounded Aerial's most recent international event was recently received by a star-studded "mesmerized crowd" in Lagos, Nigeria.

AARON VERDERY (Director of Production/Aerial Rigging Design) is very pleased to join forces with Grounded Aerial. With a background in stunt rigging and technical direction, he designed aerial rigs for Cedar Lakes Contemporary Ballet, TimeLapse Dance, Elizabeth Streb and the Yale School of Drama, and has worked with companies such as De La Guarda, Blue Man Group, Action Specialists, ZFX, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Signature Theatre Company. He is an alumnus of the M.F.A program in Technical Design and Production at Yale University's School of Drama.

Paul McGill (Choreographer) is a dancer, actor, and choreographer native to Pittsburgh. He has been working for the past decade on Broadway and in TV and Film. His most recent credit is in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Other notable credits include A Chorus Line on Broadway, the Oscar winning documentary Man On Wire, MGM's Fame (2009), Nickelodeon's "Victorious", and NBC's "Smash".

Brynn Almli (Costume Design) is a New York based Costume Designer. She is excited to be working with Grounded Aerial again after Midnight Circus last summer. Other recent work includes Landscape of the Body at NYU, Harm of Will choreographed by Kendra Portier for Second Avenue Dance Company, Orange Alert at the Algonquin Seaport Theater and numerous productions at Millbrook Playhouse. Ms. Almli's previous assisting experience includes work for Aspen Music Festival, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Theatre for a New Audience, the Guthrie Theater, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. She earned a BFA from the College of St. Catharine in Creative Writing and Sculpture and is currently working towards an MFA in Costume Design for Stage.

CAITLIN CAMPBELL is a recent graduate from New York University with a BFA in Drama. She likes to split her time between dance theatre, devised work and classical performance. She is currently one of Grounded Aerial's interns.

ANGELA CASCONE is a dancer, aerialist, and performer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She received her dance training at Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech, New York City Public School for Dance. She has performed in various venues throughout New York City and abroad, including The Joyce Theatre, Lincoln Center, Jay Pritzker Pavilion and The Box-Theatre of Varieties. This is her first year performing as a core member of Grounded Aerial.

CASSANDRA GLASER. Beginning her training at the age of 3, Cassandra grew up in the world of classical ballet and contemporary dance. She has spent summers with the American Ballet Theatre, Kirov Ballet, Cecchetti Council of America, Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts, and the American Dance Festival. She graduated magna cum laude with her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Hawai'i in 2012. During her time there, she also studied abroad at the London Contemporary Dance School. Her aerial training began in college with the Waikiki Acrobats and she has done performances using silks, rope and lyra. She started working with Grounded Aerial this year.

MADELINE HOAK is a New York City based aerialist, dancer and teaching artist. She holds BAs in Dance and Theater from Muhlenberg College After her formal education, Madeline started training in aerial acrobatics. She now professionally performs on a myriad of apparatus and teaches group and private classes for Upsidown Productions (founder), Helium Productions, and The Muse. Madeline is the Aerial Acrobatics professor at Muhlenberg teaching the practical and historical attributes of aerial work. She has performed with: Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company (DGDC), Kinesis Project dance theater, Helium Productions, and Cirque-tacular at venues such as Jacob's Pillow, Joyce SoHo, Judson Church, and The Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Madeline has worked for DGDC on the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble, Rochester City Ballet Company, and at Oakland University in Michigan, Rochester New York's School of the Arts, LaGuardia High School, Talent Unlimited, and Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. Madeline's own choreography has been seen at Dixon Place, BAX, Abron Arts Center, Times Square, The Flea, STREB, Galapagos, and The Muse.

BLAINE HORTON is thrilled to be making his first appearance with Grounded. He has attended The New School where he studied dance and obtained a BA in the Liberal Arts. His performance history is a colorful one ranging from dance with artists like Rebecca Sten and Keely Garfield to appearances on television shows like "30 Rock", "Law and Order" and "One Life to Live". More recently he has begun honing his choreographic chops on a collaborative production with dance artist Ben Munisteri and longtime dance partner Angela Maffia.

MARISSA MAISLEN. A Northwest native, Marissa attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts where she received her BFA in Dance. In the states and abroad, Marissa has worked with numerous artists as a dancer, aerialist or model. Some include Karole Armitage, Time Lapse Dance, Nejla Yatkin, Bill Hayward, Theresa Ortolani, David Michalek, Clinique, Zola Jesus, and many others. Currently, she is a performer and rehearsal director for Grounded Aerial as well as a performer for Yin Yue Dance, Airealistic, and McKittrick Hotel, home to Sleep No More. Alongside her work with these companies, Marissa also choreographs her own work as well as stage manages for various theater troupes in the city.

KENNETH STEPHEN NEIL. Texas born and raised, Kenneth Stephen Neil began his professional career touring Japan and the US in the Tony and Emmy award winning production BLAST!. Kenneth is an aerialist, dancer and artist. Since arriving to New York, what seems like only yesterday, Kenneth has performed with PHISH at Madison Square Garden (NYE 2011 & 2012), 3Oh3!, Ke$ha, Deerhoof, Peaches and Sharron Needles. He has choreographed and performed industrials for L'Oreal, Lululemon, Heinekin and Ted Gibson. You can find him breakdancing in Step Up 3D and doing some serious background acting in Ugly Betty, Smash and Law & Order. Currently Kenneth is dancing with Alison Chase (Pilobolus/Momix), Grounded Aerial and Tough Cookie Dance. He enjoys jazz music, coloring books and French press coffee.

BENJAMIN E. OYZON is an aerial acrobat, dancer, martial artist, firespinner, surfer, rigger, and Pilates instructor. He has had the pleasure of performing with AiRealistic, 2nd Species, The Metropolitan Opera, the Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, Gabrielle Roth/5RhythmsDT, Phoenix Entertainment NYC, the MUSE, OneMile, Forces of Nature, Dance Anonymous, Groove Hoops, Red Dive, Exploding Moment, and the BM Fire Conclave. Since 2005, Benjamin continues to both rig and perform with Grounded Aerial.

STEPHANIE SUTHERLAND grew up in the Hudson Valley and is a graduate of the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University BFA program, where she danced works by Judith Jamison, Pascal Reoult, Jose Limon, Jennifer Muller, Paul Taylor, Donald McKayle, Anne Reinking, and Kevin Wynn. Stephanie has toured throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, performing with numerous dance companies and choreographers including the international tour of West Side Story, the Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre, Teresa Fellion's BodyStories Dance, Flexicure Dance, Janice Lancaster, Christopher Rudd, Kristin Sudeikis, and performs as a guest artist with Ani Taj's The Dance Cartel. She has also danced with Abdul Latif's D-Squared Dance Theater, with whom she assisted in setting repertory on Ballet Hispanico. For four years Stephanie was a core member of the indie rock band Jigsaw Soul, as dancer, vocalist, and occasional tambourine player. Stephanie is also a trained actress in film and TV, appearing nationally and internationally in commercials, music videos, and feature films. Aside from performing, she enjoys teaching Pilates and yoga, being a certified massage therapist and Reiki practitioner. Stephanie is honored to be a part of Grounded Aerial and thrilled to be taking her dancing to the air.

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