Joffrey Jazz and Contemporary Program Launches Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration, Set for Fashion Week 2013

World-renowned ballet educational institution, The Joffrey Ballet School, is excited to have their Jazz and Contemporary program participate in a cross-disciplinary initiative collaborating with Parsons School of Design, Louis Vuitton, the New School's Jazz and Contemporary Music Department, and famed New York choreographers Francesca Harper, Ginger Thatcher, Angelica Stiskin, Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie, Tiffany Rea-Fisher and Joyce King.

Five teams consisting of artists from each discipline will be tasked to develop a live performance consisting of original music score, choreography and conceptual wearables constructed from donated Louis Vuitton items working with the theme of Reconstruction. Each of the teams and will have their own choreographer, Parsons design students, composer and musicians, who will be deconstructing, then reconstructing famed Louis Vuitton designs that the dancers will wear. Joffrey faculty will provide mentorship and support to the choreographers during the process.

In celebration of this rich collaboration, the dancers will unveil their live public performance during Fashion Week in February 2013. The teams will be evaluated by a cross-disciplinary panel of professionals providing critical feedback. They will select the deserving team that will be honored with award items from Louis Vuitton and a trip to Paris, France.

The Joffrey Ballet School fuses multiple styles of balletic training to create a curriculum that is uniquely Joffrey. In more than fifty years, the Joffrey Ballet School has remained on the forefront of American dance education. Graduates of the school have gone on to dance for major classical ballet companies, as well as for numerous contemporary companies, both in the United States and abroad. The Joffrey Ballet School is the only ballet school in New York City that offers a well-rounded dance curriculum that includes serious training in both classical ballet (technique, pointe, variations, adagio, men's classes) and contemporary ballet (technique, improvisation, partnering), as well as modern, character, choreography, dance history, music, pilates and yoga. To learn more visit www.joffreyballetschool.com.

Choreographer Bios

Francesca Harper, a statuesque beauty who is a dancer-actor-singer- recording artist-choreographer-director has graced the stage appearing with Dance Theater of Harlem, Frankfurt Ballet, as well as Fosse, The Producers and The Frogs. Ms. Harper approaches ballet technique with keen sensibility to the magic of performance beyond technical steps. After performing with the Dance Theater of Harlem, she danced as a principal in William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt from 1994-1999. Since returning to the States in 2000, Harper has performed in several Broadway productions including Fosse, The Producers, The Frogs, and The Color Purple. She played the role of Helene opposite Molly Ringwald in a national tour of Sweet Charity, and the role of Judith originated by Judith Jamison in a revival of Sophisticated Ladies. Harper's choreographic career began while still in Germany, where she choreographed a full evening work for the Holland Dance Festival. She has since choreographed works for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Tanz Graz, and her own company The Francesca Harper Project, which has become the platform for her own artistic vision: classical dance forms deconstructed and fused with cutting-edge text, music, film and video. She premiered her critically-acclaimed one-woman show The Fragile Stone Theory at the 2002 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Francesca's latest commissioned work, Documotion: ONE - Rave, was requested to be performed at the 50th Anniversary of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center at World Famous Apollo Theater by Judith Jamison. The Francesca Harper Project season highlights include performances at Harlem Stage, Bloomberg Culture Series, Central Park Summerstage and Venice Biennale.

Most recently, Francesca was appointed as an Adjunct Professor at New York University, a teacher for The Ailey School and the Fordham BFA Program, and a teacher and choreographer Tony Award Director Susan Batson at the Susan Batson Studio. Francesca also enjoyed working as a ballet consultant for the feature film, "BLACK SWAN," by Darren Aronofsky, starring Natalie Portman, who went on to win an Oscar.

Ginger Thatcher has choreographed over 30 works for theater, television, film and concert dance. Most recently, she choreographed the film Far From Heaven, and Maury Yeston's new musical Hans Christian Anderson for Maine State Music Theater.

Other NY credits include: Syncopation at Stamford Theater Works, Big at Gateway Playhouse, Lucky Chance at Jean Cocteau Rep., The Winter's Tale and Othello for the NYC Shakespeare Project, Barrio Babies at Amas Theater Group and As The World Turns. Regional credits include: The Robber Bridegroom at Cleveland Opera, Eugene Onegin and The Bartered Bride at Glimmerglass Opera.

She has created works for: Oregon Ballet Theater, Louisville Ballet, Sarasota Ballet (Triple Circle Choreographer Award), Minnesota Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, and Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY at The Joyce Theater in NYC. She has self produced her own evening of work at Lincoln Center and was the founding director of the New Steps Choreography Project in Cleveland, OH, for which she received an Achievement in the Arts Nomination.

Broadway credits as Associate Choreographer, Assistant Choreographer and Resident Choreographer include: The Red Shoes, Carousel, Big, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Oklahoma, A Year with Frog and Toad. Other credits: PBS Dance in America-Othello, American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Red Shoes, ABT, National Ballet of Canada, A Brahams Symphony, ABT, and Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Berlin, all with Lar Lubovitch.

Angelica Stiskin, a native of northern New Jersey, is widely recognized for her versatility as a performer and teacher. Her experience in the industry encompasses all forms of dance, and her well-rounded knowledge is in high demand. Her knowledge spans both worlds of commercial and concert dance offering a wide array of expertise. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance at Marymount Manhattan College under the direction of Katie Langan, performing works by Shen Wei, Robert Battle and Lar Lubovitch to name a few. Professional stage credits include performing as a guest artist in ASH Contemporary Dance Company, and Adrienne Canterna's American Dance Artists, dancing alongside Travis Wall and Rasta Thomas. Most recently, Angelica performed a self-choreographed solo at Baryshnikov Arts Center's Jerome Robbins Theater as an advocate for solo artistry in concert dance.

Angelica is honored to have assisted the Emmy Award winning Mia Michaels across the U.S.A. and Canada. She is highly regarded for her own unique and innovative choreography, and her exploratory movement is requested from coast to coast. Miss Stiskin has been distinguished faculty of Joffrey Ballet School's Jazz/Contemporary Summer Program for the past two years and instructed weekly for the Pre-Professional program at the school in New York City. She is now thrilled to take part in the launch of MR. Martin's new journey, LEON Dance Arts NY, a training program housed at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center. Angelica will just be returning from Walt Disney World in January, where she is performing in a seasonal production of a new Holiday Show.

Joyce King, Artistic Director, JKing Dance Company (JKDC)
Over the years, King's versatility and insatiable appetite to uniquely express life through movement has afforded numerous opportunities to choreograph, teach and perform, traveling throughout the U.S. and to Vienna, Costa Rica, Belgium, France, with most recently to Tokyo, Japan. In NYC, King continues to enjoy teaching on faculty at Steps on Broadway and guest faculty at Broadway Dance Center. Her choreography has been commissioned for a variety of venues as part of special performances at Pinkerton Academy Theatre Arts, Palace Theatre, The Auditorio Nacional and Teatro Eugene O'Neil Theaters in Costa Rica.

In 2008, King established JKing Dance Company, (JKDC.) Within 3 short years in New York, JKDC has been presented at 12 different venues, recently for Jazz Legend Luigi. JKDC is a 2011 recipient of the BUILD grant, a program of NYFA for the Arts, read more: www.JoyceKingDance.com and a Sponsored Artist of The Field.

King's career path brings a multifaceted outlook on dance. Her extensive dance and acting training, combined with her unending passion to express, afforded King an array of performance opportunities: A Chorus Line, Cats Vienna, Fame: The Musical, Benefits for Broadway Cares; Michael Jackson Sportswear, industrials, performing work by choreographer Lynne Taylor - Corbett, Boston Opera's Aida and Die Fledermaus - choreographers, Sam Kurkjian, Graciella Daniele and newly written plays directed by Doug Hall. Concert performance with the Richard Levi Dance Company, NYC, Impulse Dance Company, Adrienne Hawkins, Director, chosen to perform works by choreographers, Danny Sloan, Fred Benjamin, Lynn Simonson and Miquel Lopez.

As an awardee of full scholarships to Jacobs Pillow and American Dance Festival, King worked and performed choreography by Bruce Taylor, Chuck Davis and Ron Forella. Expanding on her craft, led to an invitation to attend the Oxford Summer Shakespeare program, London England, following her comprehensive training with master teacher Charles Kakatsakis, NYC. She is thrilled to have had these opportunities to work with so many Masters of the Performing Arts, including the influential teachers Michael Owens, Suzy Taylor - Michaud and Sally Johnson.

Tiffany Rea-Fisher received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College SUNY. While at Purchase she co-founded ForArts, the school's first interdisciplinary presenting organization, which provided opportunities for students from different conservatories to create collaborative works. Ms. Rea-Fisher accepted her first full-time professional position with the Compania de Dance in Burgos Spain from 2002-2003. After returning to New York and completing her degree she performed with The Kevin Wynn Collection, Dance Anonymous, Abraham.in.Motion and The Brett Howard Dance Company. During that time she also became the resident choreographer for the Fresno Ballet School and she continued in that capacity until 2009. In 2004 Ms. Rea-Fisher created, directed, and curated Dance at the Tank at the interdisciplinary arts organization the Tank. Ms. Rea-Fisher joined Elisa Monte Dance in 2004 where she was principal dancer until 2010, performing lead roles in such classic works as Treading, Pigs and Fishes, Shattered and Volkmann Suite. She was named Dance Magazine's "On the Rise" person for their 2007 August issue based on her performance during the company's 2006 season at The Joyce Theater. Ms. Rea-Fisher began her administrative work for the company as the Director of Education for Elisa Monte Dance where she worked to expand the company's educational initiatives. In 2009 Tiffany was promoted to the role of Associate Artistic Director for Elisa Monte Dance, and has had the privilege of having her last four pieces become part of the company's repertory. Teaching is a big part of Ms. Rea-Fisher's new position and she has since taught at the Ailey School, City Center, Dancewave, Steffi Nossen, Peridance, Steps on Broadway, Dance New Amsterdam, Tisch, SUNY Purchase, and George Mason University.

Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie has trained extensively in ballet and modern dance but found her artistic home in breaking, hip hop and house. She began breaking in 2002 under Richard Santiago (aka Break Easy) and soon after was introduced to house music. She has been greatly influenced by the New York club scene ever since. Ephrat has performed and taught throughout the US and Europe, as well as in Peru, South Africa and Israel. She has appeared on NBC, MTV, Comedy Central and at Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden and DTW. Ephrat is a regular guest artist with Rennie Harris Puremovement and has worked with Bill Irwin, Buddha Stretch and Cori Olinghouse among others. Her work has been presented at Dixon Place, The Bushwick Starr, The Flea, the Motherlode Theater and the Bendheim Performing Arts Center. Ephrat dances with her crew MAWU and recently finished working on the creation process of the show Magnifico, directed by Andres Heller and choreographed by Pilobolus. Ephrat is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Center and the Joffrey Ballet School. She has a B.A. in Italian Language (summa cum laude) from Barnard College. Ephrat is a NYFA artist and is the recent Swing Space grant recipient from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. As artistic director of Ephrat Asherie Dance, her new work, A SINGLE RIDE, will premiere in September, commissioned by Dixon Place. In January, Ephrat will be traveling to Brazil with a Jerome Foundation Travel and Study grant to study how Brazilian cultural and folkloric dances have influenced breaking in Brazil.