The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. is pleased to present select winners and finalists from The A.W.A.R.D. Show! series of 2009 and 2010 at Joyce SoHo from May 31- June 5. In shared programs, twelve winners and finalists from series at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, On the Boards (Seattle) and Joyce SoHo (New York City) will perform works that they either showed in their respective cities or that they created after they received cash awards. The winners and finalists from each city were chosen through a process of performance, moderated discussion and audience voting. The first place winners each received a $10,000 cash award and the finalists each received $1,000.
The participating choreographers include:
Chicago: Jessica Miller Tomlinson (winner 2009), Allyson Esposito and Megan Schneeberger (finalist 2009), Julia Rhoads (finalist 2009), Jacqueline Stewart (winner 2010), Jo
Anna Rosenthal (finalist 2010), and Michel Rodriguez (finalist 2010).
New York City: Makiko Tamura (winner 2009),
Helen Simoneau (winner 2010), Satoshi Haga (finalist 2010), and Yin Yue (finalist 2010).
Seattle: Amelia Reeber (winner 2009) and Catherine Cabeen (finalist 2009).
The 12 choreographers will have their work performed on the following schedule:
May 31 & June 1 at 8pm
Jacqueline Stewart's It's Not Enough To Close Your Eyes
Satoshi Haga's THREAD
Allyson Esposito and Megan Schneeberger's Dwelling Quartet
Makiko Tamura's 256*
June 2 & 3 at 8pm
Jessica Miller Tomlinson's Forget What You Came For?
Yin Yue's INVISIBLE*
Jo
Anna Rosenthal's Drifting for Nomads*
Amelia Reeber's this is a forgery (excerpt)*
June 4 at 8pm & June 5 at 3pm
Helen Simoneau's Flight Distance II*
Catherine Cabeen's Crystallizing Space*
Michel Rodriguez's Moi Aussi
Julia Rhoads's Memory Mash
*Works created with award monies
The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009 and 2010 awards in Chicago and Seattle were made possible by a generous grant from The Boeing Company. The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009 and 2010 awards in New York City were made possible through a generous contribution from Scott Kasen.
Tickets are $15. Joyce SoHo's onsite box office is only open one half-hour prior to performance time to sell tickets exclusively for that performance. Tickets may also be purchased online at joyce.org (no service fees!), via JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or in person at
The Joyce Theater at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street Mon-Sun, 12 noon-6pm. On days when there are performances,
The Joyce Theater's box office is open for advance sales up to one hour prior to Joyce curtain times and up to three hours prior to Joyce SoHo curtain times.
The Joyce Theater's box office is closed on major holidays.
For more information about The A.W.A.R.D. Show! Series and events please visit:
www.joyce.org/about/special_events_awardshow.phpAbout the Artists and Their Work:
Catherine Cabeen
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Seattle
Outcome: Finalist
Crystallizing Space, is the opening solo of the evening length work, Into the Void. Performed in drag, to an original score by Kane Mathis, Cabeen explores gender representation as an intersection of art and life, where desire, expression, and expectation collide. This work was inspired by visual artist Yves Klein's infatuation with how vibrantly energy can flow through open space, and how lines and definitions limit that energetic expansion.
Catherine Cabeen, MFA is the Artistic Director of Catherine Cabeen and Company (CCC), a Seattle based, contemporary dance company dedicated to creating dynamic performances that engage the body as an intersection for ideas. Cabeen has received choreographic commissions from On the Boards, Spectrum Dance Theater, the American College Dance Festival NW, Moving People Dance Theater, Pig Iron Theater Company, Arc Dance Company, Lehua Dance Company, and the Cabiri, among others. CCC has received support from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and 4 Culture. Cabeen will be an Emerging Choreographer at Bates Dance Festival, summer 2011. Cabeen currently performs in her own work and with Richard Move. She is a former member of the
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1998-2005), and was Jones' Assistant Choreographer on the original production of Spring Awakening at the Atlantic Theater. She is also a former member of the
Martha Graham Dance Company, and
Pearl Lang Dance Theater among others. She has performed as a guest artist with
Donald Byrd's Spectrum Dance Theater. catherinecabeen.com
Allyson Esposito and Megan Schneeberger
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Chicago
Outcome: Finalist
Chicago-based dance company The Space/Movement Project ("TS/MP") will perform Dwelling Quartet, an initially timid conversation of gestures and glances that gently unfolds into a highly energetic exchange of swift, strong lifts and spatial takeover. TS/MP re-imagined two duets as a single quartet for the 2009 competition with both performers and original choreographers participating in its development. Since performing in The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Chicago, the company has used this choreographic methodology to produce two original evening-length works.
Allyson Esposito has created dance with The Space/Movement Project since its inception in 2005, and has served as the organization's Executive Director since 2007. Allyson received her early training at The School of the Salt Creek Ballet in Westmont, IL, and at Miami University of Ohio, where she was a member of its Dance Theatre Company. Allyson has also performed with Nashville's Epiphany Dance, David Dorfman Dance, Beloit College's Chris Johnson/Chelonia Dance and numerous Chicago-based dance artists including Nana Shineflug/The Chicago Moving Company, ecnDANCEWORKS (now The Moving Architects), RTG Dance, and Drop Shift Dance Company. Allyson's work has appeared on the festival circuit, including at the Martha's Vineyard Built on Stilts Festival, the Full Circle Dance Theater Festival, the Cincinnati Fringe festival, and the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival.
Megan Schneeberger is a Montana born choreographer, dancer, artist, and habitual magazine reader. Her training began at River Street Dance Theater in Hamilton MT under the direction of Pam Erickson. She received her BFA in dance from the University of Montana in 2004. While at UM, she was privileged to work with a number of guest artists and was awarded a merit scholarship and two awards of excellence by the UM Dance Department. Upon moving to Chicago in 2005 she immediately found a dance home with The Space Movement Project. She has also performed with Khecari Dance Theater and Silvita Diaz Dance in Chicago. Megan views dance art as bridge between the factual and the felt and creates choreography based on the connections between cognition and intuition. thespacemovementproject.org
Satoshi Haga
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: New York City
Outcome: Finalist
THREAD is an excerpt from Two People and A Wall. In collaboration with Rie Fukuzawa, Satoshi Haga has developed a technique which is inspired by Tai Chi's Push Hand. Dancing with just their fingertips touching, their arms move softly like a piece of rope, forming different shapes as it moves, creating unspoken conversation between them. Using the forces of gravity and human personality, they pursue the course of human relationships and love between men and women (or man and man, woman and woman), illustrating the power of
Yin and Yang theory in the universe.
Satoshi Haga has performed theater with The American Mime Theatre, New York Pantomime Theater, Jeanette Stoner and Dancers and many independent artists. His works have been presented by venues including Aaron
Davis Hall, The Madarts, Joyce SoHo, P.S.122, Movement Research,
92nd Street Y, Mulberry Street Theater, DanceNOW Downtown Dance Festival, Dance Conversations @ The Flea, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, the Japan Society in New York, Jacob's Pillow and The Yard in MA. He has been collaborating with Rie Fukuzawa as binbinFactory since September 2009. Their work has been presented by Dance Conversations at Flea 2010 and 2011, The Giacobetti Paul gallery, Downtown Dance Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, DanceNOW Twenty Ten Festival, Sundays at Three at
92nd Street Y, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center and a part of
The Joyce Theater Foundation's The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: New York City. He also collaborates with composers and musicians, Jen Shyu, Mat Maneri, Ivan Barenbolem and has choreographed and directed the exhibition at the Tokyo Motor show. binbinfactory.org
Amelia Reeber
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Seattle
Outcome: Winner
A multi-media look at how our lives unfold in the flux of what we seek, what we receive and how we respond, this is a forgery blends virtuosity with a knack for exploring personal discovery onstage in a manner that is genuine, entertaining and often hysterically funny.
Amelia has performed nationally and internationally and is a 2011 touring SCUBA Artist. She has performed in four works by seminal American choreographer
Deborah Hay and toured internationally during 2008-09. Reeber's solo, Peak and Draft, was presented with Mountain in the Northwest Artist Series at On the Boards and, while traveling in Cambodia, Amelia had the opportunity to perform that work for the Khmer Arts Ensemble. She was a founding member of Foot In Mouth, a choreographer/composer collaboration whose work was presented as part of OtB's Northwest Artist Series at in 2005. ameliareeber.com
Julia Rhoads
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Chicago
Outcome: Finalist
Memory Mash is an excerpt from Punk Yankees, a provocative and entertaining dance theater work that combines live performance, video, and the internet to unpack ideas about authenticity, originality, and the ownership of dance in the digital age. An integration of contemporary dance and spoken commentary, the piece deals with issues of intellectual property with transparency and humor.
Led by Julia Rhoads, one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch in 2010," Lucky Plush Productions is a dance-theater company that devises works with a focus on strong ensembles, complex choreography, innovative use of new media technology, and intellectually bold content. Known for its lush and evocative movement, witty commentary, and artful integration of theater and visual design, Lucky Plush's work supports an immediacy of presence for the performers in real-time with the audience, often provoking humor in surprising ways. Lucky Plush has been presented at a wide range of venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Steppenwolf Garage (IL), Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (FL),
City Center Blackbox Studio (NYC), Cusp Conference (Vancouver/Chicago), Grace Street Theater (VA), Spring to Dance (MO), the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival (AK), and site locations including Chicago's Union Station, among others. luckyplush.com
Michel Rodriguez
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago
Outcome: Finalist
Moi Aussi addresses the balance between dependence and independence within the context of a relationship.
Michel Rodriguez was born in Havana, Cuba and graduated from the National School of Art in 2003. He began dancing as a company member of Danza Contemporanea de Cuba and became a principal dancer in 2006, participating in the International Theater Festival of Havana, Biennale of Venice, Temps D'Images of Dusseldorf, and Sziget Festival in Budapest, performing in England, Mexico and teaching workshops in Spain. He has worked with choreographers Jan Linkens, Kenneth Kvarnstrom, Samir Akika, Cathy Marston, Luca Bruni,
Rafael Bonachela, Jan Bartoszek and Marianela Boan. Mr. Rodriguez moved to Chicago in 2008. This is his third season as a dancer with Hedwig Dances with whom he dances, choreographs and teaches. hedwigdances.com
Jo
Anna Rosenthal
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago
Outcome: Finalist
Drifting for Nomads is a new work by Jo
Anna Rosenthal for Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre which deals with the spatial and emotional ramifications of the economic decline which has materialized in the loss of home and place. The work attempts to capture the sensation of a journey with individuals constantly on the move, both solitary or in company.
Jo
Anna Rosenthal, choreographer, dancer, teacher and artistic director for Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre, has been performing professionally and teaching dance since 1996. She received her B.F.A. in dance from the University of Iowa and was an Iowa Arts Fellow at the University of Iowa where she earned her M.F.A. in Choreography. Rosenthal is on faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College, Roosevelt University, Joffrey Ballet Academy Chicago, Lou Conte Dance Studio and has taught at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. She has performed extensively in Chicago, dancing for seven years with Mordine & Company Dance Theater and for 5 years with Lucky Plush Productions, as well as appearing with the Chicago Moving Company, Hedwig Dances and Kayle and Company and several other independent choreographers. Rosenthal's work has been presented in Chicago, Minneapolis, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York and St. Louis, Missouri. spdwdance.org
Helen Simoneau
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: New York City
Outcome: Winner
Flight Distance II is part of a triptych of dances that explore the boundaries of personal space, unwritten spatial rules, and intimacy in relation to space. The term is used to describe the distance an individual places between themselves and others; it varies from person to person and from species to species. Set to the music of Andy Hasenpflug and an original score by Chris Andraka, the piece explores the role of the individual within a group
Helen Simoneau currently lives in Winston-Salem, NC and creates with a group of dancers based in both NYC and North Carolina. This past fall, she won The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: New York City with her solo the gentleness was in her hands which was also awarded First Place for Choreography at the 13th Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theatre Festival in Stuttgart, Germany in 2009. Simoneau returned to Germany in 2010 as one of three finalists for the
Kurt Jooss Prize in Essen for her quintet Flight Distance I. Her choreography has been presented in Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, and has toured throughout Germany and the United States. In 2007, she was selected as one of five choreographers for the Swiss International Coaching Project (SiWiC) in Zurich. Simoneau is a 2010 North Carolina
Arts Council Choreographic Fellow. She has created new works for the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard (MA), the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (MI) and has restaged her work for The University of Oklahoma, Wake Forest University (NC), and Hollins University (VA). Simoneau earned a BFA from UNCSA and a MFA from Hollins University. helensimoneau.com
Jacqueline Stewart
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago
Outcome: Winner
It's Not Enough To Close Your Eyes was originally choreographed for The Open Space Project and premiered in April 2010. In this piece, dancers revolve around a single light telling an abstract story of individual growth through a dual companionship. The use of light highlights and defines different images and poignant moments between the relationships of two dancers
Jaxon Movement Arts is a project-based company that creates dance art inspired [by current events, its surrounding urban environment], and active collaborations with adjacent artistic mediums including photography, fashion and new media. Stewart has made guest performances with The Dance Collective and The Seldoms. She joined Thodos Dance Chicago in 2007 and continues to dance and choreograph actively in the Company. She has choreographed for Poetic Rebound Company, Open House Dance Chicago, Dance Chance Chicago, and Chicago Takes Off. Stewart has showcased new works the past three years for Thodos Dance Chicago "New Dances". April 2010, Stewart premiered It's Not Enough To Close Your Eyes for Chicago's Open Space Dance Project that became the Grand Prize Winner of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago. jaxonmovementarts.com
Makiko Tamura
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: New York City
Outcome: Winner
Composed with theatrical expressions, gestures, and movements which were made by improvisation with given words, 256 communicates to faded memories and emotions through the performer's unique personality and character. This is a solo piece in collaboration with images and film. 256 has been presented in Newsteps Choreographer's Series 2010 at Chen Dance Center, and will be premiere during The A.W.A.R.D. Show! All-Stars as a 15-minute expanded version.
As the founder and artistic director of small apple co., Makiko Tamura has been an annual special guest choreographer/dancer of The Dance Satellite Lecture at Yamaguchi University Faculty of Education since 2004. Tamura performed her works in many theaters such as Asahi Art Square, Akiyoshidai International Art Village and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media in Japan. In 2007, Tamura moved to the U.S.A. and has since worked with Nathan Trice/RITUALS, Vanessa Justice Dance, Diane McCarthy, Digby Dance, Ellis Wood Dance and in the works of various New York City artists. Tamura presented her works in newsteps choreographer's series 2008 and 2010 at Chen Dance Center, Danspace Project Food For Thought 2009 at
St. Mark's Church, RAW Material Fall 2009 at Dance New Amsterdam, Fresh Tracks 2010 at Dance Theater Workshop, and other NYC venues. Small apple co
Jessica Miller Tomlinson
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Chicago
Outcome: Winner
Forget What You Came For? premiered June 23rd as part of Thodos Dance Chicago's annual New Dances 2006 choreography performance series and was selected to join the repertory of Thodos Dance Chicago from 2006-2008. Set to music by Nine Inch Nails with Aphex Twin,
Ben Harper with the Blind Boys of Alabama and Nathan Tomlinson, Forget is an abstract work loosely based personal dreams and nightmares.
As a young dancer, Jessica apprenticed with the NC Dance Theatre under the direction of former New York City Ballet principals Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride. She has performed works by
Paul Taylor,
David Parsons, Neta Pulvermacher,
Mark Morris, Zac Whittenberg,
Lar Lubovitch, Francisco Avina and
Stephanie Martinez, Lucas Crandall and
Bob Fosse. In the summer of 2002 Jessica performed in the Taos, New Mexico Dance Festival where she worked with Gail Gilbert and Kevin Wynn. Jessica has choreographed professionally for the Chautauqua Ballet Company, NC School of the Arts and for Thodos Dance Chicago. Her work Forget What You Came For?, which premiered at Thodos Dance Chicago's New Dances 2006, and her most recent work Architecture: Splintered and Cracked from New Dances 2009 were selected to become part of the repertoire of Thodos Dance Chicago. In the summer of 2008, Jessica was selected as the Guest Alumni Choreographer for NC School of the Arts summer scenes in Manteo, NC, where her work Die Lieder Tanzen was performed. jessicamillertomlinson.com
Yin Yue
Participant: The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: New York City
Outcome: Finalist
INVISIBLE is a dance about telling stories through visually striking and surprising movement. Divided into three sections, the work is searching for the meaning and purpose of staying connected, even when sometimes the connection is so thin, it is barely visible.
Born in Shanghai, China, Yin Yue has performed for
Doug Elkins & Friends, Ivy Baldwin, Curt Haworth,
Christopher Williams,
Deborah Jowitt, White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company, Malcolm Low Formal Structure, Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, BARKIN/SELLISEN Project and Urban Dance Collective. She has performed and presented works since 2008 at Joyce SoHo, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Lincoln Center Rose Hall, American Dance Guild at MMAC, DanceNOW[NYC] Festival at DTW, Food For Thought at
St. Marks Church, DUMBO DANCE Festival, Cool New York Festival, La MaMa Moves New York International.