Lane Harwell To Moderate Q&A After Feb. 27 Performance Of Emerging Choreographer Series

Mare Nostrum has announced that the performance of Tuesday February 26 will be followed by a 1/2 hour Q&A session, led by LANE HARWELL, executive, advocate, educator, and artist working to advance the independent sector and mission-driven causes.

Harwell is currently executive director of Dance/NYC, serving more than 1,200 dancemakers and companies in the metropolitan area, and he writes on policy and management issues for the Huffington Post. Lane's history in the arts also includes a performance career with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company and training at the School of American Ballet. He holds a MBA from Columbia Business School, a MA in Performance Studies from the U of California/Berkeley, and a BA in Philosophy from Princeton University.

Mare Nostrum Elements, in collaboration with LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, is proud to announce the fifth annual Emerging Choreographer Series, a program that celebrates new dances ranging from modern dance to hip-hop, created by nine talented young choreographers, February 26 & 27 at 7:30 PM in The Little Theater at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Long Island City.

Emerging Choreographer Series (ECS) welcomes diversity in both dance makers and dance styles - musical theater, tap, hip hop, experimental, contemporary, all find a supportive home at ECS. A total of 79 choreographers auditioned for the 2018 Series: 7 were selected from the NYC auditions and one from the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome, an exclusive Italian partner with which the Series has established a cultural exchange.

The 2018 choreographers are:

• Quilan Arnold
• Hannah Button
• Ann Dragich
• Christopher Nunez
• Garrett Parker
• Dougie Robbins
• Patrick O'Brien (Returning Choreographer)
• Nicoletta Serio (International Choreographer)
• Zoe Walders

Each of choreographers receives up to 60 hours of free studio space at three venues: the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Spaceworks LIC, and American Tap Dance Foundation; a stipend to pay themselves and their dancers; and public performances at the Performing Arts Center. The choreographers are also given logistical support, including educational sessions with costume, sound, lighting designers, and other industry professionals. The business aspect of the dance world is also addressed, with producing and managing tips and skills that include preparing a budget, talking and writing about the work, and other practical concerns. The group of choreographers meets weekly during the program to share their creative experience and show their works in progress for feedback sessions from their peers and panelists.
Mare Nostrum, creator and director of ECS, is led by Artistic Director Nicola Iervasi, and program director Kevin Albert. They were joined on the 2018 Selecting panel for Emerging Choreographer Series by Steven Hitt, LaGuardia P.A. Center managing artistic director; Brenda Bufalino, Christine Dakin, Felipe Galganni, Anabella Lenzu, Noah Racey, Sasha Spielvogel, and Tony Waag. Mentors/Feedback panel include Max Pollak, Caterina Rago, Sidra Bell, Noah Racey and Jonathan Hollander.

Kevin Albert and Nicola Iervasi founded ECS as a response to the declining trend that makes it harder and harder for talent to be nurtured in NYC. According to an Octobder 2016 study by the advocacy group Dance/NYC, dance audiences have shrunk by 20%, causing growing unrest in the dance community. With invaluable assistance from consultant and collaborator Sydney Skybetter and LaGuardia's Steven Hitt, Albert and Iervasi developed the ECS program.

Partners off-stage as well as on, Albert and Iervasi, have been together for 16 years and married in 2013. Albert graduated from The Boston Conservatory in theater, and Nicola moved to the US from southern Italy as a scholarship student at The Martha Graham School. Combining their expertise in theater and dance, the couple is committed to promoting the arts through ECS and other imaginative programs. Concentrating on arts in Queens, where they reside, their work has been recognized by the Queens Council on the Arts, and by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

Steven Hitt, managing artistic director of LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, is a lifelong champion of the arts. At LaGuardia, he is able to offer the space and programs to teach young people about the arts and to develop their own talents and enrich their lives.