Nicholas Leichter Dance NYC Performs At Tisch 6/9-10

Nicholas Leichter Dance comes home to New York City for reprise performances of THE WHIZ before the final stop on their national tour at Bates Dance Festival in July. Since its premiere in various manifestations last spring and summer at Joe's Pub, Abrons Arts Center, and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, THE WHIZ has amazed and delighted audiences in PA, MA, D.C., VA, MN, and WA, as well as Burkina Faso.

"Totally kicks the Kansas out of The Wizard of Oz."
Boston Globe

The company will also show two scenes from the forthcoming evening-length show Black Barbra: Black Ivory, a dance for the full company to Mainline by Black Ivory; and a duet to a live recording by Donna Summer. Black Barbra deconstructs the story of "The Way We Were," the 1973 movie about lost love, as told by Summer. Through a DJ and the music he spins and the requests he takes, performers and audiences pose & ponder questions about love, life, and salvation-and participate in creating the answers.

This program is presented as a part of the Tisch Dance Residency Festival. Performances take place June 9 & 10 @ 7:30pm at Tisch Fifth Floor Theater, 111 Second Ave. in Manhattan. Tickets $15; reservations at (212) 998-1982, M-F 1-4pm.

THE WHIZ was commissioned by DanceNOW [NYC] in partnership with Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, and Abrons Arts Center • Henry Street Settlement, with additional commissioning support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and supported through creative residencies at Dickinson College, Muhlenberg College, Hollins University, and Topaz Arts. The score for THE WHIZ was commissioned by the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program. THE WHIZ was funded by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) through the National Dance Project (NDP) with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation. Funds to underwrite the general operating support associated with this project were generously provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding for THE WHIZ was provided by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The creation of Black Barbra has been supported with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with additional support from Tisch Dance Summer Residency.

Founded in 1996, New York City based Nicholas Leichter Dance has performed in over 50 cities in 18 states and 12 countries at venues including The Joyce Theater; BAM Howard Gilman Opera House with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; The John C. Wright Theater at CSU Fresno; The Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College, FL; The Jefferson Center in Roanoke, VA; Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston; Zoellner Arts Center in Bethlehem, PA; Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, NC; Kaohsiung Jazz Dance Congress in Taiwan; and the Dialogue de Corps Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The company has received support from The Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Performance Network, New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Albert and Esther Cory Foundation, The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund, the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program, New York State Council on the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) through the National Dance Project (NDP) with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Artistic director and choreographer Nicholas Leichter has taught throughout the US and at festivals in Africa, Asia, Canada, and Europe, and he has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts and the American Dance Festival in Durham, New York, Russia, Korea, and Shanghai. Leichter has created over 25 works for his own company, including Carmina Burana and Rite of Spring commissioned by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Sweetwash with Eisa Davis for The Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College. Recent commissions include Connecticut College, Wayne State University, The Barnard Project, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Je Danse Donc Je Suis in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Leichter has been artist-in-residence and guest artist at many institutions including NYU' Experimental Theater Wing, CSU Summer Arts, Hollins University, GWU, University of Houston, Muhlenberg College, and Idaho State University. Leichter has received the Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University, two Choreographer Fellowships from NYFA, and the Copperfoot Award for Choreography from Wayne State University.