Nimbus Dance Works to Host 2015 Gala in October

Last year the School of Nimbus Dance Works gave over $30,000 in scholarship funds to Jersey City youth, to ensure access to high quality dance training, regardless of financial situation. Nimbus' youth programs broaden young peoples' horizons and enrich the community with world-class arts. While remaining true to the company's community mission, up to now, scholarship money has come from the company's general operating budget. The 2015 Gala raises funds to offset the expense of the scholarship program, ensuring that this program, and Nimbus Dance Works are sustainable for the long term benefit of Jersey City.

At the Gala, Nimbus will honor honor Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne who has advocated for the arts in downtown Jersey City - recognizing that culture and the arts constitute much of the essential character and qualities that so many of us treasure about Jersey City. The Gala Committee, co-chaired by City Council President Rolando Lavarro and by Marlene O'Haire Sandkamp, includes community leaders from all sectors of Jersey City.

The first annual Nimbus Award for Service through the Arts will be presented to Dr. Edgar Rivera Colón. Dr. Colón, a medical anthropologist and faculty member at St. Peter's University and at Columbia, has volunteered his time to design and implement the Opportunity Knocks program: a course on communication, goal-setting, college preparation, and guided personal development that is woven into Nimbus' Pre-Professional dance program.

Nimbus will present excerpts of Indo-British choreographer Darshan Singh Bhuller's Mapping, Cuban choreographer Pedro Ruiz's Danzon, and Nimbus Artistic Director Samuel Pott's Patch of Turf.

Event Information:

Saturday, October 17th

Barrow Mansion, 83 Wayne Street, Jersey City, NJ

Doors: 6:30; Performance: 7:30; Party to Follow

Dress: Black Tie / Festive

Tickets: $75 advance, $85 door

Ticket Link: http://nimbusgala2015.bpt.me

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October 17th Gala Committee:

Rolando Lavarro, Co-Chair; Jersey City City Council

Marlene O'Haire Sandkamp, Co-Chair; Van Vorst Park Association

Elizabeth Morrill; North River Sing

Claire Guerette; Grace Church Van Vorst

Lillian Rivera; Hetrick Martin Institute

Sean Hollingsworth; Civic Organizer

Jay Savulich; Rising Tide Capital

Jamie Wilson-Murray; Mindful Play Yoga, PS5 Michael Conti School

Sarah Shah; Sara Shah Law

Nicholas Chiaravolloti, St. Peter's University

Nimbus Dance Works Board of Directors

Lisa Talma, Board President, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation & Development

Kemi P. Akinsanya-Rose, Board Treasurer, Expeditionary Learning

Judith G. Pott, Board Secretary, Clinical Psychologist

Madeleine Giansanti Cag, Axiom Law

Stephanie Daniels, ?JCTV and FilmJC, City of Jersey City

Hannah Kwon, Rutgers University

Samuel Pott, Artistic Director, Nimbus Dance Works

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About Nimbus Dance Works

Nimbus Dance Works focuses its work on the intersection between high-level dance and innovative ways of involving communities and audiences. In addition to work by Artistic Director Samuel Pott, the company commissions dances by leading international dancemakers including Pedro Ruiz (Cuba/USA), Huang Yi (Taiwan), Korhan Basaran (Turkey), and Xiao-Xiong Zhang (Australia/Taiwan). The company has received acclaim for its program Dance Speaks Out - the company presents significant, historic, socio-political modern dance works - including Pearl Primus' Strange Fruit (1942) and Charles Weidman's Lynchtown (1936) - and leads community members in the creation of dance work that respond to socio-political subjects of significance in their community. Through company performances, programs for youth and seniors, partnerships with institutions such as the Jersey City Board of Education and Rutgers University, and collaborations with notable composers and visual artists, Nimbus weaves together artistic excellence and community impact.

Nimbus' programs impact more than 11,000 people each year. Nimbus' educational programs serve over 1,100 annually in the Jersey City public schools. The School of Nimbus Dance Works offers training in Ballet and Modern Dance for over 130 youth ages 2-18, including a pre-professional program. Nimbus presents semi-annual seasons in Jersey City, annual New York City Seasons, and touring regionally including many of the most prestigious venues in the region including: Brooklyn Academy of Music, NJPAC, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater.

"Nimbus Dance Works helps define the American experience"- Star-Ledger

"One of the country's most exciting young dance ensembles"-Bar Harbor Times

Samuel Pott (Artistic Director) Samuel Pott founded Nimbus Dance Works in 2005 drawing on a deeply held personal belief in the value that the arts can play in bringing people and communities together. Under his direction the company has grown each year adding performances, new repertory, and new community initiatives and projects. Known for creating structured and musical dances that evoke deep-rooted emotional connection, Mr. Pott's choreography has been shown in New York City and throughout New Jersey, New England and California at venues including the Joyce Theater and the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. He has choreographed dance to chamber music, choral music, jazz, new music, folk, and mainstream vocal ballads; collaborations have included productions with theater groups, visual and video artists, composers and music improvisers. He has also collaborated with many esteemed contemporary artists including composers Daniel Bernard Roumain, Samson Young, Judd Greenstein, Aaron Parks and visual artists Nicola Lopez and Trudy Miller.

A member of the New Jersey State Arts Council's Arts in Education roster of artists, he has taught dance at the elementary, high school, college, and professional levels and has served on the faculty of Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. In 2008 Mr. Pott founded JC Grooves, a program that brings dance to over 2000 Jersey City middle school youth each year through unique and participatory methods. In 2012 he founded the School of Nimbus Dance Works, grounded in the belief that dance can serve as a meeting point for diverse communities for growth towards common values and goals. The School makes high quality dance training available to youth throughout Jersey City regardless of financial background. He is a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method. Mr. Pott received a Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 2008 and was named a Distinguished Teaching Artist by the council in 2012. Mr. Pott was one of 25 arts leaders nationally selected for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters' (APAP) inaugural Leadership Fellows Program. He serves on the board of directors of Dance New Jersey and on the Arts Advisory Council for the Jersey City Board of Education.

Mr. Pott began his dance training at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999. As a soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company, his repertoire included such iconic roles as the Husbandman in Appalachian Spring, Agamemnon in Clyemnestra, and Adam in Embattled Garden. In addition to working with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Mr. Pott has performed as a lead dancer with many ballet and contemporary companies including American Repertory Ballet, the Oakland Ballet, the Savage Jazz Dance Company. Featured roles are from a wide range of dance styles and choreographers including works by Marius Petipa, Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Isadora Duncan, Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovitch, and theater directors Robert Wilson and Ann Bogart among many others.

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