VON USSAR Danceworks Presents 6th Annual DANCE GALLERY FESTIVAL 10/12-14

VON USSAR danceworks presents the 6th Annual Dance Gallery Festival, featuring original works from emerging and renowned choreographers from around the country on October 12, 13, and 14, 2012 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 W. 55th Street, NYC (at Ninth Avenue). The performances on Friday, October 12 and Saturday, October 13 are at 7:30pm. The performance on Sunday, October 14 begins at 7pm and introduces the newest addition to the festival, LEVEL UP. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students with valid ID and seniors). Tickets are available at www.smarttix.com or by phone at 212-868-4444.

As part of Dance Gallery Festival's continued mission to find up-and-coming choreographic talent at the national level, the festival announces a new program, LEVEL UP, whichwill serve as a performance showcase for three talented dance companies/choreographers that are ready to advance to the next level in the development and promotion of their work. Each company will receive 25 minutes of performance time at the prestigious Ailey Citigroup Theater and a small stipend.

This year's LEVEL UP performance on October 14 at 7pm will include BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, iMEE, and Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup.

Performances on Friday, October 12 and Saturday, October 13 at 7:30pm include:

Allison Jones Dance
BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT
Celli Contemporary Ballet
iMEE
Jaxon Movement Arts
Marcus Jarrell Willis
Mettin Movement Collective
Mojca Ussar and Dancers
NobleMotion Dance
Revolve Dance Company
VON USSAR danceworks

For the third consecutive year, Dance Gallery Festival will also perform in Texas at Sam Houston State University on October 5 and 6 at 8pm.

Choreographers/companies featured in the Texas festival include:

BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT
Celli Contemporary Ballet
iMEE
Khalea London/ LAYERS
Mettin Movement Collective
Moving Current dance collective
NobleMotion Dance
Revolve Dance Company
S. J. Ewing & Dancers
Tim Glenn
VON USSAR danceworks

Allison Jones Dance Allison Jones, an L.A. native, received her B.F.A. in Dance from SUNY Purchase College in 2008. Allison has presented her work at the Shanghai Expo in China, Symphony Space, DTW, Ailey Citigroup Theater, WAVE RISING SERIES, WestFest, Dixon Place, The CURRENT SESSIONS, and others. For more info visit www.allisonjonesdance.com.

BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT (since 2008)offers a unique blend of the physical and emotional aspects of dance. As passionate and precise movers, B/S P employs both highly athletic and subtle, qualitative movement that explores the space and time between moments and beings. B/S P has appeared at the Staller Center, Jacob's Pillow, Joyce SOHO, Flea Theater, Stony Brook University, Flushing Town Hall, has collaborated with mathematician James Simons, Sirius String Quartet, James Guastaferro, and filmmakers Lindsey Boise and Chris Johnson. BARKINSELISSENPROJECT.com.

Celli Contemporary Ballet Experimentation and research are the keys to the interpretation of Enzo Celli's work. His unconditional love for dance and theatre gave birth to a structured technique permeated by poetry, aiming to become part of the current avant-garde. He has collaborated with Bashkortostan State Academy (Russia) and UFMG University in (Brazil).

Founded by dancer/choreographer Jacqueline Stewart, 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. In July 2010, Jacqueline was awarded the grand prize for her work, "It's Not Enough To Close Your Eyes", by The Joyce Theatre Foundation of New York. Jaxon currently creates new work in both Chicago and New York City.

Marcus Jarrell Willis' performance credits include Ailey II, Rioult, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, and Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza. Mr. Willis, currently a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has presented work in the Ailey Dancers' Resource Fund and in the 2009 TDDC Contemporary Dance Festival.

Mettin Movement Collective, under the direction of Sarah Mettin, is a newly formed company based out of New York City. The emerging artists involved are driven to establish a sense of valor within their growth. MMC's goal is to demonstrate a generation of dancers with extreme focus on versatility, strength, and physicality.

Mojca Ussar and Dancers Anative of Slovenia,Mojca Ussar's company has been performing in Europe for the past 7 years. Mojca is certified in Simonson Technique. She guest choreographed for VON USSAR danceworks in 2006 and has continually presented work at The Dance Gallery. In Europe she opened her dance school Galerija Plesa and teaches at Conservatory of Music, Ballet Maribor, and Academy of Dance Ljubljana.

Moving Current dance collective Erin Cardinal has had the privilege of dancing her entire life. After earning her BA in Dance from the University of South Florida she danced in New York with Pedro Alejandro Dance then returned to Tampa to witness the birth of Moving Current as one of three artistic directors. Now, she is a dancer, teacher and creator. www.movingcurrent.com

NobleMotion Dance exploded onto the Houston dance scene in 2009 and has since received critical acclaim for their "extraordinary athleticism" and "cutting edge" programming. NMD has been presented nationally at venues such as The Kennedy Center and Seattle's On the Boards and was recently listed in Dance Magazine as one of Houston's "A-list" dance companies. For more information, visit us at www.Noblemotiondance.com.

Revolve Dance Company is the professional branch of NHPA dance studio in Spring, Texas and was founded in 2004 by the seven owners of NHPA as a means to present new works in the community with the intentions of motivation, inspiration, and education in and through the art of dance.

S. J. Ewing & Dancers Sarah currently works at CityDance, DC. She has presented work at Eureka Dance Festival, DC, and Green Space, NYC. This year she will present at Source, DC, DUMBO Dance Festival, NYC and with BalaSole, NYC. Sarah has danced with Washington Reflections Dance Company, El Teatro De Contemporian de El Salvador and CityDance, DC.

Tim Glenn, formerly of Nikolais & Murray Louis Dance, is an Associate Professor at Florida State University. Glenn's area of creative activity include: choreography, multimedia theater, documentation, costume design, videodance, and telematics. He offers courses in dance technology, as well as contemporary technique based on the Nikolais/Louis philosophy of performance.

VON USSAR danceworks Astrid von Ussar has been faculty at The Ailey School since 1998. She has also taught at Sam Houston University, Columbia University, Long Island University and various studios in NYC.

Her company VON USSAR danceworks premiered in 2002 and has since been presented at numerous festival, most notably the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts) and Graz Tanzwochen (Austria).

She has been commissioned to do a new work on the BFA students at the Ailey/Fordham, Lula Washington Dance Theater, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, The Ailey Student Performance Group, Genesis Dance Company, Long Island University and Plesana Izba (Europe). Most recently the company made a guest appearance at the Dancin' Downtown at the Joyce, presented by Dancers Responding to Aids and was commissioned for NY Summerstage. Von Ussar is the artistic director of The Dance Gallery Festival.

iMEE, co-founded in April 2009 by nationally acclaimed dancers/ choreographers, Spencer Gavin Hering and Andrea Dawn Shelley, is dedicated to presenting contemporary dance works created by emerging & established choreographers as well as multi-disciplined collaborations. "Through the innovative collaboration of artistic mediums, the artists of iMEE (infinite Movement Ever Evolving) remind us that violins can dance, sculptures can breathe and dancers can speak." iMEE is envisioned as an evolving organization, passionate about providing artistic enhancement. www.imeedanceco.com

Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup is a New York City based performance group known for powerfully provocative, sensual, content based work derived from the awkward beauty and idiosyncrasies of her unique company of dancers. The company has been presented in Canada, Mexico, and throughout Italy; locally at venues including the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jacob's Pillow, Joyce SoHo, La Mama, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. She is the Founder and Director of DANCE ITALIA, an international summer dance intensive for contemporary dancers.

The Dance Gallery Festival is produced and curated by VON USSAR danceworks under the artistic direction of Astrid von Ussar and Mojca Ussar. In 2011, Andy Noble became Associate Artistic Director of The Dance Gallery Festival. Founded to address the scarcity of affordable venues available for presentation of modern dance, the festival showcases the works of both established and emerging choreographers in a state of the art theater.

For more information, visit: www.dancegalleryfestival.com.

Photo Credit: Allison Jones Dance - Corey Melton