Dance Events Announced At The Delaware County Dance Film Festival

The Andes Dance Collective, founded by dancer/choreographers Gloria McLean, Columbine Macher, David Capps and composer/performer Marshall Coid, is proud to present the DELAWARE COUNTY 2ND DANCE FILM FESTIVAL AND WORKSHOP, bringing new dance and music events to the Catskills Delaware County region. This year, in two 4-day weekends, July 21-24 and August 4-7, the Festival will include two live dance/music performances (premieres), film screenings, and dance workshops.

FESTIVAL DANCE PERFORMANCES:

Saturday July 23, 7:30 PM at the Open Eye Theater, joined by guest artist/choreographer/educator Joy McEwen

Open Eye Theater, 960 Main Street, Margaretville, NY

Saturday August 6, 7:30 PM at the Kirkside Pavilion Roxbury, joined by guest artist/choreographer/educator Maxine Steinman

Kirkside Pavillion Roxbury, Kirkside Driveway Off State Highway 30, Roxbury, NY

Suggested donation is $20, though all are welcome and encouraged to attend - no one turned away!

The performances feature choreography and direction by renowned ADC artists Columbine Macher and Gloria McLean, and will be performed to an original score by Marshall Coid joined by guest percussionist Michael Suchorsky. The ensemble will consist of dancers from New York City, local areas and across the USA. They will premiere a work that explores movement, sound and choreographic interpretations of selected film techniques, seamlessly integrating sections choreographed in advance with inspired improvisational/choreographic material developed collaboratively in Workshop Training/Rehearsal/Research Sessions.

BIOS of CHOREOGRAPHERS AND GUEST DANCERS

Columbine Macher (Founder, Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Educator) began her professional dance education in her native Germany at the Folkwang Hochschule under the direction of Pina Bausch. In 1987 she moved to NYC to continue her studies at the Martha Graham School, the Limón Institute, and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Since then, she has extensively performed and taught throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Described by The New York Times as "a dancer of formidable dramatic potency," Columbine performed for 15 years as a soloist with the Eleo Pomare Dance Company. She also performed with Ze'eva Cohen, Amanda Miller, Maxine Steinman, filmmaker Kathy Rose, Xavier Le Roy at MoMA PS1, and in the Bessie-awarded MoMA's exhibition "Judson Dance Theater - The Work Is Never Done" in Simone Forti's "Dance Constructions".

Columbine's solo and collaborative dances have been presented at NYC venues including Merce Cunningham Studio, Center for Performance Research, Kumble Theater, 92 St. Y Harkness Dance Center. She also creates experimental 16mm dance films, which have been screened at festivals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; at Brooklyn Studios for Dance: in Austin, TX; the "Bare Bones Festival" of the American Dance Guild; and the Film Makers' Coop in NYC.

Columbine has served on the faculties at The Ailey School, Ballet Hispanico, and the Limón Institute in NYC and has taught as an Adjunct Professor for Modern Dance at universities including Saint Elizabeth University, Long Island University, and Hofstra University. Internationally, she has been a guest artist at the Kuopion Konservatorio in Finland, Rotterdamse Dansacademie and Artez Dansacademie in the Netherlands, the Tsai Jui-Yueh Dance Foundation in Taipei/Taiwan, and the Korean National University of the Arts in Seoul. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College and an M.F.A. in Dance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.

Joy McEwen (Guest Dance Artist) was recently a guest artist for the Purdue Contemporary Dance Company in Spring 2022. She danced professionally in New York City as a principal dancer with Erick Hawkins Dance Company. In addition, she performed with Nancy Meehan Dance Company, Gloria McLean/LIFEDANCE, Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, Kipos Dance Company, among others. She so-founded the Wellspring Project (Dance) that was based in New York City. Performance highlights included appearances at the American Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow, Lincoln Center and The Joyce Theater. She has toured internationally, including performances in Canada, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Portugal. Mrs. McEwen has been a guest instructor at UNLV, Marymount Manhattan College. Hunter College and the American Dance Festival. She was also on the staff at Yeshiva University/Stern's College for Women/ Mrs. McEwen graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with an MFA in Performng Arts-Dance and a BFA from the University of Michigan.

In 2021, Mrs. McEwen retired from the Department of Purdue Bands & Orchestras, where she was the director of Auxiliaries and Coach of the Golduster dance Team. At Purdue, she also has taught and choreographed in the Liberal Arts Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts Department of Theater. She has also taught classes in the College of health and Kinesiology. In 2012, Mrs. McEwen was named Dance Educator of the Year by the Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

Gloria McLean (Founder, Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Educator) is artistic director of LIFEDANCE/Gloria McLean and Dancers. She choreographs, teaches and performs from her base in New York City and Andes, NY. LIFEDANCE is dedicated to the integration of body, mind and spirit through the creative process. McLean's dances often collaborate with new music, art, language and the environment. Her choreography has been presented in NYC and internationally, including the American Dance Festival, festivals in Ireland, Paris, Montreal, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, and China. In October 2019, she produced "Lucky Dragon 5 Voyage to Hope," with sculptor Ken Hiratsuka, bringing together artists from around the world on the theme of world peace in memory of the those who perished in the Bikini Island nuclear tests in 1954. In June 2018 in Beijing, McLean collaborated with leading Chinese avant-garde choreographer Wen Hui and Ken Hiratsuka to produce "Stone.Paper, Line. Sky. Water"-dance interacting with drawing, live stone carving, water and audience in the unique 3-story architectural space of painter Huang Rui's Cloud Pavillion. In 2012 McLean's "Dancing Without Illusion" paid tribute to painter Will Barnet. Her video "Twice Marked" was exhibited at Brattleboro Museum in 2008 and the ADF Dancing for the Camera Festival 2009.

Teaching credits include: Professor of Modern Dance for two years at Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea (2009-2011); Henry-Bascom Visiting Professor at UW/Madison (2000); George Washington University (1997 and 2000). Adjunct positions and Guest Artist residencies at Manhattanville College, American University, Dowling College, Hofstra University, University of Texas/Edinburgh and San Marcos, and numerous others. She first received acclaim as a leading member of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company from 1982-1993, performing major female roles in the repertory, teaching at the Hawkins School, and touring the U.S. and internationally. Currently McLean is President of the American Dance Guild producing festivals live and online. She teaches live and through zoom.

"I make dances to celebrate human existence, the miracle of the expressive body, with other artists, people, places, forms, media, with ideas that inspire us, and speak to our shared condition. I am. It dances."

Maxine Steinman (Guest Dance Artist) a native of Brooklyn, has been teaching and choreographing at Montclair State University for 20 years. Her choreography has been presented at Dance Space, Teachers College, New Dance Group, Urban Artworks, Limón Institute, Peridance, the American College Dance Festival, and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, among others. Internationally, Maxine has been invited to Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic and Cyprus to teach, choreograph, and perform her work. She has also been commissioned to create works for Montclair State University, Hofstra University, Marymount Manhattan College, the Ailey School, and in international schools and conservatories. Maxine received commissioning grants from the O'Donnell-Green Foundation for Music and Dance to collaborate with composers Dred Scott and Matthew Ferry in 2009 and 2011. Maxine performed with Eleo Pomare (12 years), Denishawn Repertory Dancers, Mafata Dance Company, Robin Becker, Regina Larkin, Sue Bernhard, Spiritdance, Dance Imprints and in the LINKS (Limón Initiative Nurturing Kids) Project with the José Limón Dance Company, among others.

With a grant from the Brazilian Consulate, Maxine performed sections of Jose Limón's Dances for Isadora in São Paulo, Brazil. She has taught at the Limón Institute, The Ailey School, Hofstra University, and Marymount Manhattan College and is currently BFA Dance Program Coordinator at Montclair State University . She was formerly the director of the LINKS Project for the Limón Foundation, and stages excerpts of "A Choreographic Offering" by José Limón for universities. Maxine holds a BFA in Dance from Adelphi University and an MA in Dance Education from Teachers College Columbia University and an MFA in Dance from University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts.

Michael Suchorsky (Guest Musician) has spent decades performing and recording around the world in a wide variety of musical genres, from middle eastern jazz to micro-tonal to punk rock. He has appeared at venues from CBGBS in NYC to the Berlin, Montreaux, Zurich, Copenhagen, and Bologna Jazz Festivals, Mores New Music Festival, the Fete de l'Humanite (Paris), and NY's Lincoln Center. His longstanding touring and recording worldwide include associations with Lou Reed, Soldier String Quartet, jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, French rock legend Jacques Higelin, and other major artists.

Michael has composed music for film, TV, dance, and numerous bands including his joint collective project the Everyman Band, which released albums for ECM, and has enjoyed multiple tours in the Europe and the U.S. The band was voted one of the best new electronic bands in the Down Beat 31st annual International Critics Poll. Another composition was a choral for the Delaware County Complaint Choir (DCCC), in which part of the libretto was based on complaints sent in by residents of the region.

With training at the Berklee College of Music, and privately with Joe Morello, Michael has played on the Shelly Hirsch/Simon Ho CD "Where Were You Then?", released on John Zorn's Tzadiks Key Series. He secured a record contract with iconic producer Tom Wilson, and even had a brief stint with the 1910 Fruit Gum Company. Michael's years of collaborative performances with many choreographers and dancers have significantly contributed to the evolution of the Andes Dance Collective and their Delaware County Dance Film Festival.

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