Artist in Residence and Applied Dance Faculty
Heather McArdle
Heather McArdle comes to Bates from NYC for the Fall semester as Resident Scholar/Artist. She will teach (270 Rep Styles) and choreograph a piece for the Fall Concert.
Bio: A native Californian, Heather began her movement career with gymnastics. She graduated from Cal State University Long Beach with a BFA in dance. Her most influential mentors include Keith Johnson, Jacques Heim & most notably Bella Lewitzky. She joined the professional world of dance with the hyper physical dance troupe Diavolo Dance Theater. Heather has spent the past five years traveling around the world with Bill Young, and has been working for David Dorfman for the past three plus years. She is on faculty at Dance New Amsterdam and teaches residencies in NY and around the country. Heather has been presenting her own solo choreographic works at loft showings in NYC and random Brooklyn spaces. Blueprintviolation is her latest group project that involves a troupe of eclectic artists from all corners of the world. In addition to the performing and teaching Heather also does costume work for most of the companies she works for as well for this show and her own company. She is also certified in hatha vinyasa yoga. www.blueprintviolation.org
Current Guest Artists
Danny Buraczeski
Danny Buraczeski will be with us to set his classic piece Swingtime Concerto through a grant from American Masterpieces: Dance - College Component, AMDCC. “The American Masterpieces: Dance – College Component (AMDCC) is designed to foster appreciation for seminal artists or works in American dance history and creativity. The AMDCC brings classic American dances of the past century to college students and audiences in communities across the nation.” This initiative is in partnership with the New England Foundation of the Arts, NEFA and the NEA.
www.danceusa.org/programs_publications/American_Masterpieces.htm
Bio: Buraczeski is best described as a classic jazz dance stylist, whose company has performed at leading concert halls and festivals in more than 30 states, in Europe and the Caribbean. Propelled by the rhythms of jazz, Buraczeski’s formal explorations and sophisticated musicality distinguish him as one of the most original voices working in the form. JAZZDANCE delivers "simply the most ebullient, dynamic and all-out energy-sapping dance around," says The Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Downright terrific," says The New York Times.
Drawing on a background in ballet and modern in addition to jazz, Buraczeski has helped redefine what was once considered a limited form - jazz dance. After a career on Broadway, appearing in such musicals as "Mame" with Angela Lansbury and "The Act" with Liza Minelli, Buraczeski formed the original New York-based JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski in 1979. That company performed at leading concert halls and festivals in more than 40 states, in Europe, Russia and the Caribbean. His work has been commissioned by the Walker Art Center, the Bates Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow, the Joyce Theater and the Library of Congress among many others. A classic jazz stylist, he has received multiple fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and is now an Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Peter Kyle
Peter Kyle will come twice in September to choreograph a work for the outdoor Orientation celebrations on Sept 4th and for theater performance in the theater for Parents weekend and the Fall Concert.
Bio: Peter Kyle was a soloist with Nikolais/Louis Dance Company (1992-1999), prior to working with Mark Morris Dance Group (1998-2003) and Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Kyle earned his MFA from the University of Washington and taught in the Dance and Drama departments there from 2000 – 2005. He has been a guest instructor at numerous colleges, universities and workshops across the country and overseas. Kyle also teaches in the Dance Department at Marymount Manhattan College and is a 2007 Guest Artist at Wesleyan University. Kyle’s choreography has been presented internationally, including commissions by Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Symphony Space, The Dancenow/NYC Festival, Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington Summer Arts Festival and the Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art. He has received awards from Concours Internationale de Danse de Paris, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities and the Washington State Arts Commission, among others. http://www.peterkyledance.org/home.htm
Recent Guest Artists
Jodi Melnick (Fall 2007)
Jodi Melnick graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. She has been a featured dancer with Twyla Tharp, and Irene Hultman. Currently, she performs and works with Susan Rethorst, Sara Rudner, and Vicky Shick, and over the past 13 years, has worked with NYC based freelance choreographers Tere O'connor, Dennis O'connor, Donna Uchizono, Yoshiko Chuma, and Yves Musard.
2002, she began working with Trisha Brown as an assistant director on Schubert's 'Winterriese', continues to re-stage the work, and has appeared as a guest performer in the Trisha Brown company.
As a teacher, Jodi has taught master classes, technique, and workshops throughout the US, Europe, Australia, Russia, and Asia. Her gift as a teacher has been to translate movement into a format accessible to all bodies and all disciplines.
Her choreography has been shown in NYC, Japan, Ireland, Estonia, and Russia. Her most recent work, spring 2003, a solo commissioned by Jenny Roche and Temple Bar Properties, Dublin. Ireland, and, September 2004, a duet for Roche and Nicola Curry, Belfast. This fall, 2005, Ms. Melnick will present her work at Dance Theater Workshop, NYC.
Fall 2003, Graz, Austria, Ms.Melnick was part of a new Opera based on David Lynch's 'Lost Highway', singing (mezzo soprano), again performed in Basel Switzerland, Spring 2004.
In 2001, she was honored with a Bessie award for sustained achievement in dance.
Jennifer Archibald (Fall 2007)
photo by Lou Roole
Jennifer Archibald is the founder and artistic director of Arch Dance company. She graduated from the Alvin Ailey School and has performed across the U.S. at major venues including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Aaron Davis Hall, Lincoln Theatre, The Duke on 42nd Street Theatre, Abron Arts Centre, and Judson Memorial Church, as well as in Europe and Canada. She has staged various off-Broadway shows working with casts from Bring in Da Noise Bring in Da Funk and Cats, and choreographed Carousel, The Music Man, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Pippin for professional theater companies. Jennifer has also choreographed for the NBA New York Knicks City Dancers and The Alvin Ailey School, served as a movement specialist and a choreographer for singer Shaggy and actresses Sarita Choudury and Audrey Tautou-Amelie. Her works have been featured twice at the Elan Awards honoring choreographers Rob Marshall and Lar Lubovitch. Jennifer currently teaches contemporary jazz and hip hop at Steps on Broadway and the Dance Space Center and is on faculty at Bates Dance Festival and Florida Dance Festival. Jennifer is a graduate of Maggie Flannigan acting conservatory specializing in the Meisner technique. In 2005 she taught master classes at Princeton University, University of South Florida, Jacksonville Community College, Washington’s Joy of Motion, Jackson School of the Arts in Bermuda and Tommy Hilfiger’s Excellence program.
Seàn Curran (Winter 2006)
Seàn Curran began his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in Boston. He went on to make his mark on the dance world as a principal dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. A graduate and guest faculty member of New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Curran was an original member of the New York City cast of the Off-Broadway percussion extravaganza "STOMP!" performing in the show for four years. He has performed his solo evening of dances at venues throughout the U.S. as well as at Sweden's Danstation Theatre and Creteil's Exit Festival in France. Curran has choreographed new dances for Denmark's Upper Cut Company, Pittsburgh's Dance Alloy and Dublin's Irish Modern Dance Theater among others. Curran choreographed James Joyce's The Dead for The Playwright's Horizon production that opened on Broadway in January 2000. He has been awarded a Choreographer's Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Curran has taught extensively at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Program, Bates Dance Festival and the Boston Conservatory.
Carlos Ovares (Short Term 2006)
Carlos Ovares, director of the National Dance Company in San Jose Costa Rica, is renowned internationally as a choreographer, actor, teacher, and dancer. He began his dance career while getting his degree in Dramatic Arts from The University of Costa Rica. Mr. Ovares’ choreography has been featured in Europe, Canada, Israel, and Central America. He has also performed with The Contemporary Ballet of Barcelona, the choreographers Cesc Gelabert and Ramon Oller in Barcelona, Spain; with Pilottanzt in Vienna, Austria, and with Tanztheater Theaterhauses Stuttgart, Germany under the direction of Johann Kresnik and Ismael Ivo. Carlos Ovares has won awards from the Ricard Moragues Choreographic Competition 1993 in Barcelona, Spain; the VIl Madrid Contemporary Dance Competition Madrid, Spain; the National Costa Rica Award in 1994 for the year of 2003-2004.
Kwame Azalius Ross (Short Term 2005)
Kwame Azalius Ross is the founder and artistic director of Prophecy Dance Company and former associate artistic director of Urban Bush Women. He has studied several African Diaspora dance forms (Caribbean, Western and Central African) since the age of nine. His choreographic works encompass productions with Children of Dahomey, Ballet Hispanico, S.D.R. Films, Sylvia Del Villard Dance Company, National Song and Dance Company of Mozambique, Urban Bush Women and The Ailey School. For the past three years, Ross has been commissioned by Florida A&M University to choreograph for the Orchesis Dance Company, as well as for Kumbuka Dance and Drum Collective and Tulane University. His work has been supported by the Jerome Foundation, Puffin Foundation and with a 92nd Street "Y" Harkness Space grant. Ross is currently a faculty member at Lincoln Center Institute and Associate Professor at Long Island University. He collaborated with the National Dance Company of Mozambique, Urban Bush Women, and Lincoln Center Institute in the critical acclaim creation of Shadows Child, a work for young audiences. In 2003, Ross received a National Endowment of the Arts grant as Artist-in-Residence at the Cairo Opera House Dance Theater and the Cairo School of Modern Dance (Egypt). In 2005 he made a research trip to Salvador Bahia, Brazil to study the Orisha Dances of Candomble and work with Ilye Aiye.
Larry Keigwin (Fall 2004)
Larry Keigwin has choreographed and performed for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and numerous Dance Companies. He is the Artistic Director of Keigwin + Company and the Creator of Keigwin Kabaret. From 1997-2000, he was the Associate Artistic Director of Dendy Dance & Theater, and received a Bessie Award for his performance in “Dream Analysis”. Keigwin’s Choreography has been presented by The American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Summerdance Santa Barbara, Joyce SoHo Presents, California Institute of the Arts, Zenon Dance Company, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, and various other theaters around the country.
Diane McCarthy (Fall 2004)
Diane McCarthy has been performing, teaching and choreographing throughout the U.S. and Europe for the past sixteen years. Diane’s work has been presented in Holland, Spain, Canada, New York and Seattle, Washington where she spent a year in residence. She travels to Canada yearly where she teaches in Quebec and Montreal as well as Seville, Spain under the direction of Ramon Oller and Pilar Perez. She has been on faculty at various colleges and universities around the states including Manhattanville College, Hofstra University, MaryMount College, the Spence School and the Mark Morris Dance School in Brooklyn. This summer Diane taught for the cast of Cirque Du Soleil while they were on tour in New York. She has been on faculty at the Dance Space Center for sixteen years.
Alison Oakes (Fall 2004)
Alison Oakes holds a BA in Anthropology and a Secondary Concentration in Russian Language from Bates College and a MA in Dance and Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a faculty member at Iona College, where she is also the resident guest artist for the Iona Dance Ensemble. She is a teaching artist for New York City Ballet's Education Department, bringing ballet, creative movement and choreography to public school children. Alison is the co-founder and director of Summerdance Intensive in New Jersey, which is a two-week dance program for high school students. She has co-produced performances at Merce Cunningham and Williamsburg Art Nexus (WAX). Her work has been presented in New York at 92nd St. Y, Joyce Soho, Riverside Church, Merce Cunningham Theater, WAX, Columbia University and Iona College. Most recently she took part in a performance in Bergen County, NJ which was featured on Dance Vistas, a show on NY and NJ public television.
SHAMOU (Fall 2004)
SHAMOU has been teaching music to people of all ages and abilities since 1990. Trained at Berklee College of Music, he teaches group workshops and individual lessons in the hand drumming techniques of the African Diaspora and the Middle East; stick technique for Latin and jazz percussion and drum set; rhythmic studies in world music, music theory and vocal music. Past residencies include Music Director for the Bates Dance Festival’s Youth Arts Program; ongoing workshops at ODC/San Francisco and Alonso King’s Lines studio; Harvard and Boston Universities, Wellesley College; the Boston area public schools (K-12); and ongoing independent workshops in New England and the Bay Area.
Jennifer Nugent (Fall 2004)
Jennifer Nugent is originally from Miami, Florida, where she had the pleasure of performing with Gerri Houlihan & Dancers and Mary Street Dance Theatre. She shared artistic direction with Barbara Sloan in Duo Da Da Dance Theater. While in New York, she has worked with Shen Wei, Lisa Race, Nina Winthrope, Yin Mei and Daniel Lepkoff. She has been working with David Dorfman Dance since 1998. Her own work has been presented at Danspace Project's Food for Thought at St. Mark's Church, Dixon Place, SUNYPurchase, Ohio State University, Dance Space Center's Raw Materials, Moving Current (Tampa, FL), Manhattan Theatre Source, the Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, and George Washington University. Jennifer teaches widely. Most recently she was a guest artist at Dance Space Center, NYC and The North Carolina School of the Arts. Jennifer has also taught at Hollins University, George Washington University, Ohio State, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is currently on the faculty of the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC.
Paul Matteson (Fall 2004)
Paul Matteson received a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) in 2002 for performance. Originally from Cumberland, Maine, he graduated from Middlebury College where he studied with Penny Campbell, Andrea Olsen, and Peter Schmitz. He has been a member of David Dorfman Dance since 2000. He also works with Race Dance, Peter Schmitz, Creach/Company, and Keith Johnson. His choreography has been shown in New York at The Thalia Theater at Symphony Space, Dance Theater Workshop, The DanceNow Festival, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Judson Church, St. Mark’s Church and in Vermont at Middlebury College and Flynn Space. He teaches regularly at Dance Space Center and he is on faculty at The American Dance Festival. He has been a guest artist at Middlebury College, The University of Utah, and Hollins University. His piece, “As you are,” created on Middlebury College students, was selected to be performed at the National ACDFA at the Kennedy Center in June, 2004.
Nugent+Matteson
In 2004 –2005 Nugent+Matteson have commissions in Virginia Beach, Hollins University, Rhode Island College, a creative residency in Portland Maine, and will be presented by the Tangente Theatre in Montreal. www.nmdance.org
Alberto (Tito) del Sazis (Winter 2003, Fall 2004)
Co-Artistic Director of the Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance Company as well as the director of The Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance and Assistant to Mr. Louis. Tito was born in Bilbao Spain where he was the Spanish National Champion in figure skating. His career turned to dance in 1985 when he made his debut as a lead soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theater. He is the Reconstruction Director of the Nikolais/Louis repertory and has staged their work on university and professional dance companies around the world. He is currently choreographing for champion ice skaters.
Ben Munisteri (Fall 2003)
Ben Munisteri is a NYC-based choreographer whose dance ensemble performs regularly in New York, at summer festivals, and at dance venues around the country. He has created dances for Pennsylvania Dance Theater, Danceworks Performance Company (Milwaukee), and for many college dance companies and has received commissions and funding from Performance Space 122, Danspace Project, the Joyce Theater Foundation, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. He recently received two consecutive major grants from the Jerome Foundation for the creation of new works.
Michael Foley (Fall 2003)
Michael Foley ‘89 has been involved in the world of professional dance for over 15 years and has performed internationally in the companies of over two dozen choreographers. He has taught workshops and master classes throughout the USA, Europe, Central America and The Caribbean. He has received choreographic commissions around the globe where his work has been performed in some of the most prestigious theatres for dance. He formed his own company, Michael Foley Dance in 1994 touring the USA and Europe. Michael received his MFA in Dance from the University of Washington and has been the co-director of the Bates Dance Festival/Young Dancer’s Workshop since 1996. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of South Florida. Michael would like to thank Marcy Plavin for her unending support, guidance and friendship over the past 18 years.