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A Virtual Tour Through DANCE NOW’s Past, Present, and Future (Chapter Three)

Company:
Dance Now

In celebration of its 25th season DANCE NOW is presenting a series of online events featuring new and archival digital works by more than 40 innovative dance makers. All events are available on DANCE NOW’s new web platform, dancenow.online. 

As a response to the ongoing pandemic and to support its community of artists during this challenging time, DANCE NOW has reimagined its fall festival at Joe’s Pub, creating an alternative virtual space to celebrate its artists and this landmark anniversary. Each chapter (September, October, November, February, March, and May) brings new, emerging, and longtime veterans of the festival together to honor DANCE NOW’s past, embrace the present, and explore future possibilities for artists and audiences alike. The virtual series features 19 premieres and 18 favorite works from the DANCE NOW archive, as well as an interactive timeline featuring photos, interviews, and additional facets of the DANCE NOW Story. DANCE NOW is thrilled to have Joe’s Pub as a partner on this project. 

Each monthly chapter will be released at 12pm Eastern on the designated event date and will remain online through June 30, 2021. Artist-to-Audience Celebrations on Zoom start at 7pm Eastern. 

The November/December Performance Chapter, to be released on Thursday, November 12 (12pm), will feature commissioned works by Orlando Hernández, Mariana Valencia, and Nicole Vaughan-Diaz and archival works by Amber Sloan and TAKE Dance. The Artist-to-Audience Celebration on Thursday, December 3 (7pm), will honor acclaimed choreographer Jane Comfort. The event will be hosted by Sara Juli.

Single tickets are $10 for each Monthly Performance Program and $20 for the Monthly Performance Program and Artist-to-Audience Celebration. 

Two subscription packages are available: $50 (one-time payment) includes all six Monthly Performance Programs. Full Subscription: $100 (one-time payment) includes the six Monthly Performance Programs and the six Monthly Artist-to-Audience Celebrations. Tickets can be purchased at www.dancenow.online.

Proceeds from ticket sales support future artist commissions. Artists creating, performing, collaborating, and teaching in the 25th Anniversary Season programming will have access to all events for free.

The season features new digital commissions from Tsiambwom M. Akuchu, Ayodele Casel, Sarah Chien, Brendan Drake, Mike Esperanza, Kayla Farrish, Jasmine Hearn, Orlando Hernández, Jamal Jackson, Kate Ladenheim,LMnO3, Joshua L. Peugh, Katy Pyle, Alice Sheppard, Amber Sloan, Subject: Matter, Mariana Valencia, Nicole Vaughan-Diaz, Maleek Washington, and Nicole Wolcott, and archival works from Adam Barruch, Tricia Brouk, Katherine Helen Fisher, Mark Gindick, Ruben Graciani, John Heginbotham, HUMA, Paula Josa-Jones, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Amber Sloan, TAKE Dance, and Megan Williams. 

25th Anniversary honorees: Robert Battle, Jane Comfort, Satoshi Haga, David Parker, Claire Porter, and Gus Solomons jr.

Hosts throughout the season include Germaul Barnes, Christal Brown, Sara Juli, Deborah Lohse (aka TruDee), andLarry Keigwin & Nicole Wolcott.

A list of events and a continual unveiling of the DANCE NOW Story through an interactive timeline are available on DANCE NOW’s website: www.dancenow.online.

 

Chapter Three Artists

Jane Comfort (Honoree) is a choreographer, writer, and director whose 2018 40th Anniversary Retrospective at La MaMa won a Bessie Award for best revival. She also has been given a lifetime achievement award by the American Dance Guild. Her work has long explored the intersection of movement and text, often mixing high and low arts to make social and political commentary. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Bessie Awards, a Doris Duke Award for New Work through American Dance Festival, and multiple artist fellowships from NEA, NYSCA, and NYFA. She also works in theater and opera, and choreographed the Broadway musicals Passion by Stephen Sondheim and Amour by Michel Legrand.

 

Orlando Hernández is a tap dancer based in Rhode Island. He has presented his work at On the Boards, SPACE Gallery, the Motion State Dance Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, and DANCE NOW at Joe’s Pub (2019 Festival and Festival Encore). He was the 2019 recipient of the Fellowship in Choreography from the RI State Council on the Arts, a 2019 recipient of the Rebecca Blunk Fund Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts, and a 2020 recipient of a Community Development Grant from the Brown Arts Initiative. 

 

Amber Sloan is a NYC-based choreographer, performer, and teacher whose work has been presented by Centro Cultural Los Talleres in Mexico City, The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, and the EstroGenius Festival, among others. She has participated in the DANCE NOW Festival annually since 2002, as both a commissioned choreographer and as a performer with The Bang Group. Sloan is currently the 2020 NJ Commissioned Choreographer for Dance on the Lawn. She teaches dance composition at the Ailey School, co-directs Women in Motion, and holds a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was honored with the Beverly Blossom/Carey Erickson Alumni Dance Award.

 

Born and raised in Tokyo, Takehiro Ueyama, artistic director and choreographer of TAKE Dance, moved to the United States in 1991 to study dance at the Juilliard School in New York City. Upon graduation, he was invited to join the Paul Taylor Dance Company, touring the world with the company for eight years. In 2003 Ueyama debuted his first choreographic work, TSUBASA, performed with fellow Taylor dancers at the McKenna Theatre at SUNY New Paltz, and in 2005 he founded TAKE Dance. He has performed regularly as a guest artist with Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre.

 

Mariana Valencia is a dance artist whose work has been presented in the US and in England, Norway, Serbia, and Macedonia. Valencia is a Whitney Biennial artist (2019), a Bessie Award recipient for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer (2018), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award to Artists grant recipient (2018), a Jerome Travel and Study Grant fellow (2014–15), and a Movement Research GPS/Global Practice Sharing artist (2016/17). She is a founding member of the No Total reading group and she has been the co-editor of Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence (2016–17).

 

Nicole Vaughan-Diaz is a New York-City-based choreographer and performer, as well as a current member of internationally touring dance company Kate Weare Company. She has performed works by Sasha Waltz, Kate Hilliard, and is a current guest artist with ODC Theater in San Francisco. Vaughan-Diaz’s choreographic work has premiered at venues including Judson Memorial Church, The Public Theater, and Arts on Site. In 2019 Vaughan-Diaz was awarded the Challenge Winner Award for the 24th Annual DANCE NOW Festival at Joe’s Pub. She has been supported by the Connecticut residency The Dragon’s Egg.

  

Sara Juli (Host) has been creating and performing comedic dance-theater for two decades. Juli has received the Maine Fellowship for the Performing Arts, USArtists International, numerous NEFA grants, and is a recipient of National Dance Project Award for her newest work, Burnt-Out Wife. She has been fortunate to tour around the country at venues that include American Dance Festival, Performance Space 122, New York Live Arts, The Chocolate Factory Theater, TEDx, and many more, and internationally in London, The Netherlands, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Juli is Chair of the Advisory Board of Bates Dance Festival and an Affiliated Artist of Bates College.

 

Photo: Take Dance by Jordan Matter.