PROGRAM 1
Thursday, February 9 @ 7:30 pm
HR Dance, NY
Dibble Dance, Utah
Dancentral, CT
Alison Cook Beatty Dance, NY
The DynamitExperience, NY
Bailey Seymour Dance, Illinois
Amos Pinhasi, NY
David Popalisky and Dancers, CA
Kanyok Arts Initiative, NY
Alyssa Myers, NY
WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance, NY
HR Dace © Erich Camping
HR Dance is a collective of artists, directed by Heather Roffe. Roffe is a choreographer and scholar in the field of dance, presenting and guest teaching in academic and professional venues. She has performed/toured with the Garth Fagan Dance Company, Bill Evans Dance Company, FuturPointe Dance (as performer, choreographer, co-director), as well as with her own company, HR Dance. Her choreography has been recently presented in the International DUMBO Dance Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival and MAD Festival, and in 2018 she was awarded the New York State Dance Association’s “Outstanding Educator in a Post-Secondary School”.
Sirena/Sirena Contrario explores the myth of the Siren - enchanting, seductive, cunning, and dangerous. In this duet, 2 women, graceful and simultaneously strong, challenge notions of beauty and power, as a modern-day take on the myth. The piece is moody and sensuous in the first section, with section 2 featuring capoeira-like dueling and athletic partnering.
Liz Dibble is a native of San Francisco, CA, where she began her dance training as a scholarship student at the San Francisco Ballet School. She continued her education at Brigham Young University and completed her dance studies at the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, where she received an MFA in Dance Performance. Liz has performed, taught, and presented her choreography across the country and internationally. Liz is fascinated by abstract narrative, opposition, the intersection of classical forms with contemporary dance, and the transcendence of human connection. “Phoenix” is an exploration of struggle and triumph amidst the challenges life inevitably presents. The dancer submits and then soars as a Phoenix rising from the ashes. Where there was difficulty and pain, hope and beauty emerge as the dancer is transformed by adversity.
Debble Dance © Marissa Mooney
Dancentral © jaqlinmedlock
Dancentral is the student performing dance ensemble at Central Connecticut State University. The company offers several dance performances each year and hosts regional and internationally acclaimed guest artists. Dancentral also presents a variety of dance in education programs for public schools. Dancentral has toured over 40 Connecticut schools giving lecture demonstrations and workshops promoting dance in education.
Dancentral has brought internationally renowned companies to the New Britain/Greater Hartford communities. Our company dancer will be performing Emily Bufferd's work titled,"Have I sought, or am I seeking" at the 2023 SoloDuo Festival.
Alison Cook-Beatty attended the Boston Conservatory of Music, where she earned a BFA in Dance and was awarded the Ruth Sandholm Ambrose Scholarship Award. She moved to NYC and danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2, among other dance companies. In 2012, Ms. Cook-Beatty founded ALISON COOK BEATTY DANCE, a classically based modern dance company whose mission is to create and share accessible and emotionally engaging dance for all. She has been recently commissioned by Steffi Nossen School of Dance, NYSSSA, The Ailey School, and Marymount Manhattan College. Under her direction, the Company has grown into an artistically reputable and productive 501(c)(3) nonprofit dance company with local impact and international esteem. The company has performed throughout the United States, featured on ABC News, and was awarded grant support from Dance/NYC’s Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York State Council of The Arts. The Company is approaching its exciting tenth anniversary. ACBD is honored to present SONG OF THUNDER at the 2023 SoloDuo Dance Festival.
Alison Cook Beatty Dance © Paul B Goode
Based in New York City and grounded in Kansas City, The DynamitExperience (TDE) founded in 2019 by Winston Dynamite Brown and Latra Wilson is a Contemporary Dance Company serving as a platform for creative investigations and community engagement. Our formidable company of dedicated Artists has recently appeared in performances at Manhattan Movement Arts Center, DanceWave, BAX, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, and ThPAC at the Mark O'Donnell Theater. Dynamite's choreography has recently appeared at the YAGP and Ailey/Fordham BFA concerts, with new commissions premiering in Spring 2023 through FlightPath Dance Project and Voices and Visions of Ailey.
MB questions the first days of Adam and Eve. MB is an original abbreviation of Moor Beginnings; this anthology of expression was our attempt to highlight what our history must have felt like. In our ongoing effort to be inclusive in humanity’s collective beginnings, we shifted it to MB, allowing others to see themselves and their origins. The work is intended to demonstrate through discovery the harmony that must inevitably exist between them for the survival of the whole yet to come.
The DynamitExperience (TDE) © BeccaVision
Bailey Seymour © Maureen Janson Heintz
Bailey Seymour is a Chicago-based dance artist and Licensed Professional Counselor. The choreographic works of Bailey Seymour Dance aim to research the many ways that dance and mental health intersect. Seymour has presented work throughout the midwest and has performed and taught both domestically and internationally. “Rule Number One" delves into the internal dialogue individuals experience daily. For many, there are times when this voice can limit, inhibit, and frighten. The dancer feels exposed, frustrated, curious, and critical while in conversation with their inner voice. Retraining one’s mindset and building new neural pathways is hard work. This choreographic work emphasizes the vulnerability of living with negative self-talk and intrusive thoughts, as well as the complex struggle and strength of moving forward.
David Popalisky and Dancers © Allegra Hazinski
David Popalisky, an Associate Professor at Santa Clara University has choreographed over 85 dances, performed and taught throughout the United States, in Italy, Korea, Belize and China. Full evening performances include The Water Project (2021 (https://vimeo.com/625022340/62167b0cb9), Migrations (2010), The Fatherhood Project (2008) and Barred from Life (2004). Michael Hazinski performed with the Milwaukee Ballet before joining the San Francisco Ballet. From 1979 thru 1984 he danced in contemporary and classical works by George Balanchine and Michael Smuin among others in festivals around the world. After decades in the water utility industry, Michael returned to dance through online ballet classes.
Popalisky and Hazinski began dancing and creating together in 2022. Old Man Adagio embraces the joy of moving aesthetically as men who have lived through six decades. From contemplation to bursts of physical rambunctiousness, and harmonious flow it celebrates both the passage of time and journeys unfinished.
Xander Perone is a junior in high school and a student at Kanyok Artis Initiative under the direction of Broadway veteran Laurie Kanyok. He has performed on the Lincoln Center stages and attended the Juilliard summer intensive. Most recently he has presented choreography at the School of American Ballet under the mentorship of Justin Peck.
In Memory is a self-choreographed solo driven by an exploration of living without boundaries or fear and mentored by Laurie Kanyok, who works with aspiring dancers to celebrate the unique voice of the artist, instilling in them confidence and integrity to excel not only in the studio and on stage, but also as responsible, thoughtful, and well-rounded citizens.
Kanyok Arts Initiative © Kaynok Arts Initiative
Georgia Greene and Xander Perone are students at Kanyok Arts Initiative under the direction of Broadway veteran Laurie Kanyok. Georgia, a high school senior, just returned from training alongside the Netherlands Dance Theater and is active in her pursuit of a professional dance career. Xander Perone is a high school junior who most recently made his choreographic debut at The School of American Ballet under the mentorship of Justin Peck.
In 3’s is choreographed collaboratively by Georgia and Xander under the mentorship of Laurie Kanyok and fuses the ingenious musicality of the Beastie Boys with technique, artistry, and athleticism.
WHITE WAVE Dance © Joon Park
A pioneer of “Hallyu (한류): Korean Wave”, Young Soon Kim, an internationally acclaimed choreographer whose work has been hailed for its exhilarating, visually stunning, and emotionally rich. Formed in 1988, WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company strives to inspire audiences through multi-dimensional dance productions reflecting themes and philosophies both modern and timeless. For nearly four decades, Ms. Kim and WHITE WAVE have appeared globally on principal stages including Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Joyce Theater, Kennedy Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, National Theater of Seoul (Korea), National Theater of Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, as well as Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Maison de la Culture in Le Havre, France; Teatro Nazionale in Milan, Teatro Tendu Striscie in Rome, Italy; Schauspielhaus in Cologne, Germany; as well as the Festival d’Avignon in Avignon, France, among others. In 2003 Ms. Kim was featured in the documentary film Arirang: The Korean American Journey, which was premiered at the Smithsonian Institute and broadcasted nationwide by PBS. In 2013 and 2014, Ms. Kim was nominated twice for the Annual KBS Global Korean Award.
2019 has been invigorating for WHITE WAVE Dance, including a highly successful tour to Korea & China!
Our latest production “iyouuswe II, A Dance Film” is selected to Finalist at Vancouver Independent Film Festival and an OFFICIAL SELECTION at the London International Short Film Festival 2021, 2021 Espoo Digi-Dance International Film Festival (Finland) and Experimental, Dance, Music Film Festival (Canada).
WHITE WAVE Dance © Joon Park