Dana Tai Soon Burgess is the National Portrait Gallery’s first choreographer in residence.
Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company in Confluence. Photo by Jeff Malet, Courtesy DTSBDC.
If you visited the “Eye Pop: The Celebrity Gaze” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, you probably noticed photographer CYJO’s portrait of choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess. It’s a lovely image, but it doesn’t show his work in motion. That will change. Earlier this year, the Smithsonian named Burgess its first choreographer in residence. Over the coming three years Burgess will create new works inspired by and in collaboration with the museum’s exhibitions, and participate in public discussions and open rehearsals about dance, art and portraiture.
For National Portrait Gallery associate curator Dorothy Moss, the objective of incorporating dance and other performance arts is to bring new audiences into the museum and catch visitors off-guard. “They come to visit, and find motion and music and all sorts of lively action in the museum,” she says. The Smithsonian is one of many museums exploring live performances. “These are not spontaneous performances,” says Moss. “They are put together the same way an exhibit is,” with intensive research and collaborative partnerships. “The intellectual framework must be there to ensure that the art and performance fits with our mission.”
This is not Burgess’ first foray into the museum and gallery world. The son of two artists, he grew up amid galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has previously worked in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum. “What’s interesting about portraiture is that there is the subject, the portrait, and then there’s the psychology of the portrait itself,” says Burgess. “And that psychology relates really well to the world of dance because it allows the inner terrain to be explored through movement.”
The first of Burgess’ new museum collaborations takes place in October in the museum’s Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, a soaring space with a glass ceiling. Drawing from works in the triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, Burgess will explore identities and personal stories through modern dance. The images he chose all feature youths and young adults as subjects. “One of the main themes of the exhibit is the question of what’s facing our young people today—gender, finding a sense of place, immigration, cultural identities, questions that are at the forefront of our American dialogue right now.”
Burgess and his 10 company dancers will also rehearse in the galleries of the Outwin exhibit, where patrons can observe and ask questions when the performers go on breaks. “Rehearsing right in front of the portraits is so inspiring. If there is a question or the dancers need to examine a posture or observe how people are responding, it’s right there.”
American Dance Institute moves to Catskill, New York.
In the five short years since expanding its mission, a modest dance school in a Washington, DC, suburb has remade itself into one of the most progressive modern dance presenters in the country. With its out-of-the-ordinary Incubator program, American Dance Institute has provided unprecedented support for mid-career artists like Jane Comfort, Susan Marshall and David Neumann. “I’ve never had the opportunity to be in a theater like that,” says Comfort, who was given a tech crew for herweeklong residency in 2011. Her dancers were fed, housed and paid during their stay.
Susan Marshall's Chromatic will come to New York City's The Kitchen, June 23-25. Photo by Peter Serling, Courtesy ADI.
But at the close of the 2017 season, ADI, which was founded in 1999 by former ballet dancers Pamela and Michael Bjerknes, will move to a former lumberyard in Catskill, New York, a small town two hours north of Manhattan. This month, it will present its first season in New York City at The Kitchen, its new performance-space partner, featuring postmodern matriarch Yvonne Rainer’s The Concept of Dust: Continuous Project-Altered Annually, as well as works by Comfort, Marshall, Brian Brooks and Jack Ferver.
Finances are the driving reason for the move. Executive director Adrienne Willis says it costs about a million dollars a year to keep the Rockville, Maryland, location running, and at 20,000 square feet, it is far smaller than the new space. Purchased for $1.2 million, the new property features a 30,000-square-foot main building unencumbered by poles. Three adjacent waterfront barns and outdoor spaces will also be added in phase two of development. Willis envisions a self-contained artistic haven that can house between 24 and 26 dancers and crew in the upstairs part of the building, which will also have a warm-up studio, public lobby and chef’s kitchen. The groundbreaking took place in May, and ADI Lumberyard, as the facility will be called, will accept its first artistic residencies in summer 2018. Meanwhile, ADI will close out its Maryland space in 2016–17 with 11 performances, including works by Zvi Dance, Steven Reker/Open House, Marshall, David Dorfman, David Gordon and Stephen Petronio.
Will ADI’s move leave a hole in the metropolitan Washington, DC, dance community? Willis says she is committed to maintaining a presence, and is providing a new $100,000 subsidy for the programming of ADI-curated artists. ADI is also working with the local service organization Dance Metro DC to support an existing local artist commissioning program, with modest subsidies doled out over the coming two years. “We really want to help strengthen Dance Metro DC and the local community if we can,” Willis says. Stephen Clapp, director of Dance Metro DC, notes that ADI, which supported DC dance artists like Christopher Morgan and Tzveta Kassabova, would be missed. “In addition to the Incubator, ADI instituted excellent pre-show talks,” he says, “and it was really wonderful to hear the scholarly perspective on dance works.”
ADI’s adventurous presenting and residencies will be a loss for the Washington, DC, region. “They’ve been a great asset to this community,” says Clapp. “As they transition out of our area, I’m glad they’re committed to continuing to support this community. It speaks to the commitment that they have had from the beginning.”
The rosters at major companies are growing.
Artistic director Gil Boggs (right) leads a Colorado Ballet rehearsal. Photo courtesy Colorado Ballet.
The recession in 2008–09 took a major toll on U.S. dance companies of all sizes, genres and geographic locations. Some shortened their programming and cut staff members. Many had to downsize their troupes.
But the 2014–15 season suggests that many ballet companies’ finances are on the upswing. Colorado Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Miami City Ballet and Boston Ballet have all expanded their rosters this year. Still, Amy Fitterer, executive director of Dance/USA, which gathers dance company statistics annually, warns that it’s too soon to tell if the dance world has had an economic turnaround. “I’m still hearing from companies, especially those with budgets under $1.5 million, that they are struggling,” she says.
Boston Ballet’s Mikko Nissinen is seeing positive steps forward. When he became artistic director in 2001, the company roster reached 54 dancers. “Then around 2008 we had to take one step backwards to move forward. The smallest we got was 43,” he says. This year, he reached his longtime goal as artistic director: Boston Ballet now employs 70 dancers, including nine in the second company. This gives him flexibility to do full-scale ballets without overworking the corps, and the company opened its season with 16 performances of his new Swan Lake. “Every artistic decision is also a financial decision,” he says.
At Colorado Ballet, artistic director Gil Boggs has upped the studio company roster to 22 from 16. He says he’s not fiscally ready to add dancers to the main company, but hopes it’s in the near future. “When we expand our corps, we have to take a hard look at the financial commitment that requires. Right now we’re committed to being fiscally responsible.” Last year, the company saw record ticket sales. “If that continues,” Boggs says, “the money would be used to increase the company size.” That’s what every company is hoping for: to turn back the recession clock and jump-start growth.
Incubator artist Brian Brooks workshopped Run Don’t Run at ADI. Christopher Duggan, Courtesy Brian Brooks.
The postmodern dance scene has found a home in suburban Washington, DC. Dance education and performance hub American Dance Institute has created a new residency and overhauled an existing one. “Midcareer artists usually receive commissions, while early career artists tend to get rehearsal space,” says artistic adviser Dan Hurlin. “We wanted to turn the tables.” Its ADI Commissioning Program now supports an early career artist’s premiere, while its National Incubator, once a space grant, gives contemporary dancemakers an opportunity to test nearly completed works before opening elsewhere.
The National Incubator’s makeover, a response to previous artist feedback, took three years of residency research. “We looked at all the programs in the country and talked to funders and artists to find where the holes were for choreographers,” says executive director Adrienne Willis.
Established artists originally received three days at ADI’s studios, but are now given one to two weeks of theater time. This allows them to test any technology or sets they might integrate into their work, culminating in a work-in-progress performance and discussion. “Many residencies give you space and maybe a place to live,” says 2013–14 Incubator artist Jane Comfort. “ADI provided a tech crew for a whole week without the pressure of press reviews.”
For the first ADI Commissioning Series, geared to new choreographic talent, Minneapolis choreographer Chris Schlichting will be given the large-scale resources Hurlin says are usually set aside for international artists: a $10,000 stipend that allows choreographers to pay dancers, commission a score, build sets and make costumes, plus development and marketing support and a performance slot in ADI’s 2015–16 season.
In the future, ADI will continue to revise its National Incubator model. Its four 2013–14 artists are Comfort, Brian Brooks, Doug Elkins and John Jasperse, and Willis already has plans to expand next season’s lineup to seven.
Ashley Thorndike (far left) with both college and middle school students.
Photo by Katherine Anderson, Courtesy NNDMP.
When Hannah Fischer graduated two years ago from Saint Mary’s College in Indiana, she was nervous about her next step. She had a teaching and performing job with Leverage Dance Theater in St. Louis, but was unsure about what her day-to-day work would actually entail.
She was lucky; help came in an unusual form.
Before she took off for Missouri, Fischer spent a week at Appalachian State University to take part in the Now & Next Dance Mentoring Project. Founded in 2010 by Ashley Thorndike, Now & Next unites female college-aged dancers, middle school girls (ages 10 to 14), and working choreographers. For a week, the tweens are led by college students, who in turn experience real-world teaching scenarios—backed by the professionals. Fischer was able to hone some teaching, programming, and leadership skills while also getting the chance to ask the pros on staff about practical issues, like health insurance and fundraising.
“I call it a nested model,” says Thorndike, Now & Next’s executive director, who also has a private yoga and Pilates practice in Washington, DC. In the mornings, the 15 to 20 college students—mentored by dance professors and arts administrators—take somatics, dance, and choreography classes with the professional artists. They also share ideas to improve their own teaching and prepare lessons for the middle schoolers. When the kids arrive each day after lunch, the undergrads are ready to take the lead in movement classes, improvisation workshops, and arts-and-craft sessions.
Thorndike, who holds a Ph.D. in dance studies from Ohio State University, developed Now & Next’s curriculum while overseeing an educational program at the University of Virginia that paired college women with at-risk adolescents—without the dance component. But from her own experiences working with modern choreographers (in New York City, Chicago, and Charlottesville), Thorndike knew that dance could be the key to providing adolescent girls with healthy and creative choices.
Each day at Now & Next is framed by one of five themes: action, support, curiosity, challenge, or resilience. During the day that focuses on curiosity, for instance, college students lead a movement class and a body-mapping exercise. The middle-schoolers create self-portraits, tracing their body surfaces on oversized paper. “They’re learning all the ways they can move, talking about joint actions and articulations,” Thorndike says.
Now & Next doesn’t have a single location; universities like Appalachian State offer to host the program. Marianne Adams, chair of Appalachian’s theater and dance division, finds Now & Next a good fit for her department. “I see it as mentoring that comes full circle,” she says. “The students are at various places in their development, and so are the faculty members.” Adams also says it helps build her students’ confidence for life after college. “They get an opportunity to realize that they do know a lot, because of their role as mentor/teacher with the middle-school girls,” she says.
Thorndike hopes to expand Now & Next a little each year. Appalachian State will host the program again this June, and in 2014, and Thorndike has plans for additional locations. Her challenge, however, is to keep the student-to-mentor ratio as close to one-to-one as possible. “Because the program is so intense, the students are really receptive to feedback,” she says. “They are so engaged in wanting to make deeper connections for the middle-schoolers each day.”
Fischer, now 25, has taken her Now & Next experience and run with it. Today, she’s the assistant director of Leverage Dance Theater, where she recently helped launch an outreach program for underserved youth, incarcerated teens, and victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She is now developing more of the program’s curriculum on her own. How did Now & Next help? “The building blocks that it put in place for me are invaluable.”
Lisa Traiger writes on the performing arts from Rockville, MD.
