The DANCE NOW Story: Chapter 2/October Program
October Program launches online Oct 8th at 12Noon EST
The October Performance Chapter, to be released on DANCE NOW’s new web platform on Thursday, October 8th (12pm Eastern), will feature commissioned premieres by Jamal Jackson, Katy Pyle, and Nicole Wolcott. Archival works from Kate Fisher and Wanjiru Kamuyu will also be presented. Hosted by Christal Brown, the Audience Celebration on Thursday, October 22, at 7pm, will honor Robert Battle.
Robert Battle – DN HONOREE
DN Veteran, Robert Battle to be honored at the October 22nd Artist-to-Audience Celebration with the showing of his critically acclaimed work – “Takademe.” Robert Battle was personally selected by Judith Jamison to succeed her as Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2011, where he has received acclaim for his expansive vision. His journey in dance began at Miami’s New World School of the Arts and The Juilliard School, before joining the Parsons Dance Company, starting Battleworks Dance Company, and becoming a frequent choreographer for Ailey. Mr. Battle has been honored by the Kennedy Center; the Princess Grace Foundation-USA; and accepted from President Obama, on behalf of Alvin Ailey, the National Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor. Simon & Schuster published MY STORY, MY DANCE: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey, an inspiring children’s book based on his life.
Jamal Jackson – New DN Digital Commission
Jamal Jackson Dance Company (JJDC) was founded in 2004 with the purpose of fusing various traditional African dance styles with Modern techniques and diverse contemporary music styles in order to create a new, unique technique that is relevant to a multifarious community. The movement and storylines of JJDC choreography focus on redefining ideas of community and blurring divisive lines, while still celebrating the beauty of individual cultures.
Nicole Wolcott – New DN Digital Commission
Nicole Wolcott is the co-founder and former Associate Artistic Director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY. She continues to work with Keigwin on a myriad of independent projects, including their recent online commissions for Guggenheim Works and Process and ‘Bolero Juilliard’ (broadcast on PBS ‘Great Performances’) while also directing ‘The Well’, a dance theater production house she founded in 2018. Wolcott has been in show business for over thirty years. This fact astounds her. In that time she has helped create dances for Broadway, Off Broadway, a major motion picture, an international art rock band, for shows at The Guggenheim, The Kennedy Center, City Center, The Joyce, The American Dance Festival and even CBGBs. She has been in the ensemble and she has been the star. She loves dance.
Katy Pyle – New DN Digital Commission
Katy Pyle is a genderqueer lesbian dancer and choreographer who founded Ballez in 2011. Ballez challenges classical ballet through the creation of large-scale story ballets, classes, and public engagements that center genderqueer experience. Major works: “The Firebird, a Ballez,” Danspace Project, Spring & Fall 2013, “Sleeping Beauty & the Beast,” La Mama, Spring 2016. Their next project, “Giselle of Loneliness,” premieres in June 2021. Pyle has taught Ballez at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Gibney Dance, Princeton, Yale, Movement Research, CounterPULSE, NYU, Bowdoin, Whitman, Beloit, and Slippery Rock University. Pyle currently teaches Ballez classes on Zoom, and rehearses outdoors. Ballez.org
Wanjuri Kamuyu – DN Favorite Archival Work
Wanjiru Kamuyu’s career began in New York where she performed with Urban Bush Women, Dean Moss, Molissa Fenley, Tania Isaac, Nathan Trice, Anita Gonzales amongst others. She now floats between Paris and New York. Performing in Europe includes Bill T. Jones’ “FELA !”; Julie Taymor’s “The Lion King”; Jerome Savary’s “A la recherche de Josephine”; Robyn Orlin, Emmanuel Eggermont, Nathalie Pubellier, Irene Tassembedo, Bintou Dembele, Stephanie Batten Bland. Alongside collaborations with theater directors Jérôme Savary, Jean François Auguste and Hassan Kassi Kouyate, Kamuyu’s choreography tours internationally. Additionally she serves as core faculty for University of South Flordia’s Dance in Paris programs.
Kate Fisher- DN Favorite Achival Work
Katherine Helen Fisher is a director, producer, choreographer and performer. She is co-founder of Safety Third, a production company investigating the intersection between new media and movement-based practices. Katherine was a member of The Lucinda Childs Dance Company between 2008 and 2019. She has also performed with Mark Morris Dance Group, MOMIX, ODC, the Merce Cunningham Trust, Andrew Ondrejcak, Jennifer Muller, Sara Pearson/Patrik Widrig and Ann Carlson among others and was an ensemble member of the Philip Glass opera Einstein On The Beach directed by Robert Wilson. Katherine is currently on faculty at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University.
Our Host Christal Brown for the October 22nd Artist-to-Audience Celebration!
CHRISTAL BROWN (Mother | Artist | Educator | Disciple | Coach)
is the Founder of INSPIRIT and Project: BECOMING, the creator of the Liquid Strength training module for dance, an Associate Professor of Dance at Middlebury College and the CVO of Steps and Stages Coaching. Brown received a BFA in Dance and a minor in Business from UNCG and her MFA in New Media Art and Technology from LIU. Her path of self- discovery has been influenced by trailblazers such as Chuck Davis, Bill T. Jones, Andrea E. Woods, Liz Lerman, Bebe Miller, Gesel Mason, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. For more information visit christalbrown.com
