The DANCE NOW Story: Chapter 3/November Program
November Program launches online Nov 12th at 12Noon EST
The November Performance Chapter, to be released on DANCE NOW’s new web platform on Thursday, Nov 12th (12pm Eastern), will feature commissioned premieres by Orlando Hernandez, Mariana Valencia, and Nicole Vaughan-Diaz. Archival works Raja Feather Kelly and TAKE Dance will also be presented. Hosted by Sara Juli, the Audience Celebration on Thursday, December 3, at 7pm, will honor Jane Comfort.
JANE COMFORT – DN HONOREE
JANE COMFORT is a choreographer, writer, and director whose 2018 40 th Anniversary Retrospective at La MaMa won a Bessie Award for best revival. She was also 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 ADF, 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.
Mariana Velencia – New DN Digital Commission
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 Vaughn-Diaz – New DN Digital Commission
Nicole Vaughan-Diaz is a NYC based choreographer and performer, as well as a current member of internationally-touring dance company, Kate Weare Company. Additionally, she has performed works by Sasha Waltz, Kate Hilliard, and is a current guest artist with ODC Theater of 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 DanceNOW Festival at Joe’s Pub – The Public Theater, and has been supported by the Connecticut based residency, The Dragons Egg.
Orlando Hernandez – New DN Digital Commission
Orlando is a tap dancer based in Rhode Island. He has presented work at On the Boards, SPACE Gallery, the Granoff Center at Brown University, Movement Research at the Judson Church, DANCE NOW at Joe’s Pub (2019 Festival and Festival Encore), and La Casa de Cultura Ruth Hernández Torres (Río Piedras, Puerto Rico). He was the 2019 recipient of the Fellowship in Choreography from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and a 2019 recipient of the Rebecca Blunk Fund Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. You can find him at orlyhernandez.com or on IG @pineappleju_icefrog
TAKE Dance – DN Favorite Archival Work
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Takehiro Ueyama 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 them for 8 years.In 2003 Ueyama debuted his first choreographic work, TSUBASA, performed with fellow Taylor dancers at the McKenna Theatre at SUNY New Paltz, NY, and in 2005 he founded TAKE Dance. He has performed repeatedly as a guest artist with Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre.
