Insights from Choreographer Robert J. Priore

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I first saw Robert Priore dance with CityDance in February of 2011. He is a phenomenal dancer, now dancing with Company E and working as CityDance Conservatory’s Choreographer-in-Residence.

Photo: Theo Kossenas, Media 4 Artists Dancer: Dana Pajarillaga, CityDance Conservatory dancer

Robert began choreographing at Point Park University, where he received a BFA in Jazz Dance. He joined Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2 after college under the direction of Shonna Hickman-Matlock. He was commissioned to set two full-length original works for Dayton Contemporary Dance Company’s 2010-2011 season. Robert continues to explore his talent for choreography as part of CityDance’s faculty by creating colorful, eclectic works like “Carnaval” and “Trees”.

Rob’s work will appear this weekend at the CityDance Studio Theater at Strathmore Hall in an evening of dance with CityDance Conservatory and Hubbard Street 2.

I had the opportunity to ask Rob a few questions about his experience with dance and choreography, focusing on this weekend’s performance.

Why did you choose to pursue a career in dance? 


Robert Priore: I often ask myself why I chose a career in dance, but the answer I’ve come to is that dance chose me. From a young age I was a mover and a shaker, constantly making up dances for my sister and I. It wasn’t until I was 13 when my parents put me in dance classes that I knew I absolutely had to be a dancer. No matter how much I have to struggle physically or financially – I will be a dancer.

Can you describe your inspiration for My Heart has Four Corners, which will be a part of this weekend’s performance?

Robert Priore: My Heart has Four Corners looks at the idea of supporting the one you love. The four corners of a square are strong and resistant and can withhold a lot of pressure. The same speaks for the boundaries of a committed relationship.

I’ve seen you dance with CityDance Ensemble and in videos online from Company E. You are a wonderful mover and performer. In your current position at CityDance, you have to move from performance to choreography. What do you like about choreographing and what are some of the challenges you may face?

Robert Priore: Dancing and choreographing are really like apples and oranges to me. When I am dancing and working with Company E I have to turn on one part of my brain, and when I am teaching and choreographing I need to activate another part. However with that being said, I believe that when I’m doing both at the same time it gives me an extra insight to share with the students that is different from most educators and choreographers. When I’m working with them at night, I’m also going through the same process during the day. As much as I love dancing, I have always felt myself to be more of a choreographer. There’s a rush you get when you watch your choreography on stage that can’t be replaced by any other feeling.

What can guests look forward to tomorrow at Strathmore?

Robert Priore: I think everyone will be in for a real surprise at this concert. Never in my four years of professional dancing experience or in my 10 years of teaching, have I seen young dancers move this way. I’m very excited to see how the audience responds to these dancers performing the work that I’ve created, as well as in the pieces others have crafted.

 Tickets are still available for tomorrow night’s performance, CityDance Presents Hubbard Street 2 and CityDance Conservatory Dancers at Strathmore at 8PM. I hope you are able to attend the performance – and let me know what you enjoyed most! If you can’t attend on Saturday, the cancelled performance tonight will be held as an open rehearsal with a suggested $20 donation. You can purchase tickets by visiting the Strathmore site or by calling 301.581.5100.

CityDance presents Hubbard Street 2 + CityDance Conservatory

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Photo credit: Todd Rosenberg. Dancers: Nick Korkos and Felicia McBride

As part of the second installment of CityDance’s 2012/13 Professional Artist Series, CityDance presents Hubbard Street 2 and the CityDance Conservatory.

Under the direction of CityDance Artistic Director Lorraine Spiegler, CityDance Conservatory provides high quality year-­round dance education to over 100 young dancers ages 12-19. Throughout the weekend, CityDance Conservatory dancers will join Hubbard Street 2 (HS2) in technique and repertory classes. What a fantastic experience for the CityDance Conservatory dancers to dance with some of Chicago’s finest dancers – I’m quite jealous!

I first heard of HS2, the apprentice company of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in 2010, when they premiered “Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure” – the company’s first program-length work created specifically for young people and families – at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. I was there for an internship, but unfortunately wasn’t able to attend the performance.

Hubbard Street 2 will perform works by Hubbard Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo and HSDC Company member Robyn Mineko Williams. CityDance Conservatory dancers will perform Choreographer Megan Adelsberger’s I Remember and Christopher K. Morgan’s Brutal Beauty, as well as works going nowhere, getting somewhere and My Heart has Four Corners by Robert Priore, CityDance Conservatory 2012/13 Choreographer-in-Residence.

Alexe Nowakowski, CityDance Executive Director, is excited about this partnership explaining, “we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to bring celebrated dance artists, like Hubbard Street 2, to the community. This performance fulfills our primary mission of bringing high-­level dance to the DC metro area, while also giving CityDance’s students
access to professional artists.”

I invite you to attend this performance at the CityDance Studio Theater and appreciate the energy of the dancers. Friday’s performance has been cancelled due to issues revolving around Hurricane Sandy. The performance Saturday, November 3 at 8PM is still on! You can purchase tickets by visiting the Strathmore site or by calling 301.581.5100.

If you can’t get enough dance, check out the CityDance performance schedule.

Christopher K. Morgan & Artists: Spiraling

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What I love most about Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, besides the amazing film promos, is that by simply watching the movement, I want to dance. The quality and organic nature of the movement, combined with partnering and altering of the physical space they are performing in with props or set design, creates an idea or emotion that always draws me into the work.

CityDance resident artist Christopher K. Morgan and his company, Christopher K. Morgan & Artists (CKM&A) will perform Spiraling, a concert featuring Morgan’s “forward thinking choreography” (Ballet-Dance Magazine) this weekend at the CityDance Studio Theater at Strathmore.  Christopher K. Morgan’s C’est le ton qui fait la chanson, a playful work set to nostalgic 1930′s French music will open the program.

Over the 2012/13 season, CKM&A has focused on collaboration and is demonstrating this focus by presenting CityDance Conservatory, along with the Dance Exchange in this concert.

Photo by Brianne Bland

CityDance Conservatory is debuting a new contemporary ballet work that Morgan was commissioned to create. Also, on the program is Morgan’s critically acclaimed piece, Rice, which was hailed by The New York Times as “charming and poignant.”

The Dance Exchange will present a work in progress excerpt of Ground Loss by their Resident Artist Sarah Levitt.  Closing the program will be the company premiere of Morgan’s 2012 work De-Generate. 

The performances this Saturday an Sunday will be followed by a discussion with the artists, providing audiences with a unique opportunity to deepen their understanding of the work, ask questions, and share their thoughts. You can order tickets online or call the office at 301.581.5100. Tickets are $20 for students and $25 for general admission.

JMU Alumni Dance Concert

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The dance program at James Madison University is no longer in asbestos-filled Godwin Hall, but rather in the swanky and contemporary Forbes Performing Arts Center across from the quad. This past weekend, my dance company, Dogwood Dance Project, along with other JMU dance alum performed at Forbes and shared insights into what they have done post graduation. I was able to hear about the dance companies and opportunities the JMU dance majors have landed or created for themselves in a panel and am proud of the achievements of these 355 ladies.

UpRooted Dance directed by Keira Hart-Mendoza

UpRooted Dance began with the idea of creating a contemporary dance company that could easily be uprooted and taken somewhere new. Uprooted Dance also explores performance and dance settings apart from the proscenium stage. Recently, these dancers performed on a rooftop in Washington, D.C. Most often, Keira runs the company as a project based pick-up company, but currently there are 7 members of the company and all are JMU dance alum! If you are interested in learning more about this dance company and helping to fund their 2012-13 season, please visit their Indiegogo campaign.

R.A.D.A.R. [Richmond Area Dance Artists Redefined]

RADAR is a modern dance company located in Richmond, Virginia. The company has been dancing together since 2006, when they were known as Z Mullins Dance Company. In the summer of 2011, Z Mullins Dance Company disbanded and the dancers decided to continue creating and performing work collaboratively as RADAR. There are 5 JMU dance alum in this collaborative company.

Dogwood Dance Project

Dogwood Dance Project was founded by 4 JMU dance graduates looking for ways to integrate their education and shared experiences into quality, ‘real-world’ art. There are now 6 JMU dance alum dancing with Terra.

Dogwood Dance Project meets for rehearsals in Richmond, Prince George, Gordonsville, Charlottesville, and Chesapeake, Virginia with the important mission–to bring innovative, unique and varied dance to audiences throughout the Commonwealth of  Virginia and beyond–without establishing ‘home’ in any one place. This season, Dogwood has started a Youth Ensemble as part of the education initiative to provide a pre-professional education experience for dancers interested in pursuing dance after high school.

rva dance collective directed by Jess Burgess and Danica Kalemdaroglu

rva dance collective sprung from the creative collaboration between the artistic directors and there are currently 2 JMU alum in this company, based in Richmond. rva dance collective offers a FREE modern technique class on Sunday mornings from 10-11:15am open to all dancers in the community. Classes are held at Dogtown Dance Theatre in historic Manchester in the main second floor space.

Shojorakudava

Shojorakudava is a U.S. based Japanese Butoh dance company founded by JMU Alum and now JMU adjunct professor, Julia Vessey. The company has worked with a few dancers from JMU and now works with Heather Lundy, another JMU alum. The company was created in coordination with Maro Akaji, the Tokyo-based Butoh master and founder of the world-renown dance company Dairakudakan. To give some background, Butoh was started in Tokyo as an artistic reflection to the horrors of the two atomic bombs dropped in Japan at the end of the second World War.

All of these dance companies performed as part of the JMU Alumni Dance Concert and I am very proud of these dancers for pursuing their art. Of course, the reach of JMU dance is not limited to these DC/VA companies I’ve highlighted today, but it was wonderful to share the weekend celebrating dance and professional performance with these lovely women. Best of luck to those still dancing away at JMU and remember that all the alum are here to help you get to where you want to go.

First Fridays: Thompson and Trammel Dance Company

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A Charlottesville dance icon, Miki Liszt, with her company presents the First Fridays dance series to showcase small contemporary dance companies and individual choreographers. After the performance, the dancers or choreographers invite the audience to participate in a discussion about the performance. In my experience, this is one of the best parts of the evening, as the crowd is very open to modern dance and willing to share how the work(s) made them feel.

First Fridays in October was particularly wonderful as the performance featured two professors from James Madison University.  Cynthia Thompson and Kate Trammell of thompson and trammell presented two solo works with very different themes.

Cynthia started the show with neither here… (2012). There was a strong sense of melancholy within this work, very different from the typical Cynthia style I know. The work was created by Mark Anderson and Isabelle Kralj, in collaboration with Cynthia Thompson. The dance focused around several teacups, probably thirty sets of cups and saucers. As the work began, Cynthia was caressing them as if they had an identity and eventually changed her demeanor towards them and placed them in specific rows as if it were her job to align them just so. Video featuring dangling teacups was incorporated into this work providing an additional element to the music, movement, and voice. At the very end of the dance, she dropped a teacup. Within the discussion following the performance, an audience member chimed in that she wished the teacup would have broken at that moment.

Cynthia shared with the audience that this piece was inspired by going through her parents belongings and finding great personal meaning in each object.  At the same time, she had to deal with the idea that these objects are just things, and have no meaning to anyone else.

Kate followed with HAPPEN CHANCE (2008) with choreography, text and costumes by Claire Porter. This was also a very different dance from typical Kate, but was very successful. After seeing Claire perform this dance, Kate approached Claire and asked if she would set this on her during the summer when she was at the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival at Sarah Lawrence College. This dance required Kate to memorize a long speech and incorporate movement into the story. As she referred to different characters, they were given different movements, so eventually she could dance their movement and we knew who they were!

The discussion after the performance was very interesting to me. While I was focusing on the humor and talent that Kate had in delivering the monologue and remembering which move went with what, others in the audience were applying the performance to life today. One of the audience members brought up the idea that the dance spoke to how fast we move through life focusing on something only momentarily before moving onto the next thing. Think about technology: we moved so quickly – from giant computers, to desktops, to laptops, to smart phones, to tablets – always in search of the next big thing.

I invite you to join my dance company, Terra Dance Project, at the November 2 First Fridays Dance Series at McGuffey Arts Center in downtown Charlottesville.

Dancer Spotlight: Kate Folsom

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Kate Folsom

I danced with Kate in college at James Madison University and we performed together in the Virginia Repertory Dance Company. She graduated in 2011 and has already immersed herself within the D.C. dance community. Over the summer, Kate was temporarily serving as the Interim Executive Administrator and this month is starting as Programs Associate at Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance.

With Dance/USA you helped plan the 2012 Annual Conference in San Francisco. What were the top lessons you learned in planning an arts conference?

April Gruber, Director of Programs, and myself inherited a lot of work initiated by other people. We found that honoring the relationships Dance/USA created, as well as being as prepared prior to the conference were extremely helpful. We were striving to put all the labor in before we left, so that the conference would ‘fall into place’ so to speak. Events of this caliber are impossible to be perfect, but I believe preparation, minute-by-minute planning, and professional & genuine attitudes are skills I will use in future event planning, as well as my creative partnerships.

What were some of your key takeaways from the conference, either in coordinating the event or participating in workshops?

The dance world is huge and small. Huge in the fact that comprehending the budget size of some companies, or the staffing it takes to run performance venues was not a concept I had experienced first hand before. It was humbling to know what there is to look forward to in my future, as well as scouting the type of positions I would like to hold in my professional career.

The dance world is small in that so many of the professionals in attendance had long term ties with so many colleagues and have relationships they’ve built initiated by the Dance/USA Annual Conference. I know I will see familiar faces when I return to the conference in Philadelphia, and will continue to see these folks throughout my life and hope to generate good working relationships from the full scope of the dance field.

What are some things you are learning now about arts administrators or dance in the “real world” that surprised you?

Arts administrator is a far reach from the movement-based college experience I had. I am dancing significantly less and find myself having to mentally push myself to go to classes and train on my own time. I had been told “you’ll miss having these classes everyday,” or “you’re lucky to get one class a week in the real world.” I’m finding that to be true in many ways, but it’s certainly possible to be in arts administration and dance at the level you’re capable of. It’s difficult, and I’m still figuring out that balance.

Working at Dance/USA was my first experience in an office setting and it has taught me so much about professionalism, the scope of dance advocates, and the importance of administrators in the continuance of the dance field. The hours and nature of the work is something for me to get used to as a kinetic person, but I know the importance of what I’m doing and it encourages me to keep up that work for the field of dance, and to keep being an advocate for dance for my own future as well.

I hope I will continue to be surprised about the world of dance.

I’ve spoken with Keira Hart about having so many JMU alumni in UpRooted Dance. It’s great that the JMU dance community is making moves in D.C. What are some differences from the college dance setting and professional dancing?

Being in UpRooted Dance has allowed me to transition and adjust to the dance scene in DC smoothly. I am dancing with women I danced with in college and have a group of like-minded people to go to other performances with, explore my artistic voice in this area, and have a home base of artists to converse with about where we came from and where we want to go. I’m fortunate to get to continue friendships and creative partnerships that allow me to grow in an existing family and encourage me to branch out to artists that are new to me. I dance significantly less than I did in school, but it makes our rehearsals that much more potent and valuable. Every show is a blessing, and each person that comes out to support our work is truly an advocate, whereas in school… they might have been forced to go and write a paper about it. Both are valid reasons for experiencing dance, but I know that the development into a true dance supporter is what makes the professional world of dance so much more meaningful.

Kate is successfully pursuing dance in the real world through working, performing, and being involved in the arts space. Working with Dance/USA has taught her about the politics and administrative side of dance, while rehearsing with companies, like UpRooted Dance, have given her professional performance experience.