Studio performance: Sunday, August 6, 4pm.
This event highlights the some of the work these Artists have created throughout the week. You’ll hear from each of the seven Choreographers about their process and see a snippet of their work performed by T2 Dancers. The ChoreoFest Mentors will also provide comments and audience feedback will be encouraged. One of the Artists will be selected as a T2 Guest Choreographer and will set a work on the company for performance in November.
About T2 ChoreoFest
The heart of the program is to provide professional development, resources, and support for emerging choreographers. This year we have mentors from professional dance companies who will be providing daily challenges for the choreographers and feedback throughout the week.
Selected Choreographers will have two hours each day (3 days) to work with a T2 Company Dancer. The final day of the program will include a private 30 minutes in the performing space before an informal performance open to the public.
Details
August 3–5, 2023: daily virtual rehearsals.
August 6, 2023: informal performance at 4pm MT.
- Choreographers will have a two hour virtual rehearsal each day (Thursday through Saturday). During these rehearsals they will work with a different T2 Dance Company dancer to complete a challenge set by the mentors.
- Each daily challenge should culminate in ~1 minute of choreography that is filmed at the end of each rehearsal.
- Mentors review all daily videos and provide feedback to the choreographers virtually each evening.
- Choreographers have the option to work in-person, virtually or a hybrid. Dancers will be in a studio.
- The festival concludes with an informal performance on Sunday, August 6, 2023 at 4pm MT. This will feature a brief discussion with each Choreographer, comments from the mentors, performance of one of the Choreographer’s completed challenges, and the Guest Choreographer will be announced.
- GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER: One choreographer will be selected and have the opportunity to set a work on the company for a performance in October. The GC will receive a $500 honorarium. Rehearsals with the company may be via zoom if travel is not possible. Rehearsals will take place in August (Monday and/or Wednesday mornings 9am–noon).
2023 Choreographers
- Kaylah Alexander (OH)
- William Clayton (CO)
- Darrigan DeMattos (NY)
- Ana Marie Icaza (Panama)
- Song Ravinan (NY)
- Nicholas Rodrigues (NY)
- Lauren Blair Smith (CA)
2023 Mentors
JON EDEN & SARAH NACHBAUER
Artistic Directors of East by North Dance (NY)
For more than a decade, Jon and Sarah have toured and performed as soloists all around the world. They have performed in over 15 different countries, across 4 continents and in some of the world’s most prestigious theaters. Jon and Sarah have also acted as creative assistants with multiple companies on numerous world premieres as well as artistically contributing to corporate events and projects for MOMIX, Catapult Entertainment, Moving On, Katharine Helen Fisher Dance Company, Kohler, Mercedes-Benz, Wynn Casinos, Pirelli, Cannon, Cialis, Target, Columbus Day Parade NYC, Girl Scouts of America, Mayflower, Marriott, MAC Cosmetics, Bose, Lancôme, and Aveda just to name a few. Jon and Sarah also appeared on Season 8 of America’s Got Talent with the shadow company Catapult Entertainment, making it al the way to the finals. They have appeared in music videos for the artists MGMT and ARK, as well on TV shows for HBO, Showtime, CBS, STARZ and the History Channel. Together they have taught at the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, Terpsichore Dance Center, and have conducted master classes throughout the United States. They are Creative Consultants for acclaimed photographer Robert Whitman as well as with Cardinal Theatricals under the direction of Andrew Rasmussen. Their on stage work has been reviewed as “A highly intimate display of body control”, “Elegant”, Mystical”, and “The perfect blend of fluid movement and stillness.” The company is based in New York City.
JAMAL JACKSON
Artistic Director of Jamal Jackson Dance Company (NY)
Jamal Jackson, was born in Brooklyn, New York and began his formal studies of movement with the Harlem based Batoto Yetu Dance Company. His pursuit of dance led him to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he received the Weston Award for his contribution to the Fusion Dance Company and New Works/ World Traditions African Dance Company from 1996-2000. Jamal studied with Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, Seydou Coulibaly, and Fred Benjamin and worked under M’ba Coulibaly, Salimata Soumare from Kelete Dance Theatre, and Ba Issa Diallo, director of Troupe District du Bamako in Mali, West Africa. Jamal choreographed for the New York Arts Festival and Inaya Day in 2002, marking the beginning of his African based, modern technique. Jamal performed with Ballet International Africans for two seasons as a principal dancer and in 2004 he founded the Jamal Jackson Dance Company. The company’s work has been presented at venues including: Mark Morris Dance Center, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, NYC Summerstage Concert Series, Dance Now Festival, Triskelion Arts, Battery Downtown Dance Festival, Brown University, the Brooklyn Museum, Equality Now’s 20th Anniversary, Big Range Festival in Austin, TX, The Yard in Martha’s Vineyard, MA, Performance Spaces for the 21st Century in Chatham, NY, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pitt., GSUSA National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, Abundance Festival in Karlstad, Sweden, 92nd street Y, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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