principal companies and choreographers 2022
BALLET JAZZ MONTRÉAL
Canada
artistic director ALEXANDRA DAMIANI
repertoire VANISHING MELODIES
stagers ALEXANDRA DAMIANI & ANDREW MURDOCK
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Ballets Jazz Montreal is a repertory company that creates, produces and presents contemporary dance performances based on the technique, rigor and aesthetics of classical ballet. Its work consistently appears on local, national and international stages. Under the artistic direction of A.Damiani, the company celebrates this season its 50th anniversary.
Ballets Jazz Montréal was also a Principal Company in 2004, 2006, 2008-2011, and 2013.
GIBNEY COMPANY
USA
artistic director GINA GIBNEY
directors GILBERT T SMALL II
Repertoire GAME IS RIGGED
choreographer ALAN LUCIEN ØYEN
stager GILBERT T SMALL II
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Gibney Company is a creation-based repertory company commissioning work from internationally renowned and emerging choreographers committed to exploring connections between rigorous, often superhuman physicality alongside responsive, humanistic storytelling. We value the risk and immeasurable opportunity of creation as a reflection of our dedication to an entrepreneurial philosophy of constant reinvention.
This is Gibney Company’s first summer at Springboard Danse Montréal.
ABOUT THE WORK
In a time of incessant acceleration, communication is becoming noise. The messenger and receiver is so close that we’re getting stuck in a feedback loop. But some conversations happen mostly with ourselves… Alone with our thoughts there’s no escaping the confrontational force of our fears, longings and expectations. But what happens when the carousel of questioning becomes a game of Russian roulette? Doubting every thought, we keep ourselves at constant gunpoint, but the game is rigged.
ABOUT THE STAGER
Gilbert T Small II is a dancer, choreographer, dramaturg and rehearsal director. He started his formal training at the Baltimore School for the Arts and holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. While at Purchase, he received the opportunity to study at Codarts in the Netherlands. Upon finishing his education, he was invited to join Ballet British Columbia. While with Ballet BC he worked with choreographers such as William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Medhi Walerski, Johan Inger, Emily Molnar and Cayetano Soto. As a freelance artist Gilbert has worked with Serge Bennethan, Sidra Bell, Zoe Scolfield and Kyle Abraham. Gilbert is currently based in Seattle.
HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY
UK
artistic director & choreographer HOFESH SHECHTER
Repertoire POLITICAL MOTHER
stager KIM KOHLMAN
ABOUT THE COMPANY
We’re a boundary-breaking dance company, producing exceptional work created by Hofesh Shechter, with an extraordinary company of internationally diverse dancers at our core. In all our work, we strive to move ourselves, and our audiences, beyond reason.
This is Hofesh Shechter Company’s first summer at Springboard Danse Montréal.
ABOUT THE WORK
Political Mother brims with Hofesh’s emotional and gritty complexity. Pulsating live music, extraordinary ensemble sequences, and cinematic editing make Political Mother a dance experience like no other.
ABOUT THE STAGER
Kim Kohlmann is a performing artist based in London. She was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Honduras, France and The Netherlands. After graduating from Codarts, Rotterdam which included a semester at SUNY Purchase, she joined Dansgroep Amsterdam and continued her career with Noord Nederlandse Dans before joining Hofesh Shechter Company, where she danced for seven years. Kim performed and created work with different choreographers from around the world including: Hofesh Shechter, Emanuel Gat, Stephen Shropshire, Itzik Galili, Krisztina de Châtel, Roy Assaf, Andrea Miller and many others. She collaborated in creating a duet that toured in England and was presented through ‘In Good Company’. Kim became a freelance dancer in 2019 and works regularly assisting and setting pieces for Hofesh Shechter whilst occasionally teaching professional companies and performing in project-based companies, the most recent one being with Jasmine Ellis Projects.
JOHANNES WIELAND
GERMANY
principal choreographer JOHANNES WIELAND
Excerpts from “stück ohne titel” (piece without title)
choreographic assistant EVANGELOS POULINAS
ABOUT THE COMPANY
johannes wieland built the contemporary dance company of the staatstheater of kassel, germany for 15 years, holding positions as a resident choreographer, artistic director and director. he continues to create multi disciplinary work through his berlin company mind eraser/johannes wieland. he also directs and curates the b12 festival. (www.b12.space).
johannes wieland has participated at Springboard Danse Montréal as a Principal Choreographer since 2016, and was a featured artist at SpringboardX 2016 + 2021
KIDD PIVOT / CRYSTAL PITE
CANADA
repertoire BODY AND SOUL
stagers ERIC BEAUCHESNE, ANNA HERRMANN
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot’s performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Under the direction of internationally renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, the company’s distinct choreographic language – a breadth of movement fusing classical elements and the complexity and freedom of structured improvisation – is marked by a strong theatrical sensibility and a keen sense of wit and invention.
Kidd Pivot has participated at Springboard Danse Montréal as a Principal Company in 2013, 2014, and from 2016-2019.
ABOUT THE STAGERS
©Michael Slobodian
Born in Québec, Eric first danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, then with The Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Paul-André Fortier and Louise Lecavalier. Member of Kidd Pivot since 2004, he is currently its Associate Artistic Director, and transmits Crystal Pite’s works around the world.
©sacha grootjans
Born in Zürich, Anna Herrmann began her dance education in her home town until being awarded full scholarship from Migros-Kulturprozent Schweiz which allowed her to complete her studies at the School of The Hamburg Ballet. In 1998, upon graduation, she was invited to join The Hamburg Ballet where she danced for the first 3 years of her professional career. Anna has been a company member of Niedersächssiche Staatsoper Hannover, Göteborgs Operan, Staatstheater Wiesbaden and later of Nederlands Dans Theater where she performed from 2009 until 2016. Throughout her career, Anna had the privilege to create and collaborate with renowned choreographers such as John Neumeier, Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, Stephan Thoss, Crystal Pite, Leon/Lightfoot, Marco Goecke, Johan Inger, Franck Chartier, Sharon Eyal, Medhi Walerski among others. In 2019 Anna joined the Berlin-based Dance On Ensemble. Her latest projects with Dance On Ensemble include perfroming in works by Rabih Mroué, Merce Cunningham, Jan Martens, Lucinda Childs and Ginevra Panzetti & Enrico Ticconi. Since 2015 Anna is exploring her own choreographic voice. She was co-creator in several interdisciplinary projects. Anna frequently works in collaboration with swiss visual artist Stephanie Hess and London-based artist Tong Zhao. Some of these collaborative projects were showcased at Gallerie Eigenheim Berlin, Nidwaldner Museum Schweiz, Theater STOK in Zürich, The MOCA Shanghai and Beijing Today Art Museum. Anna has served as guest teacher and faculty for several institutions such as The Royal Conservatoire Den Haag, Arts Umbrella Vancouver and Springboard Danse Montréal.
KYLE ABRAHAM
USA
principal choreographer KYLE ABRAHAM
CREATIVE PROCESS
choreographic assistant STEPHANIE TERASAKI
ABOUT THE COMPANY
In addition to creating several works for his own company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Mr. Abraham has been commissioned by a variety of dance companies, including The Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, New York City Ballet (NYCB, and National Ballet of Cuba, among others.
Kyle previously attended Springboard as an Emerging Choreographer in 2007.
ABOUT THE STAGER
Stephanie Terasaki was born and raised in southern California. She attended the Orange County School of the Arts and received her BFA in 2016 from The Juilliard School. During her time at Juilliard she has had the opportunity to perform works by Kyle Abraham, Martha Graham, Eliot Feld, Camille Brown, Brian Brooks, Kate Weare, Paul Taylor, Loni Landon, and Bobbi Jene Smith. She has danced with GroundWorks Dance Theater for their 2016 summer and fall season and had the lovely opportunity of performing works by Robyn Mineko Williams, Adam Barruch, Beth Corning, and David Shimotakahara. She currently lives in New York City and dances with various companies including Brian Brooks Moving Company, ZviDance, and MeenMoves.
OHAD NAHARIN
ISRAEL
principal choreographer OHAD NAHARIN
repertoire Excerpts from “MAX and Virus”
stager SHAMEL PITTS & BRET EASTERLING
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Gaga is the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin throughout many years, parallel to his work as a choreographer and the former artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company. Gaga originated from Naharin’s need to communicate with his dancers and his curiosity in the ongoing research of movement.
Ohad Naharin has previously participated in Springboard as a Principal Company in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2019.
ABOUT THE STAGERS
2020 Guggenheim Fellow Shamel Pitts is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, and teacher. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shamel began his dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts and, simultaneously, at The Ailey School. He is 2003 YoungArts Finalist and a first prize (level 1) winner of the YoungArts competition. Shamel then went on to receive his BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and was awarded the Martha Hill Award for excellence in dance. He began his dance career in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance and BJM_Danse Montreal. Shamel danced with Batsheva Dance Company for 7 years, under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin and is a certified teacher of Gaga movement language. Shamel has created a triptych of award winning multidisciplinary performance art works known as his “BLACK series” which has been performed and toured extensively to many festivals around the world since 2016. He is an adjunct at The Juilliard School and has been an artist in residence at Harvard University. Shamel is the choreographer of the play “Help” by acclaimed poet and playwright Claudia Rankine, directed by Taibi Magar, and commissioned at The Shed in New York. He is the recipient of a 2018 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Award winner in Choreography, and a 2020 Jacob’s Pillow artist in residence. Shamel is the artistic director/founder of TRIBE, a New York based multidisciplinary arts collective. TRIBE is a 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s Artist In Residence for the 2020-2021 season.
Bret Easterling is a dance artist, creator, educator, and producer based in Los Angeles, California. He currently teaches at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and is the Artistic Director of BEMOVING, a non-profit which builds nurturing communal environments for the research, development, and dissemination of dance works and movement practices.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Since 2002, Victor Quijada has choreographed close to 30 pieces with RUBBERBAND and through commissions. Quijada developed the RUBBERBAND Method; a training system that is a fusion of post-modern, contemporary, and classical ballet – with the ideology & movement vocabulary of the Hip-Hop Culture he grew up with.
RUBBERBAND was also a Springboard Principal Company from 2010-2016 and in 2019.