29 Apr KSF Artists of Choice 2016: US Dance Selection Panel
Today we were interviewing shortlisted applicants for KSF Artists of Choice: US Dance Category. Below you can read about the high level industry professionals who worked with us on the selection panel to uncover some of the best new talent working in the US Dance industry today.
Virginia Johnson is a founding member and now Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem. She trained at the Academy of the Washington School of Ballet. Her principal roles as a dancer during her 28 years with Dance Theatre of Harlem include: Concerto Barocco; Allegro Brillante; Agon; Swan Lake; Voluntaries; Les Biches; A Streetcar Named Desire; Fall River Legend and Creole Giselle, the latter three recorded and broadcast on television.
Stanford Makishi was appointed Vice President for Programming at New York City Center in 2015 after having served as Associate Producer of the Fall for Dance Festival since 2011. He danced with Trisha Brown through most of the 1990s and served as assistant director of her “Winterreise.” Makishi was the Executive Director at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Director of Programs at the Asian Cultural Council, and Director of Creative Services at Carnegie Hall. Makishi is a graduate of Harvard University.
Gus Solomons Jr. is a dancer, choreographer, dance reviewer and actor. He has written for Dance Magazine, Gay City News, N.Y. Times, Chronicle for Higher Education, and currently www.solomons-says.com. As a dancer he performed with Pearl Lang, Donald McKayle, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham. He created the leading role in Donald Byrd’s The Harlem Nutcracker; He received a N. Y. Dance and Performance (Bessies) Awards in 2001 for Sustained Achievement in Choreography and 2010 for his troupe PARADIGM.
Charmaine Warren is a performer, curator and dance writer. She lectures on Western dance history, the Black tradition in American dance and Jamaican dance, and writes for Amsterdam News. She was a member of New York dance/theater company david rousseve/REALITY, and is the founder/producer and Artistic Director for Dance on the Lawn (Montclair Dance Festival). Her credits include: co-curator Harlem Stage’s Dance Series, EMoves, and Wassaic Project Festival.
Janet Wong is the Associate Artistic Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. She collaborates with Bill and the company on the creation of new work, reconstructs seminal work from the repertory, designs projection for multimedia works, and provides dance training. Besides her work for the stage, she currently oversees the education and outreach program.
KSF Artists of Choice is a pioneering funding and mentoring initiative for UK, US and Canada based emerging artists working in theatre, musical theatre, dance or film. Epitomizing KSF’s aim of ‘sending the elevator back down’ it will provide funding, year-round support and mentoring by industry heavyweights.