DDT's IABD Dancer Booklet 2019

Dissonance Dance Theatre DC’s Only black-Managed Contemporary Ballet

Performing since 2007 Timeless Dance. Remixed.

“One of the 11 small-but-mighty dance companies outside of LA and NYC” - Dance Spirit Magazine

Dancer: Phillip Fobbs We are thrilled to be a part of IABD’s auditions this year.

Dissonance Dance Theatre (DDT) mission is to challenge audience’s assumptions about the human experience through dance. A contemporary ballet that blends “classic” modern styles such as Horton, Graham, Limon with nuances of classical ballet, Dissonance is becoming known for its theatrical presence and exceptional artistry.

We look forward to seeing you grow with us.

Shawn Short, MFA Founding Producing Artistic Director

www.ngcfddt.org

Dissonance Dance Theatre 2019-2020 Tentative Season Fall Forward The Clarice - UMD September 2019 College Park, MD Dance Transfer: Social Movement Jack Guidone Theater October 2019 Washington, DC Christmas Playlist The Clarice - UMD December 2019 College Park, MD

The Human Project - Paris

Dancer: Alexix Smith (c) Shawn Short

Cultural exchange in collaboration with French Choreographer Davy Brun.

February 2020 - TBD Dance Transfer: Emotional Physical Theater Ailey Theater New York, NYC March 2020 Conundrum: Completed Lansburgh Theater

In partnership and collaboration with DC String Orchestra

Washington, DC April 2020

Who Are We/What Do We Do - Pg. 2 Company Details - Pg. 4 Strategic Plan - Pg. 7 Artistic Staff - Pg. 8

Dancers: Karina Biancone, Tony Sewer

Guest Choreographers - Pg. 12

Table of Contents

Who Are We? What Do We Do?

DDT is the resident ballet of Ngoma Center for Dance.

“One of the 11 small-but-mighty dance companies outside of LA and NYC” - Dance Spirit Magazine Dissonance Dance Theatre is a Washington, DC-based professional dance company founded in 2007 by Shawn Short. Since its inception, Dissonance Dance Theatre has performed for local and national audiences on the east coast and in the mid-west states. Evoking emotional experiences in the audiences we touch, Dissonance’s cutting-edge repertoire features works that are socially and visually appealing to audiences while remaining true to its mission; challenging audience’s assumptions about the human experience through dance.

Ngoma Center for Dance is the parent organization to DDT and The Ngoma School.

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DDT Dancers in Kameron N. Saunders work Unsettled (2018) Top Images: Ngoma School Students.

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Company Details Dissonance Dance Theatre has been a great place to start my professional career. After being a student at Dance Theatre of Harlem school, DDT assisted my transition into company life. Classes are quick in pace and exciting. The repertoire is vast in range, which I enjoyed.

- Alexix Smith (Pictured)

Company Breakdown: 10-20 dancers

Positions: Senior Artists, Artists, Apprenticeships Contract Length: 38 week Contract (20-25 hours/July - Apr) Sun-Wed Rehearsals Perks: Free Dancewear, Pointe Shoe Allotment, Dancer Transition A ssistance, Housing Assistance, Men’s Classes & Training

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Dancers: Alexix Smith, Tony Sewer (c) Shawn Short

DDT Alumni Have Gone On to Perform With: Philadanco DV8 (London, England) Complexions Deeply Rooted Ad Deum Dance Garth Fagan Dance Virginia Ballet Theatre Illstyle & Peace UniverSoul Circus Cruise Ships Tours National Musical Tours

Production Season: 4 - 6 Productions Partners In Care: Resident Physical Therapist and Massage Therapist Limited Teaching Artist Positions

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Pg. 6 Dancer: Esperanza Montero (c) Shawn Short

Strategic Plan (Next Phase): DDT 2019-23 DDt is excited to enter its next phase of business development. We provide this information to inform dancers of our structured journey.

Strategic Priority Area 2: DDT as A Competitive Regional - Contemporary Ballet Goal: Be recognized as a leading dance company in the Greater Washington, DC-Baltimore area.

Phase II (Complete by 2023) 2.2 Dancer Technical Caliber Improved A. Move company to monthly stipend (2019-2020 Season) B. Company dancers paid part-time wage (2021-2022 Season) C. Company dancers paid full time wage (2022 – 2023 Season)

Phase III (Complete by 2022-2023) 2.3 Programming season with full-production value A. A world or company premiere B. Revised Nutcracker production C. Family or children’s ballet (Peter and the Wolf) D. Guest choreographer evening E. Classic 20th Century dance/music-themed show F. Major story ballet with sets by a prominent designer or architect.

G. Family Series in suburban theaters H. Themed Galas I. Guest dancers

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Artistic Staff - Dance Shawn Short, MFA Director/Ballet Master Principal Choreographer Shawn is the founder, Producing Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer of Dissonance Dance Theatre. In addition to his role as producing artistic director and principal choreographer of Dissonance Dance Theatre, Shawn is the founder and director of Ngoma Center for Dance (Ngoma). For Shawn, Ngoma is central to the life and development of Dissonance Dance Theatre. Just as he expects the finest dancing and most meticulous attention to detail from his dancers, he demands the highest standards for training at Ngoma.

Growing up in the Washington, DC area. Shawn has studied with nationally and internationally acclaimed artists including faculty and dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Lines Ballet, Washington Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dance Institute of Washington, Dance Alloy, Philadanco, Towson University, Baltimore and Duke Ellington School of Performing Arts. As a student of ballet pedagogy, Shawn studied with John White, Margarita De Saa and the Washington School of Ballet Director Kee Juan Han. Shawn is a Pointe Magazine’s Video of the Month Editors’ Choice award recipient for his contemporary ballet work “Caught” in 2013. He is a 2016 Black Enterprise Magazine Modern Man Pg. 8

(BEMM) 100 Men of Distinction Recipient. A 2014 Princess Grace Award (NYC) in Choreography nominee, Shawn holds a BFA in Musical Theatre with a minor in Theatre Management from Howard University and a MFA in Dance at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a focus on dance history, arts administration and somatics.

He is a former professor of Classical Ballet at Catholic University of America. Shawn is a former fiscally sponsored artist through the New York Foundation for the Arts. Shawn has choreographed for The Dance Institute of Washington and The Washington Ballet School of Ballet at THEARC. His has presented his works at the Capital Fringe Festival, Greater Washington Urban League National Conference, Southeastern University, Artists’ Bloc 12X6 Series, Harke Theatre, Jack Guidone Theatre Space, Lang Theatre, Atlas Theatre Complex Lab II Theatre, THEARC Theatre, Joe’s Movement Emporium, DC Parks and Recreation, Sidney Harman Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, PBS Broadcasting, VelocityDC, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Shawn was the Resident Choreographer for the Kelsey Collie Children’s Theatre for six years.

In education, Shawn has developed and implemented dance curriculum and programs for: Catholic University of America’s Musical Theatre program, Adventure Theatre-MTS, Imagination Stage Dance Division, Kelsey Collie Children’s Theatre Experience, PG County Schools, Dance Institute of Washington, Washington Ballet @THEARC. His performance credits include work with K2 Dance, Adrian Bolton Dance, El Tearto de Danza Contemporeanea El Salvador, and Bolton/Smith. He has also served as a guest artist with Dance Alloy in Pennsylvania. He has been commissioned by Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music to choreograph “Mother’s Blood”(2008), VF Dance Theater for their Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts to choreograph “ Genotype Called Love” for their Terrace Theatre production of “Futurology” (2012).

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Artistic Staff - Dance Florian Rouiller, MFA Guest Ballet Master Florian Rouiller is a dance teacher, choreographer, and performer who has worked extensively across three continents. Rouiller has an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland, where he choreographed and performed the original productions Profondeur Inconnue and Wave while continuing extensive performance with local dance companies outside the university. Rouiller began his dance career with training at the prestigious John Cranko School in Stuttgart with a BFA, and performed with the Stuttgart Ballet in productions such as Sleeping Beauty and Giselle.

Upon immigrating to the United States, he danced wit h Merce Cunningham Dance Company as an apprentice, Ohio Ballet, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Ballet International Eldar Aliev, Ballet Metropolitano de Caracas, and Ballet Contemporanea de Caracas in Venezuela, as well as Goteborg Ballet in Sweden. Performing soloist and principal roles and working with choreographers such as Alonzo King, Jiri Kylian, Simon Dow, Robert North, Jorma Uotinen , Jean-Paul Comelin, Lynne Taylor Corbett to name a few. In the DC area, he has performed with City Dance Ensemble, Dana Tai Soon Burgess, and Lucy Bowen McCauley, Karen Reedy. His piece Fragments was at the finals in the 2010 Korean Ballet competition and his Female solo Verge just won the 3 prizes at YAGP competition in 2013. He also won a 3prizes in the Men division 2015 at YAGP.

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Ryan Tuerk, MFA Choreographer Guest Ballet Master

(Philadelphia, PA) In 2005, Ryan graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in Jazz Dance. While in college he had the pleasure of working with such companies as Koresh, Philadanco and Pennsylvania Ballet. Ryan was a soloist in the 2005 Philadelphia “Live Arts” Fringe Festival dancing in a piece titled, “Patio Plastico” directed by Brian Sanders (Momix Dance). He has also performed with Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. While Living in Florida, he co-founded (with Hip-Hop Mogul Pablo Malco) a pre-professional Hip-Hop company called “Imputz”. Currently, Ryan dances as a Principal Dancer for Spiritoso Ballet”.

Teaching and choreography are his passion; his free time is spent coming up with new and innovative movement combing fundamentals of Jazz dance with the “Vaganova” Ballet Syllabus, and exploring texture, rhythm, and multi-directional flow energy. He is faculty at Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in Philadelphia. He holds a MFA in Dance from Temple University.

Shawn Rawls, MFA Guest Contemporary Faculty

An Ailey Teaching Artist, Shawn has performed with over a dozen shows and dance companies throughout the United States and abroad including Pilobolus, the Aluminum Show, Abarukas, Ad Deum, Monster Energy Drink and the Roots, Culture Shock, the Roxey Ballet, Chicago Dance Crash, Tygo Ballets, K-Theory, Son Kiss’d Hip Hop Contemporary and the Chicago Lyric Opera. He received a full scholarship in dance to pursue a B. F. A. in performance and choreography from Belhaven University. He is a 2020 MFA Candidate in Dance at Wilson College. Shawn Rawls is the Founding Artistic Director of Emotional Physical Theatre in New York City.

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Guest Choreographers

Kareem B. Goodwin a native of Philadelphia, PA, Kareem was awarded the 2011 Choreography prize from the University of the Arts School of Dance for his two works “Lovin’ U In & Out of Time” and “Fragmented Ideas”. Kareem is a NAACP ACT-SO Local and Regional Gold Medalist, as well as a National Finalist. As a performing artist, Kareem has worked with Christopher L. Huggins, Louis Johnson, Ronen Koresh, Gary W. Jeter II, Zane Booker and Arthur Mitchell. Kareem performed with Eleone Connection, the Pre-Professional Company of Eleone Dance Theatre. Kareem has choreographed for local dance companies throughout the Pennsylvania Tri-State Area. Kareem is the Rehearsal Director of Grace Dance Theater 2 and Principal Dancer for Grace Dance Theater.

Edward Franklin is a former principal/soloist with the world renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Originally from Detroit, he received a full scholarships to train at the Ailey School and the Joffrey Ballet, where he was the recipient of the Donna Woods Award. In addition to the Ailey company, he has danced with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, PhilaDanco, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, and the Oakland Ballet.

Rafael Gomes Rafael Gomes is a dancers from Brazil.

He has previously dances with Deborah Colker Dance Company in Rio de Janeiro and as a soloist with Sao Paolo Dance Company. Rafael Gomes also works with performance in different spaces within fashion, plastic arts and video. He is a dancers in GöteborgsOperans Danskompani since October 2015.

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Guest Choreographers

Kameron N. Saunders (2018 Jacob’s Pillow Choreographer Fellow) Kameron N. Saunders was born in St. Louis, MO. He is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography. He graduated from Metro Academic & Classical High School while doing his dance training at COCA (Center of Creative Arts). His performance experience includes UMKC’s Conservatory of Music and Dance, Webster University, COCADance and Ballet Eclectica – two of COCA’s student dance companies. Kameron is currently a principal dancer with Afriky Lolo; a West-African dance company in St. Louis, MO under the direction of Diadie Bathily. He has also performed as a guest artist with Störling Dance Theater in Kansas City. Kameron has worked with renowned artists such as Alicia Graf Mack, Antonio Douthit-Boyd, Sally Bliss, Christine O’Neal, Kirk Peterson, Michael Uthoff, Jon Lehrer, Kate Skarpetowska, Kirven J. Douthit-Boyd, Edgar Anido, Ray Mercer, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Gary Abbott, DeeAnna Hiett, Cecil Slaughter, Lara Teeter, Lee Nolting, and Daisha Graf.

Jamie Thompson A native of Belize, Central America, Jamie Thompson is internationally known and respected for his vision, professionalism and commitment to excellence.

He spent his formative years on philanthropic endeavors through the arts. A highlight from those experiences was serving as director and choreographer for productions presented by the Rotary Club of Belize (2005-2009). In addition to his volunteerism, he began formal dance training with the Belize National Dance Company and The Dramatic Forces School of Dance. His passion Pg. 13

Guest Choreographers Pg. 14

Maleek Washington Maleek is a native New Yorker from the Bronx. He began his studies at Harlem School of The Arts, Broadway Dance Center and LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts.

He received a full scholarship to continue his education at The Boston Conservatory, and soon after he began dancing professionally. First he danced for CityDance Ensemble (Washington DC), where he worked with Paul Taylor, Kate Weare, and Alex Neoral. He’s performed in over 10 countries worldwide and performed at notorious national locations including The White House, the John F. Kennedy Center and Jacob’s Pillow.

Maleek later moved back to New York City to collaborate with McArthur Genius awardee, Kyle Abraham, and his company Abraham.in.Motion (A.I.M.) for four seasons. After signing to CESD talent agency, Maleek has performed for musical sensation Sia on Good Morning America, and for Rhianna for an immersive experience for her AntiDiary Campaign. Currently Maleek is a member of Francesca Harper Project and Camille A. Brown and Dancers as a collaborator.

Kjara Starič Wurst is a new Washington, DC-based choreographer and teacher who choreographed for the Slovene National Ballet, National Ballet Conservatory, and her own contemporary ballet company, KDP. She has taught at University of Minnesota, TU Dance, Balletto di Firenze, Slovene National Ballet Conservatory and holds the formal Slovene Ministry of Culture status of “choreographer.

Ms. Starič completed her formal training at the Ljubljana Ballet conservatory in 1998. In addition, her experience includes training periods at the Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Peridance, Alvin Ailey. In 1998, she was invited to join the SPP, a contemporary ballet company - under direction of her mentor, choreographer Fred Lasserre, where she danced for two years. In 2000, she was recognized as an Independent Artist by Slovene Ministry of Culture and continued as a freelance dancer in works by numerous acknowledged choreographers, including Jennifer Archibald, Matjaž Farič, Tina Dobaj Eder, Siniša Bukinac, and Nijawwon Mathews. She toured nationally and internationally, dancing at Vienner Festwochen (Austria), Festival d’Avignon (France), Bonner Bienale (Germany), Bologna Festival (Italy), Intercult (Sweden), Marato (Spain), NY Summer stage (USA), La Mente Artistica (Italy) and others.

(c) 2018 Dissonance Dance Theatre Dancer: Emma Button (c) Shawn Short