See the home page to apply for the 2011 Chop Shop: Bodies of Work
THE 2010 PERFORMING ARTISTS
This year we are pleased to welcome twelve contemporary
dance companies participating in the the CHOP
SHOP DANCE FESTIVAL. The Saturday and Sunday performances
will feature different dance companies giving you the greatest
opportunity to experience a wide array of contemporary dance.
The 2010 festival lineup includes:
"...already one of Seattle’s most talked about
and important outlets for dance." - Dean Speer, Critical
Dance
Stay tuned for ChopShop Dance Festival 2011
Spectrum
Dance Theater:Led by Artistic Director Donald
Byrd, Spectrum Dance Theater stands at the forefront
of contemporary dance as one of the most daring and innovative
cultural assets in the region. The Company has established a full
season of performances presented at the Moore Theatre where Spectrum
is the official Resident Dance Company and continues to expand
its reach with national and international touring engagements.
Spectrum Dance Theater will be presenting Tantric Voices,
choreographed by Thaddeus Davis, once a dancer
with Donald Byrd/The Group in New York and now an artist in his
own right. Byrd calls the piece, “…quirky, serious,
playful, intuitive, curious, kinetic, earthy, smart and full of
surprises.” Davis has choreographed for Complexions Contemporary
Ballet, Ballet Austin and Fugate/Bahire Ballet in New York. In
2008 he was chosen by the US State Department to serve as a Cultural
Envoy to Portugal. back
to top
The
Stone Dance Collective is a modern dance company that
originated in London, England in 1993 but has been part of the
Seattle/Eastside dance scene for more than 12 years. Artistic
Director and choreographer Eva Stone never fails
to amuse and provoke audiences through her humor, detail and unexpected
approach to contemporary dance. Having learned the art of dance
backwards (choreography before technique), Stone has developed
a movement language that is uniquely her own. Her choreography
has been presented in New York, Geneva, London and St. Petersburg,
Russia. Locally, she has been commissioned by numerous companies
throughout Washington and most recently as part of a collaborative
effort (alongside Olivier Wevers and Wade Madsen) on Project
Orpheus with Seattle Dance Project. Stone will be presenting
Stick Figures, a poignant and unaffected examination
of the breath and space between men and women.
back to top
Mark
Haim is a world-renowned performer/choreographer and
former UW Senior Artist in Residence. He has created works for
Nederlands Dans Theatre, Ballet Frankfurt and the Jose Limon Dance
Company, to name only a few. Haim’s critically acclaimed
The Goldberg Variations has been presented at American
Dance Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center and other venues in
Europe, the US and Asia. Haim will present Buoyant Despite
Slump, a piece about “the window of opportunity
created in a quiet moment of profound sadness and abandonment.”
back to top
The Shois led by dancer/choreographer/visual artist Michael
Rioux. His concern as and artist is “to be full
of joy and discovery… while not predetermining anything.”
Rioux presents Wild Fruit Study #1, a unique
work with two points of departure, one utilizing the text of Henry
David Thoreau and the other starting with an image of a middle-aged
woman from the 1970’s in a small Midwestern town.back
to top
Seattle
Dance Project: Julie Tobiason and
Timothy Lynch are co-directors of this new modern
dance company that seeks to use the technical prowess and professional
maturity of its dancers to push the limits of contemporary dance.
Seattle Dance Project creates a movement methodology where muscular
strength and classical lines of ballet converge with the emancipating
movement of modern dance. SDP will be presenting Because,
a new work by James Canfield, Director of Nevada
Ballet Theatre and founding Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet
Theatre. Canfield’s piece uses nostalgic Beatles tunes such
as “Because” and “Yesterday” to showcase
the talent of the dancers.
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The
Phffft! Dance Theatre Company fuses complex athletic
partnering and daring lifts with a keen theatrical sensibility,
revealing human nature through the lens of intimate relationships
and the everyday experience. Artistic Director Cyrus Khambatta
has presented work in twelve US states, throughout Europe as well
as in Russia and Latin America. Phffft! presents Interview
with the American Dream, an work inspired by anonymously
interviewing people over the phone from around the US. The piece
is, “one part treatise, one part expose on American’s
genuine reflections of their beloved country in a reluctant state
of decay.” back to
top
Whim
W’Him is the brainchild of Pacific Northwest
Ballet Principal Dancer Olivier Wevers. Its goal
is to open the world of dance to a wider audience by combining
the talents of dancers, choreographers, composers, singers, actors
and other artists in unorthodox forms/ways. FRAGMENTS,
choreographed by Wevers and created for Spectrum Dance Theater,
is a play on the familiarity of well-known arias from The Marriage
of Figaro and The Magic Flute. One critic calls it, “…beautifully
Mozartain: this is art at its most spiritually cathartic and challenging,
entirely classic and entirely now.”
back to top
Coriolis
Dance Collective was formed in 2008 by Natascha
Greenwalt-Murphyand and Christin Call in
order to foster an immersive and experimental atmosphere in the
creation of new, highly collaborative works with artists of all
disciplines. Tethered Apparitions, choreographed
by Greenwalt-Murphy, spins a delicate picture of how "personal
ideals tie us to one another and attach us to illusory worlds
of our own creation." The piece features an original score
by local musician and artist Matt Holmes, as well as art objects
created by Call. back to
top
SD
Prism Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company
founded by Artistic Director Sonia Dawkins, who
has been in the Seattle area for the past 10 years and is also
a part of the faculty at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Dawkins’
focus as a choreographer is drawn from the artistry, athleticism
and “poetry” from within each dancer. Critics have
said her works possess “athletic edge and artistic depth.”
Dawkins is presenting Linkage, a study on the
demise of national and social constructs in a “monetary
context.” back to
top
Peninsula
Dance Theatre is presenting a new work by Seattle
based choreographer Lara Littlefield. Littlefield’s
artistic influences come from her training background from both
Pacific Northwest Ballet and Cornish College of the Arts. In A
Final Gathering, Littlefield engages the dancers in a
boundless community dance evoking folk Americanisms. Peninsula
Dance Theatre, with Artistic Director Lawan Morrison,
has been dedicated to furthering classical and contemporary forms
of dance in the Kitsap County region since 1973.
back to top
Quark
Contemporary Dance Theatre is a fresh new company created
in 2009 by David Lorence Schleiffers, currently
working on a dance degree in the UW Dance Program. This company
aims to create and perform unique and thought provoking work,
which highlights the natural movement of the human body. In The
Kids’ Table, Schleiffers takes us on a subtle journey
through the growing process and uses simple movement themes to
highlight complex aspects of adulthood. Learn more at www.quarkcontemporary.org
back to top
acornDance,
with Director Aiko Kinoshita, performs pause,
which will inhabit various locations around the lobby of Meydenbauer
Theater, creating moving installations in reaction to the space
and its inherent sounds and energy. This ensemble courageously
plays with pushing physical edges and emotional boundaries through
the art of improvisational performance. In doing so it offers
a vision of the world based on immediate experience rather than
polish, sensitivity rather than habit. Kinoshita’s work
has toured nationally and internationally and reflects her interest
in improvisation, natural physicality, dynamic partnering, and
community. back to top
The
Stone Dance Collective is a modern dance company that
originated in London, England in 1993 but has been part of the
Seattle/Eastside dance scene for more than 12 years. Artistic
Director and choreographer Eva Stone never fails
to amuse and provoke audiences through her humor, detail and unexpected
approach to contemporary dance. Having learned the art of dance
backwards (choreography before technique), Stone has developed
a movement language that is uniquely her own. Her choreography
has been presented in New York, Geneva, London and St. Petersburg,
Russia. Locally, she has been commissioned by numerous companies
throughout Washington and most recently as part of a collaborative
effort (alongside Olivier Wevers and Wade Madsen) on Project
Orpheus with Seattle Dance Project. Stone will be presenting
Stick Figures, a poignant and unaffected examination
of the breath and space between men and women.
Mark
Haim is a world-renowned performer/choreographer and
former UW Senior Artist in Residence. He has created works for
Nederlands Dans Theatre, Ballet Frankfurt and the Jose Limon Dance
Company, to name only a few. Haim’s critically acclaimed
The Goldberg Variations has been presented at American
Dance Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center and other venues in
Europe, the US and Asia. Haim will present Buoyant Despite
Slump, a piece about “the window of opportunity
created in a quiet moment of profound sadness and abandonment.”
Quark
Contemporary Dance Theatre is a fresh new company created
in 2009 by David Lorence Schleiffers, currently
working on a dance degree in the UW Dance Program. This company
aims to create and perform unique and thought provoking work,
which highlights the natural movement of the human body. In The
Kids’ Table, Schleiffers takes us on a subtle journey
through the growing process and uses simple movement themes to
highlight complex aspects of adulthood. Learn more at 
