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Donald T. Lunsford II is a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition to his success with the African American modern dance company, Philadanco, Lunsford has a multitude of experiences in dance throughout the Philadelphia area.
Lunsford began his dance training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he received a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree, with his main focus in modern dance. [1] While studying at University of the Arts, he was simultaneously studying at the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco).
With hard work, Lunsford became the company’s most highlighted dancer and upon retiring from performing, he maintained his presence at Philadanco as a guest artist. He has also provided choreography for Drexel University, Glassboro State College, Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, as well as others. Not limited to choreographic talents, Lunsford is also experienced in stage production, contributing his talents to groups such as the Opera of Philadelphia, the Theatre Center of Philadelphia, and the Academy of Vocal Arts.
For over 30 years, his role as Artistic Director of D/2, an apprentice group of Philadanco, has paved the way for many less experienced dancers to gain enough knowledge to graduate into Philadanco. His pupils have also spread to other companies such as The Washington Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, The Juilliard School, and The Philadelphia Dance Company. [2]
Lunsford is the recipient of impressive list of awards for his contributions to the dance world and arts education as a whole. Some of these include:
Alvin Ailey was an African-American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Ailey School in New York City. He is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th-century concert dance. His company gained the nickname "Cultural Ambassador to the World" because of its extensive international touring. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best known and most often seen modern dance performance. In 1977, Ailey was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1988. In 2014, President Barack Obama selected Ailey to be a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is one of the world's premier dance companies. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America.
Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne is an English choreographer. His work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. He has received multiple awards and award nominations, including the Laurence Olivier Award, Tony Award and Drama Desk Award, and he has also received several Honorary Doctorates of Arts from UK universities. Bourne was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to dance.
Donald McKayle was an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and writer best known for creating socially conscious concert works during the 1950s and '60s that focus on expressing the human condition and, more specifically, the black experience in America. He was "among the first black men to break the racial barrier by means of modern dance." His work for the concert stage, especially Games (1951) and Rainbow Round My Shoulder (1959), has been the subject of widespread acclaim and critical attention. In addition, McKayle was the first black man to both direct and choreograph major Broadway musicals, including the Tony Award-winners Raisin (1973) and Sophisticated Ladies (1981), and he worked extensively in television and film. As a young man he appeared with some of the twentieth century's most important choreographers, including Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, and Merce Cunningham, and in some of Broadway's landmark productions, including House of Flowers(1958) and West Side Story (1957), where he served for a time as the production's dance captain. A Tony Award and Emmy Award nominee, McKayle held an endowed chair for the last decades of his life in the Dance Department at UC Irvine, where he was the Claire Trevor Professor of Dance. He previously served on the faculties of Connecticut College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Bennington College.
Gawain Garth Fagan, CD is a Jamaican modern dance choreographer. He is the founder and artistic director of Garth Fagan Dance, a modern dance company based in Rochester, New York.
José Arcadio Limón was a dancer and choreographer who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s he founded the José Limón Dance Company, and in 1968 he created the José Limón Foundation to carry on his work.
Judith Ann Jamison was born May 10, 1943 to Tessie Brown Jamison and John Jamison, Sr. She is an American dancer and choreographer, best known as a ballet dancer and as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York, New York. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya.
Dwight Rhoden is an American choreographer and artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet who began dancing at the age of 17 while studying acting. He has performed with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal and was a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He has appeared in numerous television specials, documentaries and commercials throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and has been a featured performer on many PBS Great Performances specials.
Lin Hwai-min is a Taiwanese dancer, writer, choreographer, and founder of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan.
Garry Stewart has been the artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre since 1999, following Meryl Tankard.
Robert Garland is a former Principal Dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and their first official Resident Choreographer, creating dances for the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company and their School Ensemble. He has also choreographed for the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and the Oakland Ballet among many others.
Laura Dean is an American dancer, choreographer and composer. She is known for her collaborations with Steve Reich, a number of commissioned works for the Joffrey Ballet, and works for her own dance companies. Dean's earliest works were marked by a minimalist approach and an affinity for spinning; her later work saw more use of traditional dance methods.
The Philadelphia Dance Company is a professional dance company based in Philadelphia, PA that specializes in modern contemporary dance. The organization was founded in 1970 by Artistic Director Joan Myers Brown. The company tours both nationally and internationally in addition to their regular appearances locally at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Painted Bride Art Center, and other venues in the Philadelphia area. Part of the company's tour schedule is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts' Regional Arts Touring Program and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
The Ballet East Dance Company (BEDC) is an American modern dance company located in Austin, Texas. Founded by Rodolfo Mendez in 1978, the company presents at least eight staged productions during an annual season. The company often works with nationally recognized choreographers in addition to working with local talent. The BEDC was recently profiled in the National Endowment for the Arts's journal in 2009.
Dancer and choreographer Ronald K. Brown founded the dance company Evidence in New York in 1985. Brown's work incorporates modern dance, Senegalese Sabar and other West African movement vocabularies, Afro-Caribbean dance, and contemporary urban dance from around the world. He has choreographed numerous works for his own company, as well as for Philadanco, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Maimouna Keita West African Dance Company, and many others. Brown has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Bessie Award, a Black Theater Alliance Award, and an Audelco Award for the choreography of Regina Taylor's musical Crowns. He has also been a guest artist at The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts. He studied dance with Mary Anthony.
Camille A. Brown is a dancer, choreographer, director and dance educator. She is the Founder & Artistic Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and has congruently choreographed commissioned pieces for many notable dance companies, Broadway shows, and universities. Brown started her career as a dancer in Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company, and was a guest artist with Rennie Harris Puremovement, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Brown has choreographed major Broadway shows such as Once on This Island and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! that aired on NBC. Brown also teaches dance and gives lectures to audiences at various universities such as Long Island University, Barnard College and ACDFA, among others.
Rennie Harris is a dancer, choreographer, artistic director and professor of hip-hop dance. Harris formed the first and longest running hip-hop dance touring company, Rennie Harris Puremovement in 1992. In 2007, he conceived another touring company, RHAW or Rennie Harris Awe-Inspiring Works.
Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group is a Brooklyn-based dance performance group created by Reggie Wilson in 1989. The group blends contemporary dance with African traditions in what the founder and choreographer terms “Post-African Neo Hoodoo Modern dance.”
Michael Mao is an American modern dance choreographer and educator. He is the artistic director of Michael Mao Dance.