Larry Keigwin

Last updated
Larry Keigwin
Born1972 (age 51–52) [1]
NationalityAmerican
Education Hofstra University (1994)
Occupationchoreographer
Known forfounder and artistic director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY

Larry Keigwin an American choreographer and the artistic director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY.

Contents

Life and career

Keigwin was raised in Wading River on Long Island with three brothers, one of them his twin. Though his brothers were “very jocky,” he chose instead to pursue gymnastics, join a circus training program, and perform in school musicals. Keigwin auditioned for and performed in a number of “Club MTV” episodes before attending Hofstra University to study dance. [2] Following graduation in 1994, [3] he danced with artists including Penny Arcade, Robin Becker, David Roussève, Varla Jean Merman, Zvi Gotheiner, John Jasperse, Jane Comfort, Julie Taymor, Doug Elkins, Doug Varone, and Mark Dendy. [4] It was this last artist, Dendy, who invited Keigwin to choreograph and perform a solo (what eventually became “Mattress Suite”) as part of Dendy's own program at the Joyce Theater. This opportunity launched Keigwin's career as a contemporary dance choreographer.

Larry Keigwin's work has been commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, The Juilliard School, The New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, and The Martha Graham Dance Company. He was the Vail International Dance Festival’s first artist in residence in 2010. He also staged the opening event of the 2010 Fashion Week, choreographed the musical Tales of the city and the off-Broadway production of RENT, worked with the pop band Fischerspooner, and held the role of associate choreographer for both The Radio City Rockettes and the Off-Broadway musical The Wild Party. Keigwin has also created Keigwin Kabaret, a fusion of modern dance, vaudeville, and burlesque presented by the Public Theater at Joe's Pub and by Symphony Space. He is a co-founder of the Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, a multi-disciplinary festival designed to increase cultural opportunities in the region, as well as provide creative residencies to young, emerging choreographers. [3]

Keigwin + Company

Since K+C's premiere performance at Joyce Soho, Keigwin has created 16 dances, including the large-scale choreographic event Bolero and recent works such as Runaway (2008), the site-specific Sidewalk (2009) and Bird Watching (2010). [5]

Over the past eight years, K+C has presented performances throughout New York City and nationwide at venues including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Summerdance Santa Barbara, New York City Center, The Joyce Theater, the American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, and more. [5]

Repertory

Reception

Keigwin's style, which toes the line between art and pop culture, has met with both positive and negative reviews.

New York Times journalist Roslyn Sulcas calls Keigwin's work “witty, kinetic and musically responsive, mixing the stretched lines of ballet with the more weighted, blunt quality of contemporary dance, often integrating everyday gestures and pop-culture references.” [2]

The New York Press describes Keigwin's work as “witty, sexy, fashion-conscious and full of attitude while also being haunting.” [7]

New York Times dance critic Gia Kourlas noted that Keigwin, in his massive community piece Bolero, “made a dance about a community add up to more than a community dance.” [8]

New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay writes that Keigwin “has it in him to be an artist of rewarding originality...Most of the evening, however, suggests he finds it convenient to make choreography that is at best cute.” [9]

Keigwin was named one of "25 to Watch" in 2004 by Dance Magazine . [1] [4]

Awards

Larry Keigwin was one of the 2011 Society of Directors and Choreographers' Joe A. Callaway Award Recipients, which "recognizes excellence in the craft of directing and choreography during the New York City theatre season." [10]

He was awarded the American Dance Festival's Doris Duke Award for New Work in 2004, 2006, 2008. [11]

In 1999, he received a Bessie Award for his performance in Dream Analysis by Mark Dendy. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Ballet</span> American ballet company

New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.

Martha Clarke is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. Her best-known original work is The Garden of Earthly Delights, an exploration in theatre, dance, music and flying of the famous painting of the same name by Hieronymus Bosch. The production was honored with a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, an Obie Award for Richard Peaslee's original score, and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for choreography.

Lynne Taylor-Corbett is a choreographer, director, lyricist, and composer. She was born in Denver, Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Millepied</span> French multi oriented dancer and choreographer

Benjamin Millepied is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also created choreography for the company, and choreographed pieces for other major companies. He retired from the NYCB in 2011.

Janie Taylor is an American ballet dancer, répétiteur and costume designer. She joined New York City Ballet in 1998, was promoted to principal dancer in 2005 and left in 2014. She then started designing costumes and staging works by Justin Peck and Benjamin Millepied, before performing again as a member of the L.A. Dance Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexei Ratmansky</span> Russian ballet dancer and choreographer

Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky is a Russian-Ukrainian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet. He left Russia in 2008. In 2009 he was appointed the artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre, and as artist in residence at the New York City Ballet from August 2023.

Misnomer Dance Theater is a modern dance company based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 1998 by Artistic Director and choreographer Chris Elam. In addition to producing and touring the choreographies of Chris Elam, Misnomer Dance Theater has launched signature programs that provide dance opportunities for artists.

David Dawson is a British dancer and choreographer who has received numerous honours and awards for his atmospheric and emotionally physical works. His style is based on the vocabulary of classical ballet and, though Dawson disagrees with the association, his style is often said to be influenced by William Forsythe.

Germaul Barnes is a dancer and choreographer and founder of Viewsic Dance. He received the 2003 Bessie Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camille A. Brown</span> American dancer

Camille A. Brown is an American dancer, choreographer, director, and dance educator. Four-time Tony Awards nominees, she started her career working as professional dancer with Ronald K. Brown's company in the early 2000s. In 2006 she founded her own dance company, the Camille A. Brown & Dancers, producing severals dance productions, winning a Princess Grace Awards and a Bessie Award.

Kyle Abraham is an American choreographer and dancer. He founded his own company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in 2006 in New York City and has produced many original works for A.I.M such as The Radio Show (2010), Absent Matter (2015), Pavement (2012), Dearest Home (2017), Drive (2017), INDY (2018), Studies on Farewell (2019), and An Untitled Love (2021). Kyle has also been commissioned to create new works for international dance companies such as Untitled America (2016) for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Runaway (2018) for New York City Ballet, The Bystander (2019) for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Only The Lonely (2019) for Paul Taylor American Modern Dance and Ash (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Move</span>

Richard Move is an American choreographer, dancer, performing artist, director, and filmmaker. They are the Artistic Director of MoveOpolis! and Move- It! Productions. Move is known for their interest in Martha Graham and the ability to recreate her performances. They are a TEDGlobal Oxford Fellow and was named 1 of 12 TED Fellows who inspire by producing art that confronts social injustice, and provokes action. Move is Assistant Arts Professor at New York University in the Tisch School of the Arts’ Department of Dance. In 2018, Move was Artist in Residence at Pratt Institute and Monash University’s MADA Artist in Residence in Melbourne, Australia. From 2014 – 2019, Move served as Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance at Queens College, CUNY and from 2012-2014, as Lecturer in Design at Yale School of Drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melinda Sullivan</span> American dancer, choreographer and actress

Melinda Sullivan is an American dancer, choreographer and actress. She is known for her work on the U.S. version of So You Think You Can Dance, where she was a finalist in the television series' seventh season, and as the 2012 winner of the Capezio A.C.E. Award. That entry, "Gone", debuted in expanded form in New York in August 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silas Farley</span> American ballet dancer

Silas Farley is an American ballet dancer, choreographer and educator. He danced at the New York City Ballet between 2013 and 2020, and choreographed outside the company. Between 2021 and 2023, he was the dean of Colburn School's Trudl Zipper Dance Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Crystal</span> Musical artist

Adam Akio Crystal is an American composer, violinist, and keyboardist known for his work in film score and contemporary classical music composition for modern dance and ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Peck</span> American choreographer, director, and dancer

Justin Peck is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the institution to hold this title. He made his Broadway debut working on the 2018 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel earning the Tony Award for Best Choreography. Peck choreographed the dance sequences for Steven Spielberg musical adaptation West Side Story (2021) and Bradley Cooper's biographical drama Maestro (2023).

Muna Tseng is a Chinese-American dancer, choreographer, author and lecturer. She has lived in New York since 1978 and in 1984 founded Muna Tseng Dance Projects in New York City. She created over 40 dance productions and performed in over 30 cities and festivals in 15 countries. Since 1990 she has been the director and executrix of her late brother Tseng Kwong Chi's photography archive. She has served for several years on the 'Current Practice' subcommittee for the annual Bessie Awards, also known as the New York Dance and Performance Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Lovette</span> American ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1991)

Lauren Lovette is an American ballet dancer and choreographer who was previously a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

Pontus Karl Johan Lidberg is a Swedish born choreographer, dancer and filmmaker.

References

  1. 1 2 "25 to watch: Dance Magazine predicts who's new and breaking through for 2004". Dance Magazine. January 2004. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Sulcas, Roslyn (March 4, 2011). "The Choreographer Larry Keigwin and 'Exit'". The New York Times .
  3. 1 2 "Larry Keigwin". Keigwin + Company. October 17, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "Alumni - Drama and Dance - Hofstra University". Hofstra University. Archived from the original on October 24, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  5. 1 2 "About". Keigwin + Company. October 17, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Repertory". Keigwin + Company. October 17, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  7. ↑ Reiter, Susan (August 10, 2011). "Rent to Buy: Larry Keigwin is dipping his toes into musical theater choreography in a very big way". New York Press. Archived from the original on December 10, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  8. ↑ Kourlas, Gia (July 24, 2011). "Keigwin + Company and Works by Jamel Gaines - Review". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Macaulay, Alastair (August 1, 2008). "Dance Review - Larry Keigwin - Larry Keigwin at the Joyce - Mozart in the Shower, and Other Unlikely Elements - Review". The New York Times. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Carolyn Cantor and Larry Keigwin Win SDC's Callaway Awards". Playbill.com. November 14, 2011. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  11. ↑ "History: Awards". American Dance Festival. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.