Michael Mao

Last updated

Michael Mao (born Shanghai) is an American modern dance choreographer and educator. He is the artistic director of Michael Mao Dance.

Contents

Early life

Michael Mao at Kean Stages. Michael Mao; Kean Stages.jpg
Michael Mao at Kean Stages.

Born in Shanghai, Mao's family emigrated to New York City when he was 5 years old. A graduate of Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, Mao earned his BA in Literature from Princeton University. During his junior and senior years at Princeton, Mao successfully petitioned for dance to be recognized [1] as deserving of academic credit. He would go on to receive his MA in Far Eastern Languages from Harvard University, where he was also a Ford Foundation Prize Fellow.

Concurrent with his scholastic studies, Mao trained and performed as a professional dancer under the tutelage of Ted Shawn at Jacob's Pillow Dance, with Margaret Craske, Manolo Vargas, and Zena Rommett, and at the Martha Graham and Joffrey schools and the Cunningham studio.

Career

As a dancer, Mao gave his earliest performances with Princeton Ballet. After working with Graziela Daniele for Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston and performing with Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble, Mao began to split his time between Boston and New York. During this period he danced in Twyla Tharp’s Medley which brought him to the attention of leading choreographers from the Judson Movement. Extensive work with Toby Armour, James Waring, Aileen Passloff, Remy Charlip, and Carolyn Brown led Mao to return to Boston where he joined Ms. Armour’s company, New England Dinosaur. Over the course of the next decade he would assume command of the company as artistic director [2] and ultimately as sole choreographer. [3] In 1986, having expanded the repertoire to include works from a wide array of choreographers - including dances from Armour, Charlip, Passloff, Waring, Trisha Brown, Hans van Manen, [4] Lotte Goslar and Carolyn Carlson - Mao relocated the company to New York City as Michael Mao Dance.

Following the establishment of his offices at New York City Center, Mao began choreographing work that spoke to the rich diversity of America. Celebrated for its roots in the American modern dance tradition, Mao's work has been performed throughout the continental United States, in Alaska, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm, Edinburgh, [5] and most recently in Calabria and Fabriano, Italy. To date he has crafted over 60 ballets, with work being commissioned by Hong Kong Ballet, Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble, Kosovo Ballet, Café de la Danse; Paris, and Festival Internaciónal Cervantinó; Mexico.

In recognition of his choreographic achievements, Mao has received funding from the Polaroid Foundation, the Dolfinger McMahon Foundation, the National Endowment's American Dialogue Program, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and George Soros' Open Society Foundation. Michael Mao Dance has been presented at major theatres in Beijing, Suzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou/Canton and Shanghai [6] and New York, including: The Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, Riverside Dance Festival, LaMama, Danny and Sylvia Kaye Playhouse, Symphony Space, Bryant Park, Chelsea Art Museum, China Institute, Madison Square Garden, Purchase/PepsiCo Theatre, Webster Hall, BAM-Fisher, and Kaatsbaan International Dance Center.

Educational work

While working on his MA, Mao taught literature and language at Harvard University, Boston University and Clark University. He has taught dance & choreography at David Howard Dance Center, Princeton University, Boston Conservatory, Jacob's Pillow Dance, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Agnes Scott College.

Mao has served as a panelist for Mid-Atlantic Arts Alliance, Pennsylvania-On-Tour, Center for Arts Education, Tribeca Performing Arts Complex, New York State Council On the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Center for Arts Education, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For his work with teenage immigrants using modern dance movements to master the English language through his trademarked training method, ESLdance, Mao was awarded by the New York State Foreign Language Teachers Association. In honor of his career achievements and his contributions to the dance field at large, Mao was awarded by Alto Jonio Dance Festival in 2011. Currently, in addition to mentoring The Italian International Dance Festival and evaluating Albania's Tirana Youth Ballet, Mao is a planner, writer, and facilitator for the New York City Department of Education’s BLUEPRINT FOR DANCE.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Balanchine</span> Russian-American ballet choreographer (1904–1983)

George Balanchine was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th-century. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its artistic director for more than 35 years. His choreography is characterized by plotless ballets with minimal costume and décor, performed to classical and neoclassical music.

Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is artistic director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary dance company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally. She was dubbed the “punk ballerina” in the 1980s. She earned a Tony nomination for her choreography of the Broadway musical Hair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shen Wei</span> Chinese-born American choreographer

Shen Wei is a Chinese-American choreographer, painter, and director who resides in New York City. Widely recognized for his defining vision of an intercultural and interdisciplinary mode of movement-based performance, Shen Wei creates original works that employ an assortment of media elements, including dance, painting, sound, sculpture, theater and video. Frequently, critics have commented on his innovative blend of Asian and Western sensibilities, as well as his syncretic approach to performance art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Morris (choreographer)</span> American dancer, choreographer and director

Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is popular among dance aficionados, the music world, as well as mainstream audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joffrey Ballet</span> Ballet company (founded in 1956)

The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual presentation of The Nutcracker.

Ulysses Dove was a choreographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Louis</span> American choreographer

Murray Louis was an American modern dancer and choreographer.

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.

Rosalind Newman is veteran choreographer who has created a body of over 70 works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater</span> Modern dance company based in New York City

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. 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 Matthew Rushing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batsheva Dance Company</span>

The Batsheva Dance Company is a renowned dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964.

Susan Marshall is an American choreographer and the Artistic Director of Susan Marshall & Company. She has held the position of Director of the Program in Dance at Princeton University since 2009.

Ralph Lemon is an American choreographer, company director, writer, visual artist and a conceptualist. Raised in a religious environment, he developed his artistic creativity as a child. Early in his career, Lemon used painting as a source of expression, and as he discovered dance, utilized movement as a physical means of expression.

Talley Beatty was born in Cedar Grove, Louisiana, a section of Shreveport, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He is considered one of the greatest of African American choreographers, and also bears the titles dancer, doctor, and dance company director. After studying under Katherine Dunham and Martha Graham, Beatty went on do solo work and choreograph his own works which center on the social issues, experiences, and everyday life of African Americans. Beatty and his technique and style of dancing were both praised and criticized by critics and dancers of his day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonah Bokaer</span> American choreographer and media artist (born 1981)

Jonah Bokaer is an American choreographer and media artist. He works on live performances in the United States and elsewhere, including choreography, digital media, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and social enterprise.

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.

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).

Big Dance Theater is a New York City-based dance theater company. It is led by Artistic Director Annie-B Parson, who founded Big Dance Theater in 1991 with Molly Hickok and Paul Lazar. Big Dance Theater has created over 20 dance/theater works and won 18 awards over the years. They have been commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The National Theater of Paris, The Japan Society, and The Walker Art Center, and have performed in venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Classic Stage Company, Japan Society, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Chocolate Factory, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Walker Art Center, Yerba Buena, On the Boards, New York Live Arts, UCLA Live, The Spoleto Festival USA, and at festivals in Europe and Brazil.

Sarah Michelson is a British choreographer and dancer who lives and works in New York City, New York. Her work is characterized by demanding physicality and repetition, rigorous formal structures, and inventive lighting and sound design. She was one of two choreographers whose work was included in the 2012 Whitney Biennial, the first time dance was presented as part of the bi-annual exhibition. Her work has also been staged at The Walker Art Center, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Kitchen, and the White Oak Dance Project. She received New York Dance and Performance awards for Group Experience (2002), Shadowmann Parts One and Two (2003), and Dogs (2008). She has served as associate director of The Center for Movement Research and associate curator of dance at The Kitchen. Currently choreographer in residence at Bard's Fisher Center, she is the recipient of their four-year fellowship to develop a commissioned work with Bard students and professional dancers.

Shamel Pitts is an American artist, choreographer, performer and teacher. He is the Founder and artistic director at TRIBE which is a New York-based multidisciplinary arts collective.

References

  1. ↑ Princeton Alumni Weekly. princeton alumni weekly. 1974-01-01.
  2. ↑ Foster, Compiled and editedCatherine (1984-05-17). "Bitter, funny 'Skirmishes'; 'Taking Steps'; urban Dinosaur; 'Barber'; Stone Age dance". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN   0882-7729 . Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  3. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (1996-04-22). "IN PERFORMANCE: DANCE". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  4. ↑ Kisselgoff, Anna (1984-11-15). "THE DANCE: PREMIERE AT JOYCE". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  5. ↑ "Booking Dance Festival 3: Rock It! @ EICC | The Skinny" . Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  6. ↑ Ace. "c&e-mm". www.mwacc.com. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
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.