The Juilliard School, often abbreviated simply as Juilliard, is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named after its principal benefactor Augustus D. Juilliard. Juilliard is one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the world.
Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage, David Tudor, Brian Eno, and graphic artists Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and Jasper Johns; and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.
Anna Sokolow was an American dancer and choreographer. Sokolow's work is known for its social justice focus and theatricality. Throughout her career, Sokolow supported of the development of modern dance around the world, including in Mexico and Israel.
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.
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.
Nuttin' But Stringz, also known as N.B.S., consisted of the duo Tourie and Damien Escobar who both play violin. The musicians from Jamaica, Queens played a blend of classical music, hip-hop, jazz, and R&B.
Ernestina Ramirez was an American dancer and educator, best known as the founder and artistic director (1970–2009) of Ballet Hispanico, the premier Latino dance organization in the United States.
Damian Woetzel is an American choreographer.
The Talking Band is an American Off-Off-Broadway theatre company specializing in experimental theatre, based in New York City.
Pilobolus is an American modern dance company that began performing in October 1971. Pilobolus has performed over 100 choreographic works in more than 64 countries around the world, and has been featured on the 79th Annual Academy Awards, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Peter Sparling is a 20th-century American dancer and dance professor. He is a Thurnau professor and former chair of the University of Michigan Department of Dance and Artistic Director of the Peter Sparling Dance Company, based in Ann Arbor.
Troy Schumacher is an American choreographer, dancer, and director based in New York City. He is a soloist in the New York City Ballet and has choreographed for the company since 2014; before being promoted to soloist, he danced in NYCB's corps de ballet starting in 2005. He is the founder of Balletcollective, an arts collective that has created new ballet-based works since its inception in 2010. His work has been presented by New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, Performa, Danspace Project, Guggenheim Works & Process, the Joyce Theater, and NYU Skirball Center. In addition to live performances, Schumacher has choreographed numerous fashion and commercial shoots, including works for Sony PlayStation, Capezio featuring Maddie Ziegler, HP, Aritzia, CR Fashion Book, Tom Ford, and The New York Times. He has been dubbed a “visionary artist” by T Magazine and is “one of his generation’s most acclaimed choreographers”
Paul Belville Taylor Jr. was an American dancer and choreographer. He was one of the last living members of the third generation of America's modern dance artists. He founded the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954 in New York City.
Colin Connor is a Canadian–British dancer, choreographer, and educator, based in the United States. With over forty commissions that span the worlds of contemporary dance, ballet and flamenco. Works draws from a large range of influences – musical, literary, social, and scientific – all used to bring attention back to the communicative power of the human body. He frequently, collaborates with artists of other disciplines, including composers, artists, and designers. As a choreographer, teacher and dancer, Connor is currently influencing the next generation of contemporary dancers and dance makers. Dancers who have trained with Connor have gone on to Mark Morris Dance Group, Scapino Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, The Limon Dance Company and others.
Olivia Giovetti is an American author, journalist, music critic and radio personality. She was known as the host of The New Canon, a weekly show as part of the programming for Q2 Music, an affiliate of WQXR-FM in New York. Giovetti has also appeared on-air for WQXR proper and writes for the station's website. Her work with The New Canon has made her a prominent figure within the contemporary classical scene in New York, bringing composers like David Lang, David T. Little, Steven Mackey, and John Luther Adams to wider audiences with interactive interviews. Her work with the station has been featured in notable media publications, including New York magazine, NPR, and Alex Ross's blog "The Rest is Noise."
Emily Johnson is an American dancer, writer, and choreographer of Yup'ik descent. She grew up in Sterling, Alaska, and is based in New York City. She is artistic director of her performance company, Emily Johnson/Catalyst. Johnson is a organizer for the First Nations Dialogues New York/Lenapehoking. She has worked part-time at Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore owned by author Louise Erdrich.
Liz Gerring is an American choreographer. She was trained at the Cornish Institute in Seattle, and received a B.F.A. from the Juilliard School. In 1998, she founded the Liz Gerring Dance Company, a contemporary dance ensemble. Gerring was commissioned by the Martha Graham Dance Company to create a new work for the Lamentation Variations project; other choreographers on the project were Kyle Abraham, Aszure Barton, Lar Lubovitch, and Yvonne Rainer. Gerring's work Glacier (2013) was nominated for a New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Award, and in 2015 she was presented with the Jacob's Pillow Dance Award.
Paola Prestini is a composer of classical music. The New York Times referred to Prestini as "the enterprising composer and impresario" and a "human resources alchemist". In 2011, she was named one of the Top 100 Composers in the World under 40 by National Public Radio.
Beth Morrison is an American producer of contemporary opera.
Justin Tornow is an American dancer, choreographer, dance scholar, and dance teacher. She is the founder and artistic director of COMPANY, a co-founder and co-organizer of Durham Independent Dance Artists, former board president of the North Carolina Dance Alliance, and producer of the PROMPTS art series in Durham, North Carolina. Tornow is trained in Cunningham technique and is a New York Public Library Research Fellow in Cunningham dance pedagogy. She serves on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elon University, and the American Dance Festival.
