press kit 2016 - Jimmie DeFore Dance Center

PRESS KIT
2016
ABOUT BC + A
Founded in 2011, Bryn Cohn + Artists is a New York-based contemporary dance company comprised of diverse
collaborative artists from a variety of geographical and ethnic backgrounds. Known for their ferocious physicality, risktaking worlds, and emotional performances, BC + A has been met with acclaim amongst artists, press and audiences
throughout New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle.
Hailed as “groundbreaking, primal, graceful, flowing effortlessly, surreal and supernatural” (Brooklyn Buzz), the
company has performed in premiere venues including Danspace Project in St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery, Ailey
Citigroup Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Dixon Place, The Martha Graham Theater, Judson Memorial
Church, The Center for Performance Research, 92nd Street Y, The Theatre at Meydenbauer, Abrons Arts Center, Baruch
Performing Arts Center, Salvatore Capezio Theater, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn
Arts Exchange and in collaboration with the contemporary art galleries Foley Gallery and Castle Fitzjohns on two
site-specific performance series.
The company has received awards and funding including The Alfred Z Solomon Charitable Trust, SILO Residency
through DanceNOW and The Emerging Artists Residency through The Field. The company has been invited to
perform in ReverbDance (both in New York and in the Boston Echoes Tour), Chop Shop, WestFest, DanceNOW, Split
Bill Series, Stuffed, Pentacle’s Fall Farther, Upstart, Underexposed, and Young Choreographers dance festivals among
others. Bryn Cohn + Artists bi-annually teaches master workshops at Peridance Capezio Center and has guest taught
at Velocity Dance Center and Chop Shop Dance Festival.
In 2016, BC + A will be embarking upon our most ambitious season to date with the premiere and West Coast Tour of
our newest work, HOME, along with the implementation of new educational, charitable and programming platforms.
HOME will make its world premiere, in conjunction with BC + A’s most renowned work Skin, at The Los Angeles Theatre
Center, followed by its East Coast debut at Gibney Dance Center. Teaching engagements include California Institute
of the Arts, The Colburn School, Renaissance Arts Academy and No.1 Art House among others.
ARTISTIC
DIRECTOR
Bryn Cohn
“A dancemaker who does not shy away from much” - DIY Dancer
Bryn Cohn founded and assumed the position of artistic director of Bryn Cohn + Artists
in 2011. Cohn graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from California Institute of the
Arts in dance performance and composition under the direction of Stephan Koplowitz.
She has been commissioned by Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Billy Bell’s Lunge
Dance Collective (formerly of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and So You Think You
Can Dance), Grand Valley State University, The Pushing Progress Contemporary Training
Program, California State University, Fullerton, the fashion designer Betsey Johnson on
a site-specific installation and for The Youth America Grand Prix. Cohn is on permanent
faculty for the Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program, under direction of Calen
Kurka and Chris Hale, where she teaches composition, improvisation and contemporary
techniques. She is the head of the modern department at Greenwich Ballet Academy. As
a sought after educator and lecturer, Cohn teaches at Peridance Capezio Center, and
has participated in master educational engagements at Broadway Dance Center (NYC),
Gibney Dance (NYC), Loyola Marymount University (CA), CAPAS (NYC), Bayonne High
School (New Jersey) and for the Michael Susten Dance Company (NYC). She created
C.O.N.N.E.C.T a goal-setting forum for dance artists in collaboration with creativity coach Elani Engelken. Cohn was one of
twenty international artists invited to participate in The New Aesthetics Performance Intensive in a dance theatre collaboration
conducted by Crystal Pite and Pol Hayvaert in Vancouver, B.C. She was selected to serve on The Massachusetts Cultural Council
Choreography Fellowship Panel. Cohn has received scholarships to Bridge: Choreographic Dialogues at the Suzanne Dellal
Centre in Tel Aviv, the Bessie Schoenberg Choreographic Lab at New York Live Arts and Systems for Understanding Movement
and Choreography, led by Susan Marshall. Cohn has performed in works by Ohad Naharin, Alex Ketley, Colin Connor and Barak
Marshall, and in self choreographed solos Leak and Au Revoir Love.
PRESS QUOTES
“Turn off the lights, and the world suddenly becomes a very foreign place...
The costumes are black, the score is ominous and the movement is fittingly
fragmented and slithery.”
The New York Times // 2014
“an emotional ride”
Seattle Dances // March 2014
“Cohn’s choreography possessed immaculate shifts of texture and mood
that were enthralling to watch…The smallest movement seemed to garner
the greatest impact… What made the work so powerful was Cohn’s
choreography paired with her performers’ highly responsive bodies,
susceptible to these new twists and turns at any second.”
DIY Dancer // 2014
“weightless and heavy all at once…
intricate partner work between the four dancers erase the physical divisions...
haunting, but consistently beautiful”
Brooklyn Buzz // 2014
“…where fantasy meets tangible manifestations of real life.”
Brooklyn Daily Eagle // 2014
“dynamic, striking...
Ms. Cohn reached a remarkable level of sophistication.”
Explore Dance // June 2014
“Innovative … Carefully coordinated strings of movement…one movement
flows seamlessly into the next.”
Vox Magazine // 2013
COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
2015
Skin Evening Premiere // Danspace Project in St. Marks Church | New York NY
Alfred Z. Soloman Charitable Trust Recipient
Site-Specific Collaboration // Foley Gallery | New York NY
Master Workshop // Peridance Capezio Center | New York NY
Master Class // Loyola Marymount University | Los Angeles, CA
Master Workshop at Class Act Performing Arts Studio | Beacon, NY
2014
Abrons Art Center | New York NY
Jazz at Lincoln Center | New York NY
Chop Shop: Bodies of Work // The Theatre at Meydenbauer | Seattle WA
Master Class at Velocity Dance Center | Seattle WA
Master Workshop // Peridance Capezio Center | New York NY
Reverb Dance Festival | New York NY
Into The Dark Evening Premiere // The Center for Performance Research | Brooklyn NY
Boston University Theater | MA
2013
Site-Specific Collaboration // Castle Fitzjohns | New York NY
Judson Memorial Church | New York NY
Guest Company at Pushing Progress Showcase | New York NY
WestFest Dance Festival // Martha Graham Theater | New York NY
Emerging Artists Residency through The Field | New York NY
2012
Pentacle’s Fall Farther // Ailey Citigroup Theater | New York NY
Reverb Dance Festival // Baruch Performing Arts Center | New York NY
92nd Street Y | New York NY
Young Choreographer’s Festival // Symphony Space | New York NY
Upstart Festival // Brooklyn Arts Exchange | Brooklyn NY
Underexposed Festival // Dixon Place | New York NY
Cool Festival // John Ryan Theater | Brooklyn NY
2011
Split Bill Series // Triskelion Arts | Brooklyn NY
Merce Cunningham Theater | New York NY
Manhattan Movement and Arts Center | New York NY
Commissions
2015
Artist In Residence | California State University, Fullerton
Artist In Residence | Grand Valley State University
Youth America Grand Prix | Lincoln Center
Bayonne High School | New Jersey
2014
Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program
2013
Missouri Contemporary Ballet
2012
Billy Bell’s Lunge Dance (formerly of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet + So You Think You Can
Dance)
Site-Specific Installation for fashion designer Betsey Johnson l Flagship Sephora Location
THE ARTISTS
RACHEL ABRAHAMS
DAVID FERGUSON
Rachel Abrahams, a founding member
of Bryn Cohn + Artists, is from Oyster Bay,
New York. She attended the Long Island
High School for the Arts and graduated
in 2009 with a BFA in Performance and
Choreography from California Institute of
the Arts. Rachel has performed with Shen
Wei Dance Arts in two world premiere
site-specific pieces at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the Park Avenue Armory.
As a performer and teaching artist with
BODYART, Rachel has collaborated on three
New York seasons and tours to Texas. Rachel
is currently a dancer in the off-Broadway
show Fuerza Bruta, performing in New York
City and touring throughout the world.
Born and raised in North Carolina, David
Ferguson is a graduate from The University
of North Carolina School of the Arts. He
has performed in works by Josè Limon,
Brenda Daniels, Lucinda Childs, Merce
Cunningham, Ming-Lung Yang, Shen
Wei Dance Arts, Ashley Lindsey, Casey
Noblett, Helen Simoneau, and Kimberly
Bartosik. He attended Springboard Dance
Montreal and Northwest Dance Projects
Launch during the summer of 2015. He
currently dances for Helen Simoneau
Danse, and Abarukus Dance as well as BC
+ A.
JESSICA MALAT
NIK OWENS
YULIYA ROMANSKAYA
WILL TOMASKOVIC
A New Jersey native, Jessica began her
professional training at Goucher College
before relocating to New York to attend the
Pushing Progress Contemporary Training
Program. She has trained with Calen Kurka,
Chris Hale, Loni Landon, Bryn Cohn, Manuel
Vignouelle and Gregory Dolbashian among
others. She has performed in The REVERB
Dance Festival, NYC10, and Peridance
Presents in works by Calen Kurka, Trebien
Pollard, Bryn Cohn and Kathy VanDereedt.
While finishing at Rutgers University, Jessica
is currently working as a freelance artist in
NY.
Nik Owens was born and raised in Altadena,
California where he began gymnastics at
age three and continued at a competitive
level until seventeen. Nik graduated with
honors from Wesleyan University with a BA
in dance and a certificate in Environmental
Studies. He has had the pleasure of
working with Kyle Abraham/Abraham.
In.Motion, Tiffany Mills Company, Nicholas
Leichter, Tania Isaac, Vanessa Tamburi, The
Dance Exchange, Gierre Godley’s Project
44 and Mersiha Mesihovic’s CircuitDebris.
He currently dances for David Dorfman
Dance, Helen Simoneau, Abdul Rasheed’s
DSquared Dance Theater, Raja Kelly/The
Feath3r Theory and Bryn Cohn + Artists.
Yuliya Romanskaya is originally from the
Ukraine and grew up in Los Angeles where
she received her BFA from California
Institute of the Arts. She was one of two
students chosen to study abroad at the
London Contemporary Dance School.
Yuliya has performed works by Barak
Marshall, Reggie Wilson, Rosanna Gamson
and Pam Gonzales. In addition to dancing
and teaching with Bryn Cohn + Artists,
Yuliya choreographs and performs with
collaborator Ashley Handel, most recently
at Triskelion Arts and Movement Research.
Will Tomaskovic, originally from Flemington,
New Jersey, received a BFA in dance from
Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School
of the Arts. He has performed in works by
Brian Brooks, Jennifer Muller/The Works,
Julie Bour, Stefanie Batten-Bland, Doug
Elkins, and Banu Ogan. Will apprenticed
for Keigwin + Company, and travelled to
Istanbul for an immersive dance-theater
collaboration with Julia Ritter Performance
Group. In addition to BC + A, Will is a
current member of ZviDance and 10 Hairy
Legs as well as a teaching artist with Men
in Motion, Inc.
TECHNICAL COLLABORATORS
KEVIN KELLER (COMPOSER)
Kevin Keller’s first work for string quartet, Three Bagatelle, premiered by the Kronos Quartet at the 1986 Festival of New American Music. During the 1990s, Keller
worked as Principal Composer for San Francisco’s Morrison Planetarium. He has been
commissioned by Dwight Rhoden, Amy Marshall, Elisa Monte, Mariana Bekerman,
Kathleen Dyer, Suzanne Kenney, Amy Seiwert, Ray Sullivan and Nicolo Fonte among
others.
TIM CRYAN (LIGHTING DESIGNER)
Tim Cryan has worked at The Berkshire Fringe, Danspace Project, FlicFest, LaMaMa,
and Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy. He is an adjunct faculty member of
the Dance Department at Long Island University, the resident lighting designer for the
Fusionworks Dance Company (Deb Meunier, Artistic Director) and the Fiasco Theatre,
and is on permanent faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
THE VISION
To construct worlds of humanity, reality + risk
//
To investigate the edges of physical, imaginative + cognitive boundaries
//
To collaborate with artists across different disciplines to build kinetic + multifaceted experiences
//
To provide educational + charitable programming which promote acceptance + self-empowerment
//
To partner with organizations to make dance more accessible within the public sphere + advocate the
arts as a valuable and sustainable social necessity
//
REPERTORY
SKIN
Skin investigates how we physically and metaphorically “build” a person in a continuous cycle
of creation and destruction in response to social castes, gender, sexuality and political systems.
Featuring six mannequins, Skin creates an immersive world onstage as the performers cultivate
their own identities in juxtaposition to the empty and emotionless physical forms. Acting as
voyeurs in the space, the mannequins become part of our understanding of what it means to be
human, observing the entire performance but lacking the ability to fully participate. This journey
strips us of our fabricated spectacle and leaves us bare, in our own skin, to reveal a sacred truth
about ourselves in conflict and harmony with our world.
Premiere // June 2015
Danspace Project in St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery l New York NY
Dancers // 6
Running Time // 65 Minutes | Excerpt 10 Minutes
Music // Original Composition by Kevin Keller with additional artists Dustin O’Halloran, Eluvium
+ Pan Sonic
Costumes // Sebastian Arango
*Skin was made possible due to support from The Alfred Z. Soloman Charitable Trust*
“Stillness and motion offset by interesting and varied movement choices, and Skin is clearly invested with a lot of
thought and work by Bryn Cohn and her talented dancers.” OFFOFFOFF
INTO THE DARK
Into The Dark confronts the reality of the ways we take risk and the trust, conflict and hope
that arise to navigate the experience. The work examines what occurs when we surrender our
certainties within a re-imagined world of darkness, in the places where chance meets fear
and rescue. Featuring fully integrated scenic design, panels serve as continuously evolving
architecture, reassigning meaning to recognizable structures such as prisons, mazes, and
confessionals to elucidate the humanity that sits at the core of the piece.
Premiere // June 2014
The Center for Performance Research l New York NY
Dancers // 4
Running Time // 55 Minutes | Excerpt 10 Minutes
Music // Original Composition by Bita Sharif
Set Design // David Dean Ebert
Costumes // Sebastian Arango
“…you had to hold your breath…the honest emotional connection to the piece that made it so worth experiencing.”
Brooklyn Buzz
ALLEGIANCE
Allegiance is inspired by political clans, revolt and war. The potency of pack mentality enables
the performers to tackle all that exists on the precipice of a looming battle frontier. Dense
with raw, sculptured and cinematic imagery, motifs of radicalism and community permeate the
movement and climate onstage.
Premiere // January 2014
Jazz at Lincoln Center l New York NY
Dancers // 4
Running Time // 20 minutes
Music // Ben Frost
REPERTORY
IF YOU SINK
If You Sink examines archetypical models of relationships and the corresponding social
constructions of power that exist.. Movement languages encompassing rhythmic nuances
punctuated by highly articulated gesture and classical idioms are seamlessly woven into the
subtleties of Chopin’s score. Sinking is embodied as an undercurrent in the fragile connection
shared by the dancers, and a semblance of hope that operates in the face of weakness.
Premiere // May 2012
Symphony Space l New York NY
Redeveloped 2014 for Chop Shop: Bodies of Work Dance Festival | The Theatre at
Meydenbauer, Seattle WA
Dancers // 2
Running Time // 8 minutes
Music // Chopin
*Commissioned by California State University, Fullerton*
“Cohn created a relationship drama in miniature to suggest an emotional ride beneath the surface… the back-andforth of a romance showed off the darts, quirks, and quick transitions of Cohn’s choreography.” Seattle Dances
SHELF
Within a highly charged and electric landscape, codependency ascends to its most extreme
in Shelf. A shelf becomes a motif to evoke nostalgia and desire that is bred from radical loss.
Disillusions of the present are echoed in rigorous and explosive attempts to return to the past.
Recognizable human action illuminates an absence of what is certain, and the dissipating
memory of the shelf that once was.
Premiere // December 2012
Pentacle’s Fall Further at Ailey Citigroup Theater l New York NY
Dancers // 2
Running Time // 10 minutes
Music // Tim Hecker + Pan Sonic
“…movement would arc gracefully beginning with slow movements that would suspend then release to rapid
gestures… this was a strong statement and intelligently expressed.” Dance in New York City | Darrell Wood
AU REVOIR LOVE
A self choreographed solo by artistic director Bryn Cohn, Au Revoir Love is a glimpse into
the departure from great romance. The impassioned and diverse movement palette reflects
a rapid shifting from abandoned to sensual, bound to free, mournful to determined. We trail
the vulnerability of this dancer, wrought with anxiety in her impulses and tethered to her selfinduced affliction as she is finally compelled to say the three emancipating words, Au Revoir
Love.
Premiere// May 2013
Salvatore Capezio Theater l New York NY
Dancers// 1
Running Time// 10 minutes
Music// Yann Tierson + Otis Redding
PRINTED
Drawn together by a series of provocative and penetrating mementos, each dancer identifies a
tangible self-portrait within a larger communal print. Dissolving memories of intimacy, trauma
and individualism are reflected in tangible impermanence of the movement and compositional
structures.
Premiere // December 2011
ReverbDance Festival at Baruch Performing Arts Center l New York NY
Dancers // 4
Running Time // 9 minutes
Music // Loscil
UPCOMING
World Premiere // HOME
BC + A will be embarking on our most ambitious season to date with the world premiere of the company’s newest
interdisciplinary work HOME in both New York and in the company’s first West Coast tour. HOME will make its debut at
The Los Angeles Theatre Center on May 6th – May 8th followed by New York performances June 16th – June 18th at
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in an immersive collaborative evening with BodyStories: Teresa
Fellion Dance. HOME is a pioneering adventure of dance, original music by esteemed composer Kevin Keller, scenic
design and repurposed costuming by Sebastian Arango, rooted in familial dynamics and the pursuit of physical,
emotional and spiritual manifestations of connection.
In the NYC premiere with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, interactive set pieces, incorporated by both companies
in a pre-show exhibition and mid-show interlude as well as in two distinct works, enables our image of home to
become amorphous while also serving as a thematic thread upon which we establish community.
The work draws upon ritualistic and traditional processes to elucidate home through interpersonal encounters,
architectural environments and the pursuit of self and collective understanding. Commonly seen furniture to more
abstracted items are interwoven into kinetic movement languages, and become quintessential to uphold the
world in which both performers and audience members can tap into. Through continuously evolving structures that
transform the space and the complex relationships developed amongst the performers, we come to understand that
our concept of HOME is constantly shifting as we move through life. By examining utopian models of the “picture
perfect” family in contrast to human realities of loss, celebration and love, the work provides a universal lens to
reimagine and define our own notion of what it means to find home.
2016 Calendar
01 | 18 Work In Progress Showing at The Center for Performance Research
01 | 23 Bryn Commission on Bayonne High School at Ailey Citigroup Theater
02 | 13 – 02 | 14 Guest Company in Pushing Progress Showcase
03 | 03 – 03 | 10 Silo Residency through DanceNow at Kirkland Farm
04 | 01 – 05 | 01 Open Rehearsal Series
04 | 14 “Take Dance Out of The Theater” Fundraiser
04 | 25 – 05 | 01 Teaching Residency in CA
05 | 06 – 05 | 08 Los Angeles Theatre Center Season including HOME + Skin
06 | 16 – 06| 18 NYC HOME at Gibney Dance in collaboration with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance
OUTREACH
Communal outreach resides at the forefront of BC + A’s mission with the consistent endeavor to provide artistic, accessible and
educational platforms that anyone, from any background, can connect to. From open rehearsals to lecture/demonstrations to
opportunities to engage in our creative process, our desire is to disseminate self-empowerment concepts and collaborative
mechanisms to our audiences and students that guide our company.
PERFORMANCES
Bryn Cohn and Artists is available for professionally presented
performances in an array of venues from proscenium stages to
site specific work to museums + galleries. BC + A can travel as
a full company or with selected performers to fufill presenters’
needs, showing between 10 to 120 minutes of work.
COMMISSIONS
Bryn Cohn resets company repertory + creates new work for
ballet and modern dance companies, universities and colleges
as well as commercials and film. Past commissions include:
California State University, Fullerton, Grand Valley State
University, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Billy Bell’s Lunge
Dance, Youth America Grand Prix, Bayonne High School +
The Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program among
others. Existing works can be tailored to accommodate specific
number of dancers.
EDUCATION
PHILOSOPHY //
Bryn Cohn + Artists’ pedagogical philosophy provides
students of all ages and varying abilities the freedom to
explore representations of who they are as individuals and as
artists by providing an open and intimate environment to delve
into technical and performative practices. BC + A teaches
single classes, workshops, intensives and residencies as well
as lecture/demonstrations for professional or non-professional
college level and K-12 dancers.
SAMPLE CLASSES //
Technique
Class begins with a somatic and imagery-filled improvisation
emphasizing initiation points, texture and organic sensation
in relation to gravity. Through physical and cognitive entry
points, dancers are seamlessly led into momentum-driven
sequences that challenge stability and discover limitless
dynamic possibility. Accent, gesture and attention to detail are
layered to hone each dancer’s unique voice and stylistic palette
while maintaining active cognizance to form and anatomy. An
eclectic array of music is used, from electronic to hip-hop to
classical, as a vehicle to provoke thoughtful decision-making
and rhythmic sensitivity.
Partnering
Class breaks down the mechanics of partnering as a way to
deepen visceral consciousness and to interface with one another
with authenticity and vulnerability. Exercises examine variations
of touch, momentum, weight bearing, manipulation, energy
levels and counterbalance. Structured and improvisational
prompts cultivate intimacy and connection while providing
space to investigate one’s creative voice and the collective
energy in the room.
Repertory
BC + A repertory incorporates fall and recovery, spatial
patterning, intricate floor work and rigor with strong emphasis
on focus and expressivity. Phrasework encourages an intuitive
coupling between specificity and sweeping motion, shape and
circularity, and the ability to morph from one physical state into
the next. The dancers will not only learn material generated by
BC + A but will also submerge into an experimental process
based on movement, dialogue, writing, props and scenic
design.
Composition
Choreography classes supply dancers with the fundamental
tools to construct dances based on spatial dynamics, time,
movement invention, architecture and choreographic direction.
Students are given prompts such as self-identity portraits,
“my turn your turn” partnering strategies and methods of
collaboration to build larger ensemble structures. Students will
work individually and collectively to discover their directorial
voices and transfer inspiration and creativity into complex
and clear vision. After the creation stage, we will discuss the
works in terms what we see and what meaning, theme, motif or
narrative we may infer from our observations.
CONTACT
Thank you for your interest in Bryn Cohn + Artists! For more information + booking inquiries,
please contact us.
Bryn Cohn
Artistic Director
[email protected]
818 // 426 // 5600
Rachel Abrahams
Director of Education + Outreach
[email protected]
Yuliya Romanskaya
General Operations
[email protected]
KEEP IN TOUCH!
bryncohnandartists.com
facebook.com/bryncohnandartists
vimeo.com/bryncohnandartists
twitter.com/bcandartists
*Photography by Jaqi Medlock, Karen Pomarico + Krista Bonura*