August 10, 2008
(BOSTON) - American Masterpieces: Dance (AMD), the dance component
of a major initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) administered by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA),
has awarded $353,000 in grants to support the reconstruction
and restaging of historically significant American dance work
that will tour nationally.
Ten American dance companies received grants this year, ranging
in amounts from $20,000-$60,000. Projects were selected from
a highly competitive applicant pool, and projects include educational
and interpretive components such as study guides, student performances,
lectures, and exhibitions. Projects will also tour so that
the works reach audiences in communities across the U.S. In
selecting projects, NEFA considered scale, geographic reach,
and the representation of diverse ethnicities and artistic
forms, as well as the historic significance of the works.
AMD was launched in December of 2005, and this is the second
round of annual grants awarded. The program also offers touring
grants to support the presentation of the work created by the
reconstruction grants. Touring grant recipients will be announced
in July 2008.
AMD College Component (AMDCC) grants are available to colleges
and universities, through a program component administered
by Dance/USA. AMDCC grant recipients will be announced by Dance/USA
in the late fall 2007.
A complete list of projects funded by AMD Reconstruction Grants
is included below.
AMD 2007 Reconstruction Grants
Company: CityDance Ensemble, Washington, DC
Choreographer/project title: Sophie Maslow's Folksay
CityDance Ensemble will reconstruct modern dance pioneer Sophie
Maslow's 1942 work Folksay. This 26-minute work for eight dancers
features two guitarists who play traditional folk songs such
as Old Smokey and Sweet Betsy and recite Carl Sandburg's poem
The People, Yes.
Company: Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Denver,
CO
Choreographer/project title: Katherine Dunham's Ragtime
Ragtime is a work choreographed by legendary dance icon Katherine
Dunham set to Scott Joplin's King of Ragtime. Dunham's imaginative
choreography garnered critical praise for dramatic staging
and integrating the ragtime strut and West Indian style dances.
Ragtime, a section of the opera Treemonisha, offers an intriguing
view of African-American attitudes toward education at the
turn of the 20th century.
Company: Kansas City Ballet, Kansas City, MO
Choreographer/project title: Twyla Tharp's Brahms Paganini
Brahms Paganini is a two-part dance choreographed by Tharp
in 1980, set to a series of intricate piano variations by Brahms.
The work begins with a virtuosic male solo, followed by a female
soloist accompanied by two couples. "The (male) solo...
is one of the most amazing feats I have seen all year. The
smoothness, the musical phrasing (never duplicating the piano
variations but always providing an apt parallel) and the casual
perfection of this long, heterogeneous dance are the hallmarks
of Tharp's choreography." London Times, 1981.
Company: Limón Dance Company, New York, NY
Choreographer/project title: Anna Sokolow's Rooms
The Limón Dance Company will revive Rooms (1955), Anna
Sokolow's seminal masterwork about urban alienation. The reconstruction
of this groundbreaking work, including a new recording of Kenyon
Hopkin's jazz score, epitomizes the spirit of the Company's
upcoming 100th Anniversary. The Limón Foundation is
committed to showcasing the breadth and scope of the Limón
legacy. This legacy encompasses not only the founders' creative
output but the work of their contemporaries, who alongside
Limón and Humphrey developed a rich and enduring dance
vocabulary that helped shape American modern dance as we know
it today.
Company: Luna Negra Dance Theater, Chicago, IL
Project title/choreographer: There Is A Time by José Limón
There Is A Time takes its inspiration from Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes.
Its Pulitzer Prize- winning score was written as a theme and
variations, and the dance follows that structure. During this
ritualistic enactment of a dozen episodes in the life of a
community, the contrast between the episodes is consistently
stressed. Underlying is a conviction that in spite of killing
and healing, mourning and laughing, breaking down and building
up, there is continuity to life that cannot be destroyed.
Company: Martha Graham Dance Company, New York City,
NY
Choreographer/project title: Martha Graham's Clytemnestra
The Martha Graham Dance Company celebrates the 50th anniversary
of the full-length masterpiece Clytemnestra with a tour of
Graham's original 1958 production. In what many believe to
be Graham's greatest ballet, the dramatic story of the House
of Atreus is seen through the eyes of Agamemnon's queen. Residency
activities exploring topics such as women in society, attitudes
toward power, and forgiveness and reconciliation are available.
The Company performs with local orchestras by special arrangement.
Company: Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York,
NY
Choreographer/project title: Merce Cunningham's Second Hand
Merce Cunningham Dance Company will reconstruct Second Hand,
a seminal work dating from 1944 to 1970. Featuring music by
John Cage and costumes by Jasper Johns, this work for ten dancers
represents a significant period in Cunningham's choreographic
history. Second Hand is a work in three movements: first a
solo (Cunningham's Idyllic Song from 1944), second a duet,
and third a dance for all ten dancers. Second Hand stands as
the last work in which Cunningham's choreographic sequencing
was influenced by external elements; in this case, the phraseology
of Cage's score.
Company: Pilobolus, Washington Depot, CT
Project title: Ocellus
Ocellus (1972) was the second work choreographed by the original
four members of Pilobolus: Robby Barnett, Lee Harris, Moses
Pendleton, and Jonathan Wolken. Its communal creation and non-traditional
vocabulary were viewed at the time as a genuinely new approach
to physical expression. Now, with more than 35 years of modern
dance history behind us, Ocellus remains a defining moment
in Pilobolus' emergence as a unique American arts organism.
Company: Tapestry Dance Company, Austin, TX
Project title: The Souls of Our Feet: A Celebration of American
Tap Dance II (2008-2009)
Tapestry Dance Company, under the direction of Acia Gray, presents
a rhythmic journey through the past, the present and the future
of tap dance! This infectious evening of rhythm features traditional
choreographic classics from tap's heyday, signature works by
contemporary masters and the incredible skills and magic of
living legends Arthur Duncan and Dianne Walker. This one-of-a-kind
concert brings a swingin' jazz trio and 22 feet keeping time
to the pulse of this wonderful and indigenous American art
form; a celebration of rhythm at its best!
Artist: Twyla Tharp, New York, NY
Project title: The Bix Pieces
Twyla Tharp, with the assistance of The Joyce Theater Foundation,
will reconstruct The Bix Pieces. Originally premiered in 1971,
this work for five dancers and one actor has not been seen
since Tharp's Broadway season in 1981. It was inspired by the
music of American jazz composer and trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke,
one of the great jazz musicians of the 1920's. With references
to popular culture, including tap, ballroom and even baton
twirling, The Bix Pieces is classic Tharp.
Funding for Colleges and Universities
AMD funding is also available to colleges and universities,
through the American Masterpieces: Dance College Component
(AMDCC). AMDCC is administered by Dance/USA and supports
the restaging, performance, and documentation of classic
American dances of the past century that are then brought
to college students and audiences in communities across the
nation. The second round of AMDCC grants will be announced
later this fall. Information about AMDCC is available at
www.danceusa.org/pro grams_publications/American_Masterpieces.htm
For further information about AMD, please visit www.nefa.org/grantprog/americanmasterpieces.html
or call (617) 951-0010 x 516.
American Masterpieces: Dance (AMD)
AMD is generously funded by the National Endowment for the
Arts.
New England Foundation for the Arts
NEFA creatively supports the movement of people, ideas, and
resources in the arts within New England and beyond, makes
vital connections between artists and audiences, and builds
the strength, knowledge, and leadership of the region's creative
sector. NEFA is a 501(c)3 that operates with funding from
the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England state
arts agencies, and from corporations, foundations, and individuals.
Contact Information: Joyce Linehan or Abigail Baisas
email: jlinehan@nefa.org
phone: 617.282.2510 x 1 or 617.951.0010 x 515
web: http://www.nefa.org
