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Guest Artist Choreographers
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Founded in 1999, Lydia Johnson Dance has been consistently praised for its distinctive choreography, which uses components of ballet woven seamlessly into a contemporary dance vocabulary. The Company has received positive critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker and Backstage Magazine for its annual New York Season. LJD is honored to be highlighted frequently in Philip Gardner's Oberon's Grove blog in a series titled “The Creative Process”. LJD has performed recently at both Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Downtown Dance Festival. Ms. Johnson is a Guest Artist faculty member at the Peridance Capezio Center in New York where LJD presents Repertory Workshops for advanced and professional dancers.
Capturing a sense of the depth and spirit of the human struggle, Ms. Johnson’s evocative work is noted for an underlying sense of drama, which resonates through the predominantly abstract qualities of her choreography. Music is a powerful component of the Lydia Johnson Dance experience and selections range from contemporary masters such as Osvaldo Golijov, Philip Glass, Henryk Gorecki, to jazz by Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk and Albert Ammons.
Lydia Johnson Dance is honored to have been awarded Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation grants for the past 4 years and has been a recipient of Garden State Arts Foundation Grants as well as a Harkness Dance Center Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y in New York.
Lydia Johnson Dance features dancers with great individuality and expressive ability.. Through the years Lydia Johnson Dance company dancers have performed extensively with other highly acclaimed companies, among them: New York City Ballet, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Suzanne Farrell, Colorado Ballet, ODC/San Francisco, American Repertory Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet New York, Chicago Ballet and Twyla Tharp.
Lydia Johnson Dance is strongly committed to increasing awareness of and involvement in contemporary dance. This belief in outreach is reflected in the company’s efforts to provide opportunities for underserved children. The Company presents ongoing Choreography and Dance Workshops at Burgdorff Performing Arts Center in NJ and is the Dance Company in residence at SOPAC. Lydia Johnson Dance has an established Scholarship Fund, which provides opportunities for children who would be otherwise unable to participate.
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Yesid Lopez is originally from Colombia where he began his dance training in ballet at the age of 18 with Jaime Diaz and Ana Consuelo Gomez Caballero in Anna Pavlova´s Ballet Academy in Bogota dancing as corps of ballet and soloist in The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet as well as in contemporary pieces. He received a scholarship from The School at Jacob´s Pillow in the jazz program in 2004 and 2006 where he was training with Luigi, Matt Mattox, Bill Hastings, Chet Walker, Patti Wilcox, Dana Moore, Alex Sanchez, James Kinney and Mark Burrel and a full scholarship from Inland Pacific Ballet Academy in Montclair, CA where he danced Dracula and The Nutcracker. Yesid has performed in Colombia, UK, Cuba, USA as a dancer and choreographer in latin, jazz and contemporary ballet styles and South Korea as a choreographer-featured dancer with Hanwha Resort in Sokcho City.
In 2006, Yesid moved to New York where he received a full scholarship from STEPS on Broadway and was selected to be a member of the Steps Repertory Ensemble 2006-2008 performing different works from choreographers like Heidi Latsky, Steven Sofia, Jason Winters,Bradley Shelver, Wes Veldink, Max Stone and Monica Bill Barnes. As a choreographer Yesid has performed in different venues in the New York City Area like Winter Follies- Spoke The Hub, Steps Lab Series, PMT Seasonal Showcase, RHYTHMS, Mojito/DanceOmopolitan at Joe's Pub, Dance Tracks NYC, Dumbo Dance Festival, Bridge for Dance, Local Produce- Spoke The Hub, COOL New York, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, El Museo, The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College and has received reviews in publications like Attitude The Dancers' Magazine, Ballet-Dance Magazine, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and Dance Spirit. He has danced with Ballet Hispanico, works as a Ballroom Instructor and choreographer at Dance Times Square and DeMa Dance Company as a Co-Artistic Director and resident choreographer.
www.yesidlopez.com
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Henning Rübsam (Artistic Director of SENSEDANCE) - a NYC based contemporary dance company celebrating its 20th anniversary this season, a resident choreographer for Hartford City Ballet, on faculty at The Juilliard School and a visiting guest artist at Texas Academy of Ballet (Carolyn Bognar, director).
Rübsam earned his B.F.A. degree in dance from Juilliard, where mentors included Martha Hill and Elizabeth Keen. He toured internationally with the Limón Dance Company, was a permanent guest artist with Alwin Nikolais/Murray Louis and appeared as a guest dancer with a myriad of contemporary choreographers, among them the delightful Beverly Blossom.
Among Rübsam’s citations are a Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, a Lincoln Center Fellowship, a Manhattan Spirit Award as "best male dancer,” a choreography award from Stephens College, an award for his advocacy from Dancers Responding to AIDS, and the Distinguished Artist Award from Bergen College in 2009, the first time this award was given to a dance artist. He had the honor to create a solo for his late teacher, Prima Ballerina Assoluta Eva Evdokimova. Recently, Rübsam and his company represented the United States at the Danza Nueva Festival in Lima and on a subsequent tour through Peru. The documentary feature "ANOTHER TOUR" (by director Greg Vander Veer) will be released in 2012.
For further information, please visit: www.sensedance.org
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Guest Artist Dancers
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Alison Cook Beatty began her dance studies in Connecticut and earned a BFA in Dance at The Boston Conservatory (Summa Cum Laude) under the direction of Yasuko Tokunaga, where she was awarded the Ruth Sandholm Scholorship Award and the Jan Veen Scholarship. Upon moving to New York City, Alison worked with choreographers Val Suarez, Milton Myers, Kristen Mangione, and Gabriola Polar (currently Executive Director of Jose Limon Dance Company). Alison then became a member of the highly acclaimed Taylor 2 Dance Company, performing and teaching throughout the United States and internationally from 2002-2008, performing two seasons at The Joyce Theater, at City Center Theater, and touring in Mexico, Poland, Canada, and Germany. Within that time, Alison also performed with The Paul Taylor Dance Company at City Center Theater, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Hollywood Bowl, and traveling internationally to Chile. She also performed at BAM and Lincoln Center Out of Doors with David Dorfman Dance and with Infinity Dance Theater, performing at The Very Special Arts Festival at The Kennedy Center.
Most recently, Alison has worked with choreographers Naomi Goldberg Haas, Seth Gertsacov's Ballet Verite, Trainor Dance, C. Eule Dance, The Amy Marshall Dance Company, Exit 12 Dance Company and Ballet Theater, The Carolina Ballet Theater, Brian Carey Chung's Body Dance Collective, Buglisi Dance Theater (Table of Silence Project), as well as Zvidance. Alison enjoys teaching dance to people of all ages and abilities, and has been on faculty at Longrea Dance Academy, The Joffrey Ballet School, Dance In Grandma's Attic, Carolina Ballet Theater's Summer Works, and NYC Parks and Recreation, among others. Ms. Cook is very active in dance modeling, working with such photographers as Lois Greenfield and Paul B. Goode in addition to dance publications. In 2010 Alison choreographed Pelican Dream on the dancers of Carolina Ballet Theater and her work was presented at The Peace Center in Greenville, SC. Additional information regarding current projects and Alison's work can be found at www.alisoncookbeatty.com.
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Jessica Murray Kocher received her earliest training in upstate NY where she studied ballet extensively and performed with the Rochester City Ballet for several years. After moving to NY, Ms. Kocher slowly transitioned into the modern dance scene and worked with choreographers such as Milton Myers, David Parsons, Vera Huff, Val Suarez, and Helen Saunders. She has also performed as a guest artist with New Danish Dance Theater in Copenhagen. This is Jessica’s fourth season with MoralesDance.
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Karina Lesko was raised in San Jose, Costa Rica, Karina Lesko began her dance career with the Youth Ballet of Costa Rica. She continued her studies through summer programs with the National Conservatory of Prague, the National School of Cuba, the Superior Art Institute of the Colon Theatre of Buenos Aires and La Salle Pleyel, Paris. She completed her B.F.A. at the University of Utah and went on to perform in competitions worldwide, including the International Competition of Varna 2000 and the Music Festival of Paris 2005.
She has appeared as a guest artist for the City Ballet of Lima, Peru and worked for Tokyo Disneyland, Japan. Since moving to New York City, she has danced in various companies including Steps Repertory Ensemble, Nathan Trice Rituals, Nejla Yatkin/NY2 Dance , Eglevsky Ballet, The Little Orchestra and Staten Island Ballet. Karina is a fully certified Gyrotonic Instructor teaching at Circular Power and is very pleased to be performing with MoralesDance. This is Karinas third time working with Tony Morales.
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Leonel Linares started dancing in this hometown of Merida, Venezuela when he studies included Venezuelan folklore, Latin Jazz, hip hop, Contemporary and Ballet. He was awarded a scholarship to study with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. His professional career includes ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas under the direction of Zhandra Rodriguez, Ballet Teresa Carreno, Compania Danza Actual under the direction of Macarena Solorzano, Ballet de Marjorie Flores and as dancer and choreographer for one of the Venezuela´s TV networks Venevision. He was invited to dance with compania Imagen Latinain Los Angeles for the World Salsa Congress, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Ajkun Ballet Theatre, Contemporay Ballet Theatre, Revolucion Latina and Staten Island Ballet where he met Mr Morales. This will be Leonels 2nd year collaborating with MoralesDance and Tony Morales.
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Joanna Priwieziencew is an alumni of the National Ballet School of Warsaw, Poland. In Europe, she performed at the Grand Opera of Warsaw, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Open Dance Festival in St. Petersburg, the Ballet Carmen Roche in Spain and subsequently traveled to Italy where she was a member of the newly founded Progetto Compagnia. In NYC Joanna has been dancing with Ajkun Ballet Theatre, Exit12DanceCompany, Eryc Taylor Dance and Staten Island Ballet.
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Jerome Stigler is originally from St. Louis, MO. He began his training at the Katherine Dunham Children’s Workshop and the Center of Contemporary Arts (COCA). Mr. Stigler continued his training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he received his BFA and the University of Iowa where he received his MFA. Mr. Stigler has taught and choreographed at schools and colleges throughout the US and abroad. He worked with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Albany Berkshire Ballet, Columbia City Ballet, Florida Dance Theatre, Charlotte Adams & Dancers, Dallas-Fort Worth Ballet, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Saint Louis Ballet, Voci Contemporary Dance, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and Balance Dance Theatre. Currently Mr. Stigler is working with 360 Full Circle Dance Company and Douglas Dunn and Dancers.
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Guest Artist Musicians
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Following an international career as a mezzo, Mary Ann Stewart recently moved into the light dramatic soprano repertoire. She began the 2009-10 season by singing Adalgisa in Norma conducted by Yves Abel for her Bilbao Opera (ABAO-OLBE) debut. She will return to Bilbao in 2011-12 for their production of Roméo et Juliette. This season also finds her singing the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos with dell’Arte Opera in New York City as well as covering Adriano in Rienzi with Opera Orchestra of New York.
As a mezzo, she sang such diverse roles as Isolier in Le Comte Ory, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw, Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena, The Secretary in The Consul, Siegrune in Die Walküre, Idamante in Idomeneo, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Urbain in Les Huguenots, Carmen and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. This is Ms Stewart's 2nd time collaborating with MoralesDance.
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Conductor Douglas Martin combines the rhythmic energy of early 20th century traditions; with a modern sense of flexibility and possibility. In Spring 2011 Douglas Martin led a highly successful “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” with stage director Dean Anthony for Opera on the James in Lynchburg, Virginia. In October 2010 Mr. Martin led Anchorage Opera’s glittering opening night gala with Met artists Janinah Burnett, and Yegishe Manucharyan; the gifted Todd Robinson, and featured Alaskan artists.Between 02-04, Mr. Martin conducted over 100 performances of Baz Luhrmann’s “La Boheme” by Puccini in San Francisco, on Broadway, and later in a sold-out limited run in LA.
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