The BodyCartography Project

2010 Choreographer Fellow

Photo credit: Cameron Wittig

Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad, as co-directors of The BodyCartography Project, investigate the physicality of space in urban, domestic, wild and social landscapes through dance, performance, video and installation work. Their ventures range from intimate solos for the street or stage, to large community dance works in train stations, short experimental films in national parks, to complex works for site or stage amidst installations of video and sound.

Their work has been presented across the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, Russia and South America. Recent work includes Mammal, a commission for the Lyon Opera Ballet, 1⁄2 Life, a collaboration with physicist Bryce Beverlin II, visual artist Emmett Ramstad and composer Zeena Parkins at Performance Space 122, NYC, the Southern Theater and Art of This Gallery in Minneapolis. They are featured artists in the first book about site dance in the USA published by University of Florida Press entitled Site Dance, the Lure of Alternative Spaces. They have been honored with two Minnesota SAGE Awards for Dance, multiple New Zealand Fringe Festival awards, City Pages Artists of the Year in 2008, ADF Dancing for the Camera and Kerry Film Festival awards. They are grateful for the support of the Jerome Foundation, MAP Fund, Bush Foundation, Public Art St Paul, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Moore Family Fund, Forecast Public Artworks, amongst others.

Penelope Freeh

2010 Choreographer Fellow

Photo Credit: Sean Smuda

Penelope Freeh's choreography has been commissioned by James Sewell Ballet, Minnesota Orchestra, 3-Legged Race, the Walker Art Center/Southern Theater's Momentum, the Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Ballet, Skylark Opera and Link Vostok Dance Festival in Russia among others. She has twice been presented by Ballet Builders in NYC. She has taught residencies at St. Catherine University, Carleton College, St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and Perpich Center for Arts Education. Previous awards include a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Dancers (1998), a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship (1998) and two Career Opportunity Grants (1999 and 2001), and a Jerome Foundation Travel Grant (2001). Penelope was a sixteen-year member of James Sewell Ballet where she served as Artistic Associate. She has staged the work of James Sewell on Portland Opera, Sandra Organ Dance Company, Company C Contemporary Ballet and Alaska Dance Theatre. She is adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota and summer faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She has worked with Deborah Jinza Thayer's Movement Architecture since 1999 and has danced with TU Dance, MN Opera, CT Ballet Theatre, Michael Mao Dance and Dayton Ballet.

She maintained a blog from 2006-2009 (barefootpenny.blogspot.com) where she wrote a hybrid of critique, memoir and personal essay through the lens of dance. From February 2008 - April 2009 she wrote the dance column for METRO Magazine. In May 2008 she was featured in and wrote "Why I Dance" for Dance Magazine. She served on the MN Fringe Board from 2004-2010 and has twice served as a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Dancers panelist.

Penelope grew up at the Dayton Ballet Dance Center in Ohio. Additional training includes the Joffrey Ballet School, the Paul Taylor School and two years on full scholarship at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.

Megan Mayer

2010 Choreography Fellow

Photo Credit: Sean Smuda

Megan Mayer is a choreographer, performing artist and photographer based in Minneapolis. Her dances resonate with audiences by fusing nuanced imagery gleaned from vulnerable situations with a strong sense of musicality and comic timing. By unearthing and luxuriating in anti-performance moments, traditionally undisclosed aspects of performance in turn become the focus. She excels at revealing and showcasing performers' distinctive personalities and characteristics in her dances. She credits/blames her parents for her irreverent humor and affection for diverse musical styles. 

Mayer was awarded a 2010 Jerome Foundation Travel Study Grant, and had a choreographic mentorship and workshop with New York dance artist Douglas Dunn in Fall 2010. Her production We tried to throw the light (2010) was commissioned by The Southern Theater. I Could Not Stand Close Enough To You (2009), co-commissioned by The Walker Art Center and Southern Theater for Momentum: New Dance Works, was named 2009's top dance event by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. Her suite of Pulp Dances (2007) was commissioned by the Minnesota History Center.

She has premiered original dances at Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater, The Southern Theater, The Walker Art Center, The Soap Factory, Bedlam Theater, in the CATCH series (NYC) and in public bathrooms. She has a growing body of work of short dance films, several of which are in collaboration with film artist Kevin Obsatz. Her dance film Over Time (2009) was created for Skewed Visions' online Cubicle series. An engaging performer, she has worked with many artists including Charles Campbell, Laurie Van Wieren, Karen Sherman and The Ethnic Dance Theatre. She holds a B.A. in Dance from the University of Minnesota.

RELATED

• Megan Mayer's Website

Eddie Oroyan

2010 Dancer Fellow

Photo credit Cameron Wittig

Eddie Oroyan dances with companies such as Black Label Movement, Shapiro & Smith, and Zenon while also creating his own work. He has danced with Creach/Company in New York and has worked with ARENA, Maggie Bergeron, Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum, Metropolitan Ballet, Nautilus Music Theater, and the Minnesota Opera.

Eddie began his dance training at UW-Stevens Point, a 2001 graduate of their dance program. He was featured as dance artist of the year 2006 in City Pagesand given the honorable mention in the Star Tribune's 2006 Artist of the Year. Also, a 2008 Minnesota SAGE Award recipient for Outstanding Performer, his Momentum commissioned work, Brown Rocket, was nominated for a SAGE Award in Outstanding Performance, and he received Metro Magazine's 2009 Keeper Award.   

Related

• Solo Choreographer Roberto Olivan

Leslie O'Neill

2010 Dancer Fellow

Photo credit: William Camero

Leslie O'Neill began her dance training at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay as a member of the Fighting Phoenix Dance Team. After two years, she transferred to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to continue her training in the hopes of becoming a professional where she had the opportunity to work with artists Doug Elkins, Shouze Ma, Judith Howard, and to perform in master works by Paul Taylor. She completed her BFA and went on to dance for local choreographers Ray Terrill, Rosy Simas, Maggie Bergeron, as well as Oregon-based Robin Stiehm. In 2005 Leslie joined Carl Flink as a founding member of Black Label Movement, where she honed her technique and began to find her voice as a performer. 

Leslie began making her own work in 2005, which first presented in the Minneapolis Fringe Festival. She also presented a solo, Trigger, which she premiered at the Red Eye Works-In-Progress series. It was later performed by Emilie Plauche-Flink, artistic director of Black Label Movement in 2009. Leslie joined Zenon Dance Company in 2006 as an apprentice and is now a company member. 

Leslie's choreographic endeavors include Tri, a trio for the scholarship students at Zenon's Dance Zone, and a recent presentation of her solo These Years, for the Minneapolis Fringe Festival.  Leslie was nominated for a Minnesota SAGE Award 2009 for her performance in BLM's Fieldsongs and Zenon Dance Company's spring season, and her solo Trigger was mentioned in "Top 5 Dance Events of 2009" in the Star Tribune.  

Related

• Solo Choreographer Jeanine Durning

Emilie Plauché Flink

2010 Dancer Fellow

Photo credit: William Cameron

Emilie Plauché Flink is the Artistic Associate of the Twin Cities based performance group, Black Label Movement (BLM) alongside her life partner and BLM Artistic Director Carl Flink. 

A member and soloist with the Limón Dance Company from 1989 - 1999, Emilie performed the masterworks of Doris Humphrey and Jose Limón, as well as, dances by Ralph Lemon, Doug Varone, Annabelle Gamson, Phyllis Lamhut, Garth Fagan, Jiri Kylian, and Anthony Tudor.  During her time with Limón, she was a regular Limón Institute faculty member in New York City. She continues to reconstruct Limón's choreography for dance companies and university dance programs across the country. 

Other performing credits include work with Lila York, David Grenke, Colin Connor, Shapiro & Smith Dance, and Off-Broadway in Martha Clarke's Garden of Earthly Delights and Miracolo D'Amore. In the spring of 1998, Emilie was a Sage Cowles Guest Artist at the University of Minnesota's Dance Program, where she taught Limón technique influenced by her own movement explorations from 2001-2008. In 1999, she was the first Guest Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University's Dance Department.

As a choreographer, she has created commissioned work for San Jose State University, Roger Williams University, Chattanooga Ballet, Of Moving Colors Dance Company, Purchase College Senior Concert Series, Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, Ballet Arts Minnesota, and Zenon Dance Company. 

Emilie holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the Juilliard School.  She and Carl are the proud parents of three wonderful daughters, Willa, Iris and Freyja.  

Related

• Solo Choreographer Sara Hook