2011

Chris Yon

2011 Choreographer Fellow

Photo credit: Cameron Wittig

Photo credit: Cameron Wittig

Chris Yon, choreographer and performer, b. 1980, Los Angeles, CA. Based in Brooklyn through most of the '00's, he now lives and works in Minneapolis.

As a performer, he has worked with and for Ann Carlson, Yoshiko Chuma, Justin Jones, Karinne Keithley, David Neumann, Basil Twist and Kristin Van Loon. Yon's choreographies have been presented locally at Bryant Lake Bowl, Walker Art Center and The Southern, and nationally and internationally at Dance Theater Workshop, Performance Space 122, La Mama, Symphony Space, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, Gershwin Hotel, CBGB's, The Knitting Factory, Philadelphia Dance Project, ODC Theater, Velocity Dance Center, Highways Performance Space, Project Art Centre (Dublin), Tangente (Montreal), and CiteDanse (Grenoble).

His work has been commissioned by two repertory companies: Irish Modern Dance Theatre (Dublin) and d9 dance collective (Seattle). Named a "Very Young Hot Shot" in The Village Voice and among "25 Dancers to Watch" in Dance Magazine. He has had residencies and space grants at The Yard, SILO and BAX. Co-founder of Ur, your neighborhood dance palace in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2003-2005. Recipient: 2003 NYFA Fellowship for Performance Art (shared with Justin Jones), 2005 BESSIE Award for Performance, 2009 Minnesota SAGE Award for Outstanding Performance. BFA, NYU. Chris Yon's work entitled ECHO PARK Dream Ballet Essay: Les Sylphides without Margot Fonteyn v. The Pips without Gladys Knight premiered July 14-16, 2011 as part of the Momentum Series presented by the Southern Theater and the Walker Art Center.

For more information go to his site.

Uri Sands

2011 Choreographer Fellow

Photo credit: Ingrid Werthmann

Photo credit: Ingrid Werthmann

Uri Sands' choreography has received national recognition for the fusion of classical elegance with edgy contemporary action, for pulsating intensity with poetic lyricism.

A native of Miami, Uri performed as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for five years, with Philadanco, Minnesota Dance Theatre, James Sewell Ballet, as a guest artist with Complexions under the direction of Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, and as a principal dancer with North Carolina Dance Theatre. His choreographic commissions include, among others, Vocalessence, Zenon Dance, Penumbra Theater, North Carolina Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In addition to several film and television credits, Uri has taught dance extensively throughout the United States and Europe.

He was awarded a 2004 McKnight Artist Fellowship, and a 2005 Princess Grace Award in choreography.  TU Dance company founders Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands were named "2005 Artists of the Year" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  

TU Dance

Host to 2015 McKnight International Choreographer Residency

April Sellers


2011 Choreography Fellow
 

Photo credit: Warwick Green

Photo credit: Warwick Green

April Sellers has developed a unique, emotive approach to modern dance as dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of The April Sellers Dance Collective, which she founded in 2002. Her dance transforms life's mundane moments into physical expressions of the struggle to be human. Layering modern-dance technique within everyday gestures and text-based narratives, Sellers creates dance that holds up a magnifying glass to raw and rarified emotions. 

Sellers's past works have explored such diverse topics as women's sexual identity (In Her Place, 2000), the cultural and personal rituals of loss (Unveiling Grace, 2003), and the vulnerability of the material body (The V Project, 2007). Her work has been performed at the Walker Art Center, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Red Eye Theater, and Bryant Lake Bowl. In 2002, The April Sellers Dance Collective was awarded an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Sellers's work with choreographer Judith Howard on House of Big Love won a Minnesota SAGE Award for Outstanding Performance in 2006. She has also collaborated with poets, painters, filmmakers, and chefs to present groundbreaking works in such spaces as galleries, rooftops, bowling alleys, gardens, and parks. Notably, Sellers has been featured as a dancer in original works by many artists including Laurie Van Wieren, and John Munger.  

In early 2011, Southern Theater commissioned two works for the Tandem series of independent choreographers (Instructions to a Fancy Pack and Acceptable Doses, 2011). Her future works will continue to tell stories of humanist expression through movement and text, but will focus more intimately on the subjectivity of the dancers and their alternate points of view. In particular, her use of hyperbolic emotions will aid in the exploration of the female image in popular culture. 

Minneapolis-based since 1997, Sellers moved to Minnesota after graduating with a BFA in Dance from Ohio State University. 

For more info, visit her site.

 

Nic Lincoln

2011 Dancer Fellow

Photo credit: Jim Smith

Photo credit: Jim Smith

Nic Lincoln, originally from Grand Rapids Michigan, studied dance at Interlochen Arts Academy, Grand Rapids Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.  James Sewell Ballet (JSB) has acted as a creative incubator for Nic's artistry and he has danced in over a dozen works created on him by James Sewell as well as world premieres by Jennifer Hart, Morgan Thorson, Patrick Corbin, Hijack and Kenna Cottman. He relocated to Minneapolis to join JSB after dancing professionally with the Graz Ballet, Malaika Kazumi's Ballet Theatre Frankfurt and La Compañia de Juan Carlos Santa Maria. Before living in Europe he danced professionally with Dayton Ballet, Cleveland San Jose Ballet and Grand Rapids Ballet where he was featured in roles by Roland Petite, Dennis Nahat, George Balanchine and Robert Joffrey among others.

He was named Best Dancer of 2011 by City Pages for his work in Judith Howard's Dressage. Nic performed Dressage again in 2012 as well as solos created for him by Megan Mayer, Rosy Simas, Penelope Freeh, and Wynn Fricke. He invited these five female choreographers to create new works to help ignite society's recognition of women in the arts.

Lincoln is an advocate for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. For several years running he has contributed his choreography to the Human Rights Campaign which has helped to heighten the community's awareness of diversity. Apart from choreographing independently, his works have been performed by JSB, Grand Rapids Ballet, Flint Youth Ballet and the 2008 Walker Art Center's Choreographer's Evening. He produced his own show at the Red Eye Theater in June 2009. His newest work Tempered Glasspremiered at O'Shaughnessy's Snapshots; Reflections of Women in 2010. In addition to his work in choreography and dance Nic is a professional visual artist.

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Amanda Dlouhy

2011 Dancer Fellow

Amanda Dlouhy dances with Ragamala Dance, a Minneapolis-based company celebrated internationally for presenting the classical Indian dance form of bharatanatyam with passion, innovation, and integrity. Amanda was introduced to bharatanatyam by Ragamala Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy in 2004 and began intense study in January of 2005. 

Since 2005, Amanda has toured with the company extensively, performing in over 25 states and various countries. US venues include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, the New Victory Theatre in New York, and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, Florida. International venues include the Bali Arts Festival (2006), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2008 and 2009), and the Soorya Festival in Kerala, India (2010). 

In her work with Ragamala, Amanda has had the privilege of performing with world-class musicians, notably Rajna Swaminathan, Anjna Swaminathan, Lalit Subramaniam, Prema Ramamurthy, Shubhendra Rao, Saskia Rao-de Hass, Waidaiko Ensemble Tokara, and the Cudamani Ensemble of Bali, Indonesia. With four other Ragamala dancers, she workshopped and performed a 40-show run of The Iron Ring with the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis in 2008 and 2010.

Amanda teaches bharatanatyam technique in the Ragamala School and participates in the company's outreach program, giving performances year-round to school and community groups in and around the Twin Cities.

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Amy Behm-Thomson

2011 Dancer Fellow

Amy Behm-Thomson studied dance at the University of Minnesota. Amy joined ARENA Dances in 1999 and Zenon Dance Company in 2000, and continues to perform and teach yoga and dance. She has also performed with Dancing People Company, Ragamala Music and Dance, Catalyst - Dances by Emily Johnson, and Cathy Young Dance. 

Amy is the proud mother of two young children.

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