Purchase Dance Company To Perform New Choreography

Rare are the opportunities for audiences to enjoy cutting edge choreography by nine critically acclaimed, exceptionally creative choreographers, all performed by one college dance program. However, such is the case over two consecutive weekends this November when the Purchase Dance Company will perform inspirational new pieces by Adam Barruch, Gabrielle Lamb, Shannon Gillen, MADboots dance co., Kimberly Bartosik, Sarah Mettin, Jonathan Riedel, Sue Bernhard, and Taryn Kaschock Russell. The dances, part of their fall New Work Series, will be performed in the Dance Theater Lab on the Purchase College campus.

“We are thrilled to present such an incredibly broad range of works by some of today’s most exciting choreographers” said Bettijane Sills and Larry Clark, co-artistic directors of the Purchase Dance Company and co-directors of the Conservatory of Dance. “It has been an invaluable experience for our tremendously talented students to be an active part of these choreographers’ creative processes. This is truly how they learn to become professionals. For the very first time in the history of the Conservatory of Dance, the entire student body will be on stage performing brand new works.”

Purchase Dance Company members are selected from the BFA program and represent some of the most promising performers of the next generation of leading dance artists. This is the most ambitious concert series ever produced by the Conservatory of Dance.

The first program, known as New Works I and performed on November 14th and 15th, will feature modern contemporary works by Adam Barruch, recipient of a 2014 Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences; Gabrielle Lamb, winner of a 2014 Princess Grace Award for Choreography; Shannon Gillen, named in a 2013 Brooklyn Magazine article as one of the City’s top 20 artists; MADboots dance co./ Jonathan Campbell and Austin Diaz, featured in Dance Magazine’s “Vital Signs”; and a ballet work by Taryn Kaschock Russell, current Purchase College faculty member and former Director of Hubbard Street 2.

On November 21st and 22nd, the second program, known as New Works II, will premiere modern contemporary works by Purchase alumna Sarah Mettin, recipient of an Outstanding Choreographer Award from Youth America Grand Prix and Regional Dance America Festival’s Monticello Award; Kimberly Bartosik, Bessie Award Winning former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; Purchase alumnus Jonathan Riedel, a former member of the José Limón Dance Company; and Purchase College alumna and current faculty member Sue Bernhard, who is known for her work with the American Dance Guild and as also as a former member of the José Limón Dance Company. Taryn Kaschock Russell’s new ballet work will also be performed as part of the second program.

Musical accompaniment for these two programs is as diverse as the aesthetics of the choreographers, and range from classical compositions by Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn and Chopin, to contemporary scores and soundscapes by, among others, Marsen Jules, Peter Askim and Hauschka.

The concerts begin at 8pm and are being performed in the Dance Theatre Lab which is located on the lower level of the Dance Building on the Purchase College campus at 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, New York. For inquiries and ticket information please visit www.purchase.edu/dance or call 914-251-6807.

Purchase Dance Company will have a spring 2015 season at the College’s PepsiCo Theatre at The Performing Arts Center, and at New York Live Arts in New York City.