(Highland Park, NJ) --- Randy James’ all male dance company, 10 Hairy Legs, returns to New York Live Arts for its third consecutive New York Season for four performances June 11 -14. Continuing to showcase the company’s extensive repertory that celebrates and explores the artistry of the male dancer, this season features 2 programs, 6 New York City Premieres, 9 works by 10 Choreographers and Live Musical Accompaniment at all performances. Robert Johnson, Dance Critic noted “…since its formation in 2012, its rapid growth has been astonishing…the diversity of this programming is a treat for audiences…this company has also become a welcome source of choreographic commissions…there aren’t many repertory companies yet, but when a group like 10 Hairy Legs performs…the scenery changes and styles switch abruptly. Viewers are whisked from choreographer to choreographer; and sometimes if feels as if everyone is talking at once. Ideas richochet, the atmosphere is exhilarating.”
The Programs
Thursday, June 11 at 7:30 pm & Sunday June 14 at 2:00 pm
The Works and the Choreographers
Seàn Curran created “St. Petersburg Waltz” for Danspace Project’s gala honoring Meredith Monk in 2012. The solo reflects her imaginings of her Grandfather’s life in Russia during the tumultuous years between World War I and World War II. A devout Cantor, it reflects his unshakeable faith despite overwhelming repression. “There’s no fresher, more invigorating American dance now than the choreography of Seán Curran.” – Lewis Segal, The Los Angeles Times. The work will be performed with live musical accompaniment by Pianist Dorian Wallace.
Curran was a leading dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and an original member of the New York cast of "STOMP!” He currently serves as Chair of the Department of Dance at Tisch School of the Arts/New York University. The Seán Curran Company has appeared at such venues as the Duke on 42nd St, the Joyce Theatre, Jacob's Pillow, and Dance Theatre Workshop. Curran has choreographed and/or directed for Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and on Broadway. In 2012, Seán Curran Company was chosen by DanceMotion USA (produced by the Brooklyn Academy of Music) to perform and teach throughout Central Asia as cultural ambassadors of the US State Department. Seán was awarded a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award as a performer, and was recently nominated as a choreographer.
Doug Elkins is a two-time New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award-winning choreographer who began his career as a B-Boy, touring the world with break dance groups New York Dance Express and Magnificent Force, among others. In 1988, he officially founded the Doug Elkins Dance Company with Lisa Nicks, Jane Weiner, and Ben Munisteri, which performed nationally and internationally for fifteen years before disbanding in 2003. Doug is a recipient of significant choreographic commissions and awards from the NEA, National Performance Network, Jerome Foundation, Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation, Dance Magazine Foundation, Metropolitan Life/American Dance Festival, Hartford Foundation, Arts International, The Greenwall Foundation, and The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. In 1994, he was honored with a Brandeis University Creative Arts Medal, sharing the stage with author Philip Roth and photographer Nan Goldin. In 2006, he was honored in New York City by the Martha Hill Award for Career Achievement; and recently received an Elliot Norton Award for Best Choreography (for Fraulein Maria).
Doug has taught and choreographed extensively in the US and Europe and has created original work for Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, Flying Karamazov Brothers, MaggioDanza, Pennsylvania Ballet, Union Dance and CanDoCo of London, as well as a number of university dance companies and the renowned Mini & Maxi of Holland. His theater work includes collaborations with Joanne Akalaitis and Philip Glass, Robert Woodruff, Pavel Dubrusky, Annie Hamburger, Molly Smith, Craig Lucas, David Henry Hwang, Michael Preston and Barbara Karger, and Arin Arbus. A graduate of SUNY/Purchase, he received his MFA in Dance from Hollins University/ADF in 2007. Until January 2011, he taught at The Beacon School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where his tenure was the subject of Where the Dance Is, a short film by Marta Renzi. Most recently he concluded a creative residency in Santa Barbara sponsored by DANCEworks for the creation of Mo(or)town/Redux, and now, with funding from The Joyce Theater Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation’s NYC Cultural Innovation Fund, he and theater director Anne Kauffman are in residence at Joyce Soho for the creation of another new work.
Heidi Latsky’s “Solo 1” (Company Premiere) is a sinuous and riveting study in spirals set to an original score by Chris Brierly.
Heidi Latsky first received recognition as a principal dancer for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1987-1993). She has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe with her own company and as part of Goldhuber & Latsky. The Cannes International Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, Whitney Museum of Art, and Joyce Theater are among those who have commissioned her choreography. Latsky developed her teaching practice as head of the Movement Department at The School for Film and Television (1998-2005). She currently teaches performance skills workshops at STEPS. The GIMP Project, begun in 2006, is a body of work featuring disabled and nondisabled dancers. The critically acclaimed GIMP (2008) was the first evening length work of this series. Highlights include Abrons Arts Center (NYC), Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston), The Kennedy Center (DC), CAP Awards (The Netherlands), The Reelabilities Film Festival (NYC), Dublin Dance Festival, DaDaFest in Liverpool, Chicago Humanities Festival, CREA Conference in Kathmandu, and Crossing Borders Festival in Dusseldorf. GIMP is the subject of Richard Move’s documentary which premiered at Lincoln Center Febuary, 2014, AP and NY Times multi-media pieces, and features on CNN, NET and NPR. A profile on GIMP was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2010. As part of the 2013/14 New York State Presenters Network tour, HLD was presented at Rochester University and the Orpheum Theater in Tannersville. She was recently selected as the first participant to create a film for the Mellon Dance Film Project at Montclair State University. Upcoming venues include Columbia College (Chicago), Syracuse University, Peak Performances at Montclair University and the American Dance Festival.
Randy James’ “Heaven’s Dust” (Company Premiere) – Artistic Director Randy James re-envisioned this work originally commissioned for a Benefit for Dancers Responding to Aids at St. Mark’s Church. A newly commissioned score by Michael Wall and added sections of dance expand the work from a duet to a trio. Live music by Robert Benford and Wall, and costumes by Cindy Capraro at all performances.
Randy James, founding Artistic Director of 10 Hairy Legs, has significantly impacted the field of dance for more than three decades locally, regionally, nationally and internationally as a highly regarded dancer, choreographer, teacher, guest lecturer, panelist and staunch advocate of the arts. In 2010 the The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation cited him as “The Patron Saint of New Jersey dance.” As a choreographer, James has created more than 40 works on his own companies and on 16 other professional companies throughout the United States, garnering positive reviews from The New York Times and The Village Voice. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State honored him three times with Choreography Fellowships in 1995, 2002 and 2014 in recognition of his artistic excellence and named him "Distinguished Teaching Artist." As an Associate Professor of Dance, James has been a member of the dance faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, since 1998.
David Parker’s “Slapstuck” (Company Premiere) - Once you’ve seen what New York Choreographer David Parker does with Velcro, you’ll never look at the hook-and-loop fabric fastener again in quite the same way. The dancers come literally unglued as they negotiate the perilous and hysterical results of wearing neck to toe Velcro suits. Among the many surprising elements in the use of the Velcro suits to produce a ripping percussive score. Winner: 2002 Bessie Award for Design.
Parker stated, “Working with Randy James’ excellent company, 10 Hairy Legs, has felt to me like coming home. Randy has cultivated a creative community that prizes generosity, virtuosity, wit, theatrical savvy and a sense of adventure. Over the past two years, Randy has allowed me to translate and reimagine two of my most cherished works... I was immediately struck by the technical finesse, rhythmic acuity and comic timing of the cast members.”
David Parker is a 2013 Guggenheim fellow for choreography. In 1995 Parker founded The Bang Group, a company devoted to his love of rhythmic form and the humor and connection it brings to artists and audiences alike. TBG has toured extensively though the U.S. and Europe. In addition to his work with The Bang Group, he has created over 30 commissioned works for dance companies, universities, festivals and soloists both here and abroad. He has won awards for his work in The Netherlands, Germany and Monaco and has won community awards from Dancers Responding to AIDS, Dance Theater Workshop and The Gibney Dance Center. His notorious Velcro duet was given a New York Dance and Performance Award for Design in 2002. Mr. Parker teaches dance composition at The Juilliard School, Barnard College, Hunter College and The Alvin Ailey School and was visiting professor at Princeton University and SUNY Purchase. He writes regularly about dance for Dance Magazine and The Brooklyn Rail and has served as an artist/curator for Danspace Project’s Platform Series (Rhythm and Humor), Gotham Arts Focus Dance, 92nd Street Y’s Fridays at Noon and, for the past three seasons, at The Yard’s annual Tap the Yard Festival on Martha’s Vineyard.
Stephen Petronio’s “Bud” (Company Premiere) – Set to Rufus Wainwrights’ “Oh What a World,” this sinuous duet with intricate partnering premiered in 2005. 10 Hairy Legs is the only company aside from Petronio’s own that has been permitted to have this work in its repertory.
Stephen Petronio was born in Newark, New Jersey, and received a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where he began dancing in 1974. Initially inspired by the dancing of Rudolf Nureyev and Steve Paxton, Petronio was the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Company (1979 to 1986). For 30 years, he has honed a unique language of movement that speaks to the intuitive and complex possibilities of the body within the shifting sphere of our current time. Founded in 1984, Stephen Petronio Company has performed throughout the world, including 20 seasons at The Joyce Theater in New York City. Petronio has created over 35 works for his company, and has been commissioned by some of the world's most prestigious modern and ballet companies. He has received numerous accolades, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, an American Choreographer Award, and a New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award. Petronio received the distinction of being named the first Artist-in-Residence at The Joyce Theater from 2012–2014, and is the recipient of a 2015 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Petronio has recently published a memoir, Confessions of a Motion Addict.
Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s “Covariance” (Company Premiere) – Originally created on a man and a woman, Chopin’s waltzes create the atmosphere for this energetic and humorous perspective on the complexity or relationships. The dramaturgy leads the duo from the colorful phase of seduction to manipulation and battle, confusion and finally acceptance. The work premiered in 2004 at the Susan Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. This is the first time the work has been set on anyone other than its creators. The production of “Covariance” is funded in part by Israel’s Office of Cultural Affairs in North America.
Oren Laor studied theatre and performance at Tel Aviv University from 1993-1997. During that time he worked with theater directors Yvgeny Arye, Edna Shavit, Nola Chilton and others. Since 2004 he has been creating contemporary dance works with Niv Sheinfeld, and has been a member of the artistic committee of Tmuna Theatre in Tel Aviv.
Niv Sheinfeld danced for 5 years in the Liat Dror & Nir Ben-Gal Dance Company, and for the past 13 years as an independent choreographer, creating works for Kibbutz Dance Company, Batsheva, among others. He was recognized with a Choreography Award from the Israeli Minister of Arts and the Rosenblum Award for performing Arts. Sheinfeld also teaches dance and creation at the School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem, the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv.
Manuel Vignoulle’s “Together We Stand” – Commissioned by 10 Hairy Legs in 2013, the work for 5 men explores the camaraderie among those brought together by violence, as well as studies the manner in which individuals relate to one another during crisis.
Manuel Vignoulle, born in France, studied at The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Danse de Paris and went on to work with contemporary French choreographers including Claude Brumachon, Corinne Lanselle, Karine Saporta and Bernardo Montet. Manuel worked with Redha, a modern-jazz choreographer, and has performed for television, video, fashion, opera and musicals. He has also been assistant choreographer in collaboration with Alvin Ailey (USA), Het Nationale Ballet (Nederland) and State Theater Dance Company (South Africa). Manuel danced for Ballet du Grand Théatre de Genève (Switzerland) and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (New York) where he worked with choreographers such as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Hofesh Shechter, Adonis Foniadakis, Cisco Aznar, Annabelle Ochoa Lopez, Benjamin Millepied, Ohad Naharin, Didy Veldman, Jo Stromgren, Alexander Eckman to name a few. As choreographer, he has been commissioned by Ailey II, Satellite Collective, 10 Hairy Legs, Whim W’him, Chicago Repertory Ballet, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Steps Repertoire Ensemble, The Ailey School, Rutgers University and Antigel Festival. His work has been performed in France, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Mexico and USA.
Christopher Williams – “The Portuguese Suite (Excerpt) (Company Premiere) – “In this languidly erotic duet (2006), the two bodies appeared to be almost organically linked, moving with a slow grace to the mournful fado of Amalia Rodriguez’ “Meu Amor, Meu Amor.” Christopher Atamian – Dance Magazine.
Christopher Williams, dubbed "the downtown prodigy" (The New Yorker) and "one of the most exciting choreographic voices out there" (The New York Times), is a choreographer, dancer, and puppeteer working in New York City and abroad since 1999. His work has toured in France, England, Italy, Spain, Holland, Colombia, and Russia, as well as nationally in Philadelphia, Princeton, and Kalamazoo, and has been presented in New York City venues including City Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, P.S. 122, the 92nd Street Y, Joyce SoHo, Dance New Amsterdam, and La Mama. His recent collaborators include renowned opera directors Peter Sellars and Michel Fau, visual designer Andrew Jordan, and composer Gregory Spears. He has been commissioned by the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Teatro Real, the Perm Opera & Ballet Theater, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Princeton University, Dickinson College, Sarah Lawrence College, the Harkness Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Philadelphia Dance Projects, American Opera Projects, Opera America, and through HERE Arts Center’s Dream Music Puppetry Program. His awards include a 2005 New York Dance & Performance “Bessie” Award for his work Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, as well as fellowships from The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Bogliasco Foundation. He has also been awarded residencies at the Watermill Center, the Liguria Study Center for Arts & Humanities, Movement Research, Joyce SoHo, Dance New Amsterdam, Djerassi, Yaddo, and The Yard. He holds degrees from Sarah Lawrence College and the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, and has performed for Tere O’Connor Dance, Douglas Dunn & Dancers, Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks, John Kelly, Basil Twist, Sally Silvers, and Rebecca Lazier, among others.
Composers and Musicians
Michael Wall (Composer for “Heaven’s Dust”) is a sought after composer of music for dance, video, instillation, jazz, and multimedia collaborations. He has been praised by The New York Times for his “haunting piano score”. His works are performed widely in the U.S. and abroad. Michael has collaborated with Bebe Miller, David Dorfman, Ailey II/Jennifer Archibald and many other choreographers. He has scored, along with Oscar Award Winning composer Darren Morze, “Bel Borba Aqui” and “Neurotypical” which aired on PBS. He is in demand as a educator and performer. Michael has worked for NYU, Princeton University, Rutgers University, The Ohio State University, The American Dance Festival, Bates Dance festival and is currently faculty at The University of Utah. He received a degree in Jazz Piano from Rutgers University, where he studied with Kenny Barron. Michael performed on Kenny Barron’s Grammy Nominated recording, “Spirit Song”, which also received a special award from Verve Records. He is the founder of soundFORMovement.com, a website dedicated to music for dance with over 300 tracks released in the last year.
Dorian Wallace (Pianist for “Heaven’s Dust” and “St. Petersburg Waltz”) is a composer, improviser, pianist, synthesist, writer, teacher and dance musician. His career has experienced a diverse musical palette including contemporary classical, avant-garde, spontaneous improvisation, jazz ensemble, orchestral, classical dance, electro acoustic, film, and opera. His music has been performed in New York City, NY, Bangkok, Thailand, Cleveland, OH, Paris, France, Mexico City, Mexico, Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA. He is Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Tenth Intervention, a consortium of ensembles in New York City, including The Free Sound Ahn-somble and Trystero. Wallace is a member of improvisation trio, AmmoCake. He has collaborated with commissions and performed with such artists as The Cleveland Orchestra, Dave Liebman, Robert Ashley, Aleksandra Vrebalov, David T Little, Son Lux, Composers Concordance, Frank London, Jonathan Finlayson, Pauline Kim Harris, Brad Whiteley, Hajnal Pivnick, Bobby Selvaggio, and Eric Lyon. He is a musician for dance at The Juilliard School, New York University, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, Barnard College, Columbia University and Ballet Hispanico. He is a member of the faculty at Metropolitan Music School and a Mentor at UnCollege where he maintains a studio teaching Contemporary Composition, Music Theory, and Spontaneous Improvisation.
Patrons with Visual Disabilities may request a Large Print Program by contacting Executive Director Elizabeth Shaff Sobo at bsobo@10hl.org by June 4, 2015.
About 10 Hairy Legs
10 Hairy Legs, founded by Randy James in 2012, is a dance company – comprised entirely of men – of James’ work as well as existing and newly commissioned works. 10 HL does not reflect a specific point of view about the male experience, but rather celebrates and explores the tremendous technical and emotional range of the male dancer. Randy James, at the forefront of this generation's choreographers, educators and arts advocates, is the driving force of 10 Hairy Legs, serving as its Artistic Director. James was awarded his third Choreographic Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 2014.
Our Artistic Collaborators are choreographers Julie Bour, Sean Curran, David Dorfman, Dan Froot, Doug Elkins, Heidi Latsky, Cleo Mack, Tiffany Mills, David Parker, Stephen Petronio, Claire Porter, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, Manuel Vignoulle, Christopher Williams and Megan Williams; musicians Tigger Benford, Sarah Biber, Jane Chung, Lachlen Glen, Kyle Olson, Robert Maggio, Kyle Olson, Michael Wall and Dorian Wallace; and designers Abraham Cruz, Oana Botez, Cindy Capraro, Benjamin Heller, John Lasiter, Mary Kokie McNaugher, Lauren Parrish, Amanda Ringger, Amanda Shafran and Olivier Theyskens.
In addition to their work with 10 Hairy Legs, our company members are currently featured artists with The Bang Group, Stephen Petronio Company, Doug Elkins Choreography, Etc., Tiffany Mills Company, Zvi Dance, and in the hit Off-Broadway show Sleep No More, among others.
Education is an important component of our work. We provide a wide range of programs suitable for all ages, whether for the aspiring professional, novice beginner or artist citizen, focusing on the many facets of maleness as expressed through dance.
Since our founding, we have served more than 25,000 patrons, students, artists and educators with our programs of performance and education throughout the NY/NJ region, in New York City at New York Live Arts, Dixon Place, Joe’s Pub, The West End Theatre as part of the Soaking Wet Festival, Dance at Socrates, on tour in The Cayman Islands and New England, and as Guest Artists on The Meredith Vieira Show.
10 Hairy Legs' presentation at New York Live Arts is made possible through New York Live Arts’ Theater Access Program. The Theater Access Program is a comprehensive subsidized rental program benefiting a diverse group of dance and theater companies and producing organizations.
