(HIGHLAND PARK, NJ) -- 10 Hairy Legs, the all-male repertory dance company, was among 14 dance organizations to receive a 3-year grant award to its operations by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts at its annual meeting on July 27, 2017 in Trenton. Since its founding, the company has been awarded major grants from Middlesex County Office of Cultural & Heritage, a partner agency of NJSCA. This is the first time the company had been eligible to apply to The Council based upon its guidelines.
The award amount is 3.5% of thetotal funds allocated in the dance category by the Council. The Council honors New Jersey arts organizations that receive the highest possible assessment of their Council grant applications by esteemed, independent panels of their peers with a Citation of Excellence.
10HL President Carol Byrne noted, "We are honored that the Council has recognized the high artistic standards we have achieved in our nascent five year history by serving the citizens of New Jersey through our extensive programs of performance and education, and our success in extending our footprint nationally and internationally as ambassadors for dance from our home state."
The company's 2017-2018 season features programs and services in 10 states across the US. In New Jersey, the company will debut at That Which Connects Dance Festival, Rutgers University, Camden in August, for the third consecutive year at Dance on the Lawn in September, debut at The Jim Wise Theatre, NJIT in Newark presented by Rutgers' University's Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture & the Modern Experience in October and the Stockton Performing Arts Center in Galloway in November, and continue its educational partnerships with Mason Gross School of the Arts, Raritan Valley Community College and Newark School of the Arts as well as K-12 schools throughout the state and in partnerships with Morris Arts and Young Audiences of NJ/Eastern PA.
Artistic Director Randy James added, "NJSCA has always been the state's imprimatur of excellence in the arts. I am thrilled that they have chosen to invest in our mission and vision. This major grant will enable us to strengthen our infrastructure and leverage additional funding, and speaks to the importance of our work shaping the image of the male role in dance and the power it has to invite important conversations about gender roles."
Click here to view a list of all grant recipients.
About 10 Hairy Legs
10 Hairy Legs is an all-male repertory dance company performing existing and newly commissioned works. Since our founding in 2012 we have commissioned 14 works from choreographers Doug Varone, Doug Elkins, Tiffany Mills, Manuel Vignoulle, Julie Bour, Megan Williams, Al Blackstone, Raja Feather Kelly and founder Randy James. We have served more than 75,000 patrons, students, artists and educators throughout the NY/NJ region, in NYC at BAM Fisher/Fishman Space, New York Live Arts, The 92nd Street Y, Brooklyn Dance Festival, Modern Dance at Bryant Park, Dixon Place, Gibney Dance, Joe's Pub, West End Theatre, Fire Island for the DRA Benefit Week End, Dance at Socrates, Koresh Come Together Festival; on tour to the Choregus Dance Festival in Tulsa, OK and as a guest artist at its Benefit Gala in July 2017, appearing with the Joffrey and Geneva Ballets; in Seattle, WA, The Cayman Islands, New England; and Rhode Island; broadcast nationally and internationally on NJTV's State of the Arts, The Meredith Vieira Show and Nick Cannon's Red Nose Dancathon, and in residence at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. In December 2016 we were the only American dance company appearing at the Cape Town (South Africa) International Dance Festival.We provide a wide range of education programs for all ages focusing on the many facets of maleness as expressed through dance, serving more than 6,500 students and educators each year.
PHOTO BY Rachel Neville
