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MELT winter 2006 faculty bios

Jess Curtis is a director/choreographer and performer of interdisciplinary dance/performance. Working independently, and in the collective performance groups CONTRABAND ('85-'94), CORE ('94-98), and CAHIN-CAHA Cirque Batard (France/USA‘98-‘02), he has created and collaborated on numerous award-winning performance works known for their intense physicality, emotional honesty and athletic beauty. In ‘00 he founded Jess Curtis/GRAVITY as a research and development vehicle for very live performance. Gravity aspires to the creation of exceptionally engaging physical entertainment that explores issues and ideas of substance and relevance to a broad popular public.

Irene Dowd is on the faculty of the Julliard School and Canada’s National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained her own studio and private practice for over 30 years in NYC. Irene choreographs for Peggy Baker, Margie Gillis and other solo dancers. Her work has been taught in schools and dance companies across the US and Canada.

Miguel Gutierrez is a dance artist based in Brooklyn and is artistic director of Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People. He has been presented at The Kitchen, P.S. 122, Danspace Project, throughout the East Coast, in St. Petersburg and Archangelsk, Russia, in Bologna, Italy and alongside the band Le Tigre. He has been in residence as a choreographer at the Ensemble Studio Theater's Lexington Center for the Arts, George Washington University, Goucher College, Hollins University, University of Iowa and Dance Space Center. He received a “Bessie” Award (’02) for his work with John Jasperse Company, and a Fellowship in choreography from the New York Foundation for the Arts (’04). His work has received support from Arts International's The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Suitcase Fund. He teaches internationally on a regular basis. He was a ‘01-03 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence. The Powerful People’s new evening of work will premiere at DTW Nov 30 – Dec 3, 2005.

Yvonne Meier was born in Zurich, Switzerland. Since arriving in NYC in ’79, she has shown her work at The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS 122, PS 1 and Etc. among others. She has received funding from the NEA, NYFA, Franklin Furnace, Etc. She won a “Bessie” award for her piece The Shinning. Yvonne Meier also teaches Authentic Movement and scores.

Jeremy Nelson performed with the Stephen Petronio Dance Company (‘84-’92), in the work of David Zambrano, Susan Rethorst, Luis Lara Malvacías and in his own work, and has worked with contact improviser, Kirstie Simpson. He received a ’91 “Bessie” Award and a ‘04 Guggenheim Fellowship for choreography. For the past 18 years, he has been teaching classes/workshops at venues including ADF, ImPulsTanz, Vienna, P.A.R.T.S. School, Brussels and Sasha Waltz Company, Berlin, among many others, and currently teaches at MR and at Connecticut College. His choreography has been presented internationally and in NYC at Danspace Project, DTW and PS 122. Years of study with Barbara Mahler and Susan Klein, and more recent studies in Alexander Technique™ and Body-Mind Centering® strongly influence his teaching.

Tere O'Connor has been making dances since '82, creating over 30 works for his company, as well as commissioned works for dance companies. He has received a fellowship from The Guggenheim Foundation ('93), three "Bessie" awards ('88, '99, '05) and grants from the NEA, NYSCA, NYFA, Jerome Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Harkness Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Arts International, Philip Morris Inc and Altria Group, Inc. He recently completed a new solo, Indoor Man, for Mikhail Baryshnikov. In January ‘05, the company began a new work while in residence at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, and will continue with creative residencies in NYC at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and DTW. This new, full-length work, entitled BABY, will premiere at DTW in March ‘06. In fall ‘05, FROZEN MOMMY was performed at the International Festival de Danse in Cannes, France.

Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig have gained an international following for dance theater work that transforms the familiar into the mysterious, the subversive and the intimate. They have been touring extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand since ’87,and have been supported by the NEA, NYSCA, NPN, the Asian Cultural Council, Arts International, and the Rockefeller, Jerome, Altria, Harkness, Mertz-Gilmore and Swiss Center Foundations. Their work has been produced annually by major dance venues in NYC. In addition, they have become well known for their site and video works as well as community performance residencies combining dance, music, text and video, including their newest, The Big Easy Diaspora Project – Love Letters to New Orleans. ‘05-‘06 engagements include residencies in upstate New York, India, Paris, Minnesota, New Orleans and Texas.

Gwen Welliver performed with Doug Varone and Dancers from ‘91-00, and in ‘00 joined the Trisha Brown Dance Company as Rehearsal Director. Gwen is a winner of a “Bessie” Award for Sustained Achievement in dancing. She has taught at numerous studios, festivals and universities in the US and abroad including the ADF in North Carolina and Chile, Bates Dance Festival, International Summer School of Dance (Japan), Kalamata International Dance Festival (Greece) and the Moscow Contemporary Dance Summer School 'TSEH'. Gwen was on faculty at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts from ‘95-‘00.