The JCE JAZZ DANCE PROJECT
OCTOBER 2018
The JCE Jazz Dance Project is a celebration of jazz dance featuring original works by emerging and established choreographers. Audiences of all ages will be treated to dances in a variety of jazz styles, from swing to contemporary, and the chance to see the richness of this great American art form.
DATES
Saturday, October 27, 8:00 pm – a benefit reception follows the performance
Sunday, October 28, 4:00 pm – a talkback with the choreographers follows the performance
LOCATION
Salvatore Capezio Theatre at Peridance
126 E. 13th Street
New York, New York 10003
www.peridance.com
PHOTO GALLERY
Artistic Directors
Merete Muenter
Merete Muenter is a choreographer and director, as well as the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Jazz Choreography Enterprises. Choreography: Off-Broadway – Fiddler on the Roof - In Yiddish (Assistant Choreographer – Director, Joel Grey), Amerike – The Golden Land (The National Yiddish Theater - Folksbiene), The Golden Bride (Chita Rivera Award Nomination / The National Yiddish Theater - Folksbiene), South Pacific and Man of La Mancha (Plaza Theatricals), The King of Second Avenue (New Repertory Theatre). Director/choreographer:Fiddler on the Roof - In Yiddish (Associate Director, Off-Broadway / New World Stages – Director, Joel Grey), The Bridges of Madison County, (American Theater Group), Chicago, Tommy, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Woodstock Playhouse), They Walk Among Us (MITF / Award - Best Choreography). Short Film: Through the Ages (Director/Choreographer/Producer) Multiple Film Festival Awards. Originally from Buffalo, New York. SUNY Geneseo Graduate.
Danielle Diniz
Danielle Diniz is the Co-Artistic Director of Jazz Choreography Enterprises. She has choreographed works for the JCE Jazz Dance Project and will become the Co-Artistic Director on January 1, 2024. She recently was Artist in Residence at Tribeca BMCC via CUNY Dance Initiative and has been commissioned by Jacob's Pillow, Avant Chamber Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Ballet Hartford, Central Utah Ballet, Earl Mosley's DoD, Stars of American Ballet and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, among others. She choreographed the musicals 'An Unbalanced Mind’ (Off-Broadway), “On the Air” (Galley Players) and “My Way” (Theatre By the Sea), and presented work at the McCallum Theatre/Palm Desert Choreography Festival and the NYTB Choreography Lab at Baryshnikov Arts Center. She is a winner of the New York Dance Project Choreography Competition, a grant recipient from NYFA/City Artist Corps, choreographs/ADs at AMDA and has served as Associate Choreographer for Lorin Latarro. She is on faculty at Kanyok Arts Initiative and Manhattan Youth Ballet and teaches for Steps and Peridance. Cornell University Graduate.
Featured Choreographers
INSPIRATIONAL JAZZ DANCE ARTISTS
We thought you might enjoy seeing some videos of dance artists who influenced and inspired some of our choreographers in this production of the JCE Jazz Dance Project.
Spencer Pond
When I was creating “Opus 10”, I used it as an opportunity to explore different ways of partnering and improve upon my skills. Unfortunately, more classical jazz partnering was something I never learned due to a lot of factors (one being my size, and another being the fact I always wanted to be Cyd and not Fred). I watched many videos from old movie musicals to learn lifts and tricks, and this scene with Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire in “The Band Wagon” is one of my favorites. It truly is a masterclass in elegance, classical lines, and using dynamic movements to tell a story. You’ll see a lot of these elements in the work paired with different styles of partnering such as Lindy Hop and Contemporary, and given a 2018 spin by playing around with who gets to be the leader.
Andrea Palesh
In college I had the pleasure of seeing “Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal” live. Their performance single handedly inspired years of my choreography. It was the first time I had seen organic contemporary movement seamlessly blended with jazz musicality and musical theater story telling in a concert dance setting. Seeing their performance gave me the confidence to explore blending my love for jazz dance with my passion for creating unique pieces of art on stage.
Elaine Tripoulas
I had heard “Tilted” by Christine and the Queens before, but what made me really love the piece was seeing it performed live at Coachella – the artist and the dancers performed the same choreography from the video. I love the androgynous style of the dancers and the playful quality of the choreography. The movement choice highlights the quirky musicality and is purely entertaining because of its light, almost slapstick-like, quality. I try to capture the same fun and unexpected qualities in my work!
Jaime Shannon and Tony Fraser
A lot of the movement in this piece is inspired by Dean Collins. Dean Collins was an American lindy hop dancer/choreographer and innovator of swing dance. He worked on 38 films throughout the 1930’s and 40’s in LA. Collins developed a specific smooth style of lindy hop that is featured in a majority of his films. His signature style is often still referred to today as “Hollywood style Lindy Hop.” When we were developing the content for our piece, we played a lot with the smooth, stretchy, counterbalanced technique that defined Dean Collin’s style.
Barbara Angeline
Many times, when I choreograph, I have an iconic performer or choreographer or time period that I’m excited to explore. So, I research, research, research for weeks–even months–as the start of my process. “Doin’ My Jazz” was the opposite for me. Last winter, I wanted to do a new work, and I needed to MOVE and shake off winter! James Brown’s “And I Do Just What I Want” is a song that I’ve used for years to get my jazz dance artists to move in ways that are loose, groovy, free and brave. So I took the music and went into a studio and “Doin’ My Jazz” flew out of my body! Though I wasn’t focused on particular themes or moves, 1960s social dances and James Brown’s iconic shaky legs infused themselves on my movements. I’ve never had an experience choreographing that spontaneously! Later, I refined a few moments and referred back to James Brown videos to accomplish a more tributary version of his free, expressive, energetic amazingness in moments of the piece involving shaky legs. But “Doin’ My Jazz” is a self-portrait of my soul’s calling out to me to do my thing.