American Dance Guild Performance Festival 2015

35 Artists Featured Over Four Nights

Liz Lerman, Doug Varone and Alice Teirstein Honored

The rich diversity of contemporary dance was on view for four nights, December 3-6, 2015, at the 2015 Annual Performance Festival of the American Dance Guild at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, Joan Weill Center for Dance. Thirty-five artists/companies presented their work, with three living legends of modern dance – Liz Lerman, founder of the Dance Exchange, Doug Varone, Artistic Director of Doug Varone Dance Company and Alice Teirstein, founder of Young Dancemakers – receiving ADG’s 2015 honors and tributes.

The Festival featured Doug Varone and Dancers performing his much acclaimed ensemble work Lux with music of Philip Glass; Alice Teirstein’s 2015 Young Dancemakers performing Journey, a short group piece emblematic of her process; and Liz Lerman presenting a video capsule history of her career.

Other Festival highlights included former ADG Award winner Jacqulyn Buglisi’s duet Sospiri (Dec. 4) and Merce Cunningham’s Suite for Two (Dec. 5), a Cunningham/Cage/Rauschenberg collaboration staged by Andrea Weber for dancers from the Merce Cunningham Trust’s Fellowship Program. Dance Exchange alums Martha Wittman and Adrienne Clancy from D.C., Jin-Wen Yu from Wisconsin, Imana Gunawan from Seattle, Gesel Mason from Colorado and a host of New York artists including Mimi Garrard, Tina Croll, Daniel Gwirtzman, Amy Marshall and Nancy Zendora added to the mix.

An awards presentation for Festival honorees was included on opening night, Dec. 3, in which Ms. Lerman, Mr. Varone and Ms. Teirstein received ADG’s awards for “Distinguished Artistry and Lifetime Achievement.” The evening was followed by a gala reception.

“The American Dance Guild holds a unique position as both a promoter of the new and preserver of the living history of modern dance as an art form,” said Gloria McLean, president of ADG. “Each American Dance Guild Festival honors at least two master choreographers from the past, and includes performances of their work along with emerging choreographers ranging from modern to post-modern to performance art to cultural hybrids,” she said.

About the ADG Festival ‘15 Honorees

• Liz Lerman (Dec. 3 and Dec. 4) founded Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976 and cultivated the company’s unique multi-generational ensemble into a leading force in contemporary dance until 2011. Her many honors recognize her innovations in dance research, including a 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant.”

• Doug Varone (Dec. 3 and Dec. 5) Artistic Director of Doug Varone and Dancers, established in 1986, received the Doris Duke Award this summer at the American Dance Festival where his company was in residence.  At his peak as a contemporary choreographer for the concert stage, Mr. Varone also choreographs for opera, Broadway, regional theater, and film. He is performing with his company of eight dancers in Lux, (2006) on both evenings.

• Alice Teirstein, (Dec. 3 and Dec 6) a New York dancer, choreographer and award-winning dance educator, received a  “Bessie” for distinguished service to the field of dance in 2012. She is best known as the founding director of Young Dancemakers company, now in its 20th season, a free summer dance ensemble of NYC teens, dedicated to nurturing the creation of original teen choreography and providing free touring concerts citywide. She’s bringing the 2015 Young Dancemakers to the stage on Thursday and Sunday to demonstrate some of their creative process.

Complete Festival Program

Program 1 – THURSDAY December 3 at 8pm with Award Presentation and Gala Reception Following Performance: Liz Lerman, Doug Varone, Alice Teirstein, Imana Gunawan, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Nathan Madden, Amy Marshall, Gesel Mason

Program 2 – FRIDAY December 4 at 8pm: Liz Lerman, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Dominic Duong, Ara Fitzgerald, Daniel Gwirtzman, Gloria McLean, Mary Seidman, Sasha Spielvogel, Nancy Zendora

Program 3 – SATURDAY December 5 at 8pm: Doug Varone, Sue Bernhard, Adrienne Clancy/ClancyWorks, Tina Croll, Merce Cunningham’s Suite for Two, Erin Dillon, Mimi Garrard (on film), Kaoru Ikeda, Fadi Khoury, Molly McSherry

Program 4 – SUNDAY December 6 at 7pm: Alice Teirstein, Jessica Gaynor, Anthony Gongora, JoiLynn Hopkins, Samuel Kunzman, Lindsey Miller, Mari Meade Montoya, Rebecca Rice, Sabatino Verlezza, Martha Wittman, Jin-Wen Yu