Shaping the Now: Dance in Uncertain Times

Dedicated to past ADG President: Muriel Manings

Featuring 33 Contemporary Choreographers and Honoring Modern Dance Innovators

2019 Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dance Advocate Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Choreographer Gus Solomons jr and Abdel R. Salaam, co-founder of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre

ADG Festival 2019, Shaping the Now: Dance in Uncertain Times, honored dance educator and advocate Jody Gottfried Arnhold, and choreographic luminaries Gus Solomons jr and Abdel R. Salaam, co-founder and director of Forces of Nature Dance Theater. The Festival took place over four days and included performances by thirty-three contemporary choreographers from across the United States. The 2019 American Dance Guild Festival was dedicated to past ADG President Muriel Manings.

This year the Guild paid tribute to its American dance heritage.  Jody Gottfried Arnhold, whose film PS Dance! offered a glimpse of her groundbreaking Dance Education Laboratory (DEL), which has brought modern dance into the public school system for the past 25 years. Jody was also recognized for her generous philanthropy to dance. The indomitable Gus Solomons jr, dancer, choreographer, teacher, writer – going strong for 6 decades! – brought a new work to the stage titled PS1 Redone.  Abdel R. Salaam presented a medley of works at the Festival, including a solo dedicated to his mother, titled E.R., and A Question of Modesty with his company Forces of Nature Dance Theater who have been integrating modern and African aesthetics since 1981.

The Festival’s 33 participating artists represented a wide variety of aesthetic and cultural voices reflecting the broad spectrum of American dance life and the diverse character of dance today. This year’s theme was chosen in response to what many agree is a stressful time in our national political life. The programs featured works by mature as well as emerging artists.

Highlights included Amy Marshall Dance Company on opening night; the work of Elizabeth Keen and a tango piece by Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, danced superbly by two men; choreography by Dawn Marie Bazemore reflecting violence against black men, and Marie Baker Lee’s refined sensuous dancing of Nancy Zendora’s choreography. The program also included a brilliant dance film by Ara Fitzgerald and a work by Margie Gillis, winner of ADG Award of Distinction in Choreography in 2004.

Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to the three Festival honorees on opening night. Jacob’s Pillow was also be acknowledged for its ongoing collaboration with the Guild in providing a scholarship for young dancers each summer. The Thursday, October 3 opening night performance 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. Each year, the Festival honors at least two master choreographers with performances of their work alongside emerging and mid-career choreographers ranging from modern to post-modern to performance art to cultural hybrids,” she said. “This year’s festival includes contemporary dance artists of diverse backgrounds, ages and aesthetics throughout the United States. ADG is dedicated to presenting the range and diversity of expression in current dance art practice and to remembering our historical modern dance roots.”

- Gloria McLean, ADG President

2019 Festival Lineup

THURSDAY October 3 at 7:30pm: 2019 Achievement Award Presentation and Gala Reception to Follow Performance . Film Tribute to Muriel Manings, Joy-Marie Thompson, Cecelia Stockli, Boram Yi, Amy Marshall, JODY GOTTFRIED ARNHOLD, GUS SOLOMONS jr, ABDEL R. SALAAM/Forces of Nature.

FRIDAY, October 4 at 8pm: Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, Kaoru Ikeda, Enzo Celli, Elizabeth Keen, Anna Hooper, Amanda Selwyn, Christina Eltvedt, Alison Cook-Beatty, Jeanette Stoner, Sarah Botero, JODY GOTTFRIED ARNHOLD. 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 at 8pm: Leo Hishikawa, Gloria McLean, Dawn Marie Bazemore, Josh Pacheco, Nijawwon Matthews, Li Chiao-Ping, Zendora/Baker Lee, Janaki Patrik, Sue Bernhard, GUS SOLOMONS jr

SUNDAY October 6 at 7pm: Meagan Ahern, Jeff Kaplan, Margie Gillis, Hee Ra Yoo, Janis Brenner, Winston Dynamite Brown & Latra Ann Wilson, Ara Fitzgerald, Gregg Hurley, Susan Cherniak, Ashley Elizabeth Daigle, ABDEL R. SALAAM/Forces of Nature

The 2019 American Dance Guild Performance Festival thanks The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Arnhold Foundation, and Janis and Alan Menken Charity Fund for their generous support.

Jody Gottfried Arnhold is a luminary in dance education and an advocate for dance. She taught dance in NYC public schools for over twenty years, founded Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at 92Y, supports the dance program at the New York City Department of Education, created the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, and is the visionary benefactor behind the Doctorate in Dance Education at Teachers College Columbia University. Jody supports and mentors countless dance teachers many of whom now lead the field. She champions and supports many NYC dance companies including Ballet Hispanico where she is Honorary Chair. She continues these efforts as Executive Producer of the NY Emmy nominated documentary, PS DANCE!, to raise awareness and advocate for her mission, Dance for Every Child. Jody serves on the Advisory Committee for Arts Education at New York City Department of Education and is Co-Chair of the Committee that created the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance K-12. Jody is on the Board at 92Y, Hunter College, Ballet Hispanico, Harkness Foundation for Dance, and on the Advisory Committee of Dance/NYC. She has received numerous local and national awards for her contributions to dance and dance education. She holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an M.A. in Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is a Certified Movement Analyst.

Gus Solomons jr became a dancer after graduating from M.I.T. with a degree in Architecture. He dances, writes about dance, mentors choreographers, and teaches dance. He danced with Donald McKayle, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and others before founding and directing Solomons Company/Dance (1972-94) and PARADIGM (1996-2011). Since retiring from two decades as arts professor at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, he has been performing as guest artist with dance makers like Boris Charmatz, Eszter Salamon, Richard Siegal, and Alexandra Bachzetsis, mostly in Europe. Gus received a Bessie in 2000 for Sustained Achievement in Choreography. In 2004 received the Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beineke Distinguished Teaching Award fro the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC.

Abdel R Salaam is the Executive Artistic Director/Co-Founder of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre (FONDT), founded in 1981. Born in Harlem, New York, Abdel is a critically acclaimed choreographer and in the past, served as a dancer, teacher and/or performing artist in five continents throughout his 49-year career in the dance world. He has received numerous awards and fellowships for excellence in dance including the National Endowment for the Arts, The New England Foundation on the Arts, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Foundation for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, The National Council for Arts and Culture and Herbert H. Lehman College. He and his company received the 2013 Audelco Award for Dance Company of the Year.  He has served as a choreographer and/or director for the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Billie Holiday Theater, The Apollo Theater, The Winter Solstice at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The New York Musical Theater Festival, BAM, Black Dance USA and The Tennessee Performing Arts Festival. He has numerous commercial credits in theater, film and television. Mr. Salaam is the creator of the Kwanzaa Regeneration Night Celebration in Harlem, now 38 years old, which was inspired by the teachings of its visionary creator and founder of Kwanzaa, Dr. Maulana Karenga. Mr. Salaam is also the Artistic Director of Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Dance Africa, originally founded by the late Chuck Davis in 1977 and is the recipient of the 2017 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production of  “The Healings Sevens.”