Jennifer Archibald
Abdul Latif
Stephanie Martinez
THE JOFFREY BALLET ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE
CHOREOGRAPHERS OF COLOR AWARD,
NOW PART OF THE MCA STAGE 2014-15 SEASON
Three aspiring choreographers will present World Premieres in “Winning Works 2015” at the MCA Stage, March 7-8, 2015
CHICAGO
(October 28, 2014) – The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official
School of The Joffrey Ballet, announces the winners of the fifth annual
Choreographers of Color Award:
Jennifer Archibald, Abdul Latif
and
Stephanie Martinez. This announcement follows a national call for artists to submit applications, which began
in July.
The
Choreographers of Color Award was created to recognize emerging
minority choreographers and to provide them with a platform to showcase
their original and innovative work.
Each of the three selected choreographers
will be given a minimum of 30 rehearsal hours to set a new work on the
Joffrey Academy Trainees and Joffrey Studio Company. Each winning
choreographer will also receive a $2,500 stipend
and an opportunity to work directly with Joffrey Academy Artistic
Directors,
Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik. The three world premieres will be presented in “Winning Works
2015” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 Chicago Avenue,
in three performances, Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 3 pm and 7:30 pm and
Sunday, March 8 at 3 pm.
“We are proud to be able to present our
Winning Works program highlighting three up-and-coming
choreographers chosen through our Choreographers of Color initiative for
the fifth year in a row,” said
Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director. “The Joffrey Ballet thrives on
the diversity of our dancers and choreographers and to showcase this
commitment via our Academy is simply thrilling.”
“It
is vital to the Joffrey’s mission to nurture and empower the talent of
diverse choreographers. Our Choreographers of Color initiative gives
three artists the
opportunity to create on our talented Trainees, gaining valuable
experience as they continue on their exciting career paths,” Joffrey
Executive Director
Greg Cameron stated.
Jennifer
Archibald
is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Arch Dance Company and
Program Director of ArchCore40 dance intensives. She is a graduate of
The Ailey School and the Maggie Flanigan
Acting Conservatory where she studied the Meisner technique.
Archibald has choreographed for the Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II,
Cincinnati Ballet, and worked commercially for Tommy Hilfiger, NIKE and
MAC Cosmetics as well as chart-listed singers and actors.
Archibald’s works have been performed at venues including New York's
City Center, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Aaron Davis Hall and
Jacob's Pillow Inside|Out Stage. In 2013, Jennifer was awarded a
Choreographic Fellows for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography
Lab under the direction of Robert Battle. She also choreographed
“Seven”, a biographical work about Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee,
commissioned by St. Louis based MADCO dance company. She has presented
Arch Dance Company nationally having been awarded two
National Performance Network grants; and by special invitation at
notable dance festivals country wide. She has staged various
off-Broadway shows and choreographed for the musicals Carousel, Pippin,
The Music Man and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
She is currently on faculty at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance
Center, Gibney Dance, CAP21 America’s Musical Theatre Conservatory and a
resident artist and lecturer at various institutions across the U.S.
Internationally, she has taught master classes in
Brazil, Bermuda, Canada, Slovenia, Sweden, France, Russia, Mexico,
China, and Ecuador. In 2016 she will be creating a new work for the
Cincinnati Ballet. To learn more about Jennifer visit
www.jenniferarchibald.com.
Abdul Latif
is a graduate of
Wesleyan
University and NYU Tisch School of the Arts, an MFA
graduate-scholarship recipient of the Alvin Ailey and Joffrey Ballet
School and a directing fellow at the T. Schrieber
Acting Studio. Latif is currently a member of two dance companies: The
Group, Donald Byrd’s contemporary ballet company and The Works,
Jennifer Muller’s contemporary company. Latif has two Tony® Award-winning Broadway credits, including
The Lion King as an ensemble cast member and Bonzai understudy
directed by Julie Taymor and choreographed by Garth Fagan and an
ensemble cast member and seaweed cover in
Hairspray directed by Jack O’Brien and
choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. He is the winner of the National ACT
and the SO Arts Competition. He has made appearances as a special guest
speaker at The Archdioceses of New York’s Waldorf
Astoria Banquet by invitation of Cardinal O'Connor and Cardinal Egan.
He has been a guest performer at the Cologne, Germany, Youth Summit for
Pope Benedict XVI. He has been a guest teacher at Steps on Broadway in
New York City, the Fendafor Festival in Brazil,
Renaissance Arts Academy and Moves Institute in St. Gallen,
Switzerland. Latif was the resident recipient of Ballet Hispanico’s
Institutito Coreografico in 2012. He is the co-designer and founding
choreographer of The Muller Works Foundation Choreographic
Residency/Legacy Project. Latif is currently conceiving The NEXT Project, launching his urban-contemporary style, and is opening his Performing Arts Firm called Abdul Latif – D2D/T.
Stephanie
Martinez is an award-winning Chicago dance artist with over 30 years professional performing experience. Her 2009 choreographic debut,
AviMar, for Luna Negra Dance Theater’s 10th anniversary
season, instantly secured her status as a sought-after dancemaker. She
has since traveled the country choreographing for dance companies and
universities, including Elements Contemporary
Ballet, Visceral Dance Chicago, Chicago Dance Crash, Jacksonville
University, Shenandoah University, Virginia Commonwealth University and
University of Richmond. In 2010, she assisted Broadway legend Ann
Reinking in setting the
Fosse Trilogy on Thodos Dance Chicago, as well as Daniel Ezralow, choreographer of Broadway’s
Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, in remounting his celebrated work, Pulse, for Company C Contemporary Ballet
in San Francisco. After a 17-year stint with River North Dance
Chicago, for which she merited a Ruth Page Award for Outstanding
Performance, Martinez joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago
as a principal dancer for its productions of Manon and The Merry Widow, followed by the Marriott Theater's
production of Swing. She has also performed with Luna Negra
Dance Theater, Ron de Jesus Dance, Same Planet Different World Dance
Theatre and has appeared as a special guest performer for the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra.
The “Winning Works 2015” program also includes a World Premiere by Joffrey Academy Artistic Director Alexei Kremnev titled
Windy Sand. With music composed by Karen LeFrak, this piece is dedicated to the Lake Michigan and City of Chicago.
Ticket Information
Tickets for “Winning Works 2015”
at the MCA Stage are $22 and available for purchase at the MCA’s
official Box Office located at 220 East Chicago Ave., by telephone at
312-397-4010, or online at
www.mcachicago.org.
About the Joffrey Academy Trainees and Joffrey Studio Company
The
Trainee Program is a rigorous program with an internationally
recognized reputation for excellence and gives students the skills
needed to launch their careers into the professional
world. Graduates from the Trainee Program have danced with companies
around the world, including The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater,
New York City Ballet, Dresden Semperoper and many more.
The
Joffrey Studio Company is a scholarship program of the Joffrey Academy,
comprised of 10 outstanding students at the cusp of their professional
careers. The individualized
training and performance opportunities provided by the Joffrey Studio
Company offers dancers exceptional insight into the life of a
professional dancer and pushes dancers to realize their full artistic
and technical potential.
For
more information on the Academy Trainees of the Joffrey Ballet, or
other programs at the Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey
Ballet, please visit
joffrey.org/academy
The
Joffrey Ballet is grateful for the support of its “Winning Works 2015”
Sponsors Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP and The Edward and Lucy R. Minor
Family Foundation, and to its
Joffrey Academy of Dance Sponsors Allstate, Exelon and Athletico.
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