Cast

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Credits

• Artist Profiles >>

Artist Profiles

CHOREOGRAPHIC FINALISTS

Gregory Dolbashian – Born and raised in New York City, Dolbashian made his professional stage debut at the age of eight with the Glimmerglass Opera Company, then was cast in the Philip Glass/Robert Wilson world tour of Einstein on the Beach. Dolbashian received his dance training at the Alvin Ailey School on a fellowship scholarship and graduated cum laude from SUNY Purchase dance conservatory, where he studied composition with Kazuko Hirabayashi. He has performed with Patrick Corbin, Nelly van Bommel, Sylvain Emard, and the Chicago Ballet. He was resident choreographer for both Chicago Ballet’s spring season in 2008 and CorbinDances in 2007. He was selected as one of four emerging choreographers in the Springboard Montreal intensive run by Juilliard’s Alexandra Wells. Dolbashian’s works have also been performed at Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Dance Festival (MA), Joyce SoHo, Alvin Ailey Studio Theatre (NY), Dance Place (DC), Athenaeum Theatre (Chicago), the Dance Theater Lab (SUNY Purchase) as part of the Dance Sampler at Symphony Space, as well as his first commission for CityDance Ensemble (DC). Dolbashian debuted his own company, The DASH Ensemble, in December 2009 at Joyce SoHo. In 2010, The DASH performed as part of Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival in July, DanceNOW at DTW in September, and the NuDances Series in December. Dolbashian is the co-founder of The Playground, an open-door, on-going choreographic program.

Loni Landon – Born and raised in New York City, Landon trained at NYC High School of Performing Arts, Dance Theater of Harlem, The School at Jacob's Pillow, and The Scholarship Program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2005, under the direction of the late Benjamin Harkarvy and Larry Rhodes, she received her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School. After graduation, she worked with Aszure Barton on the opening of the Baryshnikov Arts Center before joining Ballet Theater Munich directed by Phillip Taylor, under whose guidance she began to explore her own choreography. From 2007–09, she performed with Tanz Theater Munich under the direction of Henning Paar. During her time in Munich, she was exposed to a variety of European choreographers, including Jiri Kylian, Stephan Thoss, Rui Horta, Robert North,Tony Rizzi, Cayetano Soto, Mirko Hektor, and Marco Goecke. Landon was a finalist in the Hannover International Choreography Competition 2009. Her work has been shown in The State Theater of Munich, H.T. Chen's NewSteps Choreography Series, The Dance Gallery Festival at The Ailey Theater in NYC, DanceNOW Raw Festival, APAP at City Center, American College Dance Festival, and at SUNY Purchase. Her group, Loni Landon-projects, was invited to perform at Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out festival in Summer 2011.

Landon, along with Gregory Dolbashian, also founded The Playground, a program designed to give emerging choreographers a place to experiment while allowing professional dancers to participate on a donation basis. Most recently, she was the winner of Northwest Dance Project's Pretty Creatives choreography competition. She has been commissioned to create works for Northwest Dance Project and the Next commission from CityDance Ensemble in Washington, D.C. She was featured with Northwest Dance Project in Dance Magazine October 2010.

Bradley Shelver – Shelver was born in South Africa and trained in the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg and the Ailey School, NYC. He has danced with the Alvin Ailey Repertory Company, Elisa Monte Dance, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, the Francesca Harper Project, Limón Dance Company, Phoenix Dance Theater (UK), and the MET Opera Ballet and as guest artist with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., Lar Lubovich Dance, Graham Lustig Dance Theater, Universal Ballet, and in productions with the Mark Morris Dance Group and Radio City Music Hall. He has also performed solo tours and galas throughout Europe and the USA and has choreographed works for international companies in the USA and Europe. He is Artistic Director of Bradley Shelver Contemporary Dance Theater and is on the faculty of schools and universities worldwide. He is guest company teacher for Matthew Bourne's New Adventures in Motion Pictures company and Phoenix Dance Theater. He has written for Dance Spirit magazine in the USA and Dance Europe, and his book Performance through the Dance Technique of Lester Horton will be published by L'epos in 2012.


JURORS

Anik Bissonnette – Bissonnette began her training at the École de danse Eddy Toussaint. In 1989, she joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montréal and was named Principal Dancer. Throughout her career, Bissonnette has worked with James Kudelka, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, Ginette Laurin, José Navas, and Nils Christie. As an Artistic Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur and as a President of the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD), Bissonnette also work with Édouard Lock at La La La Human Steps. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995 and a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1996.

Molly Lynch – Lynch is an award-winning choreographer and artistic director. She was the Artistic Director for Ballet Pacifica from 1988–2003 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of the National Choreographers Initiative, an internationally known project to nurture the development of new choreography. She has recently created new ballets for Sacramento Ballet, Nashville Ballet, BalletMet, Dance Collage, and Academies of Ballet in Philippines.

Lynch began her dance training with Lila Zali, received a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet, and performed as a soloist and principal dancer with the Louisville Ballet and Ballet Pacifica for over 10 years. At the University of California, Irvine, she studied with distinguished figures in dance such as Eugene Loring, Antony Tudor, and Olga Maynard. Upon receiving her MFA in dance from UCI, she was named Outstanding Graduate Student, the first student from Fine Arts so honored. In 1992, Lynch was given the esteemed Outstanding Alumnus award from UCI and was named one of Orange County METRO magazine's "Ten Women Who Make a Difference.” She was also the recipient of the Red Cross Clara Barton Cultural Arts Award (1996), the Boy Scouts of America Women of Excellence Award (1996), and the Choo San Goh Award for Choreography (2001). In 2007, she received the Outstanding Arts Organization Award (2007) for her National Choreographers Initiative from Arts Orange County, and the Irvine Barclay Theatre's prestigious Jade Award (2008) for her extraordinary leadership and creativity.

Zachary Whittenburg – Zachary entered the dance scene as a performer, joining Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet in 1998. His dancing career later brought him to North Carolina Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and BJM Danse Montréal. More recently he has freelanced, taught ballet and improvisation for professional dancers, and has presented choreography in Chicago, Canada and for the camera. As a writer, Zachary has covered dance, film, music and performance for international online magazine Flavorpill, the Windy City Times, Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher, Dance Spirit, Pointe, Total Theatre UK and his own site, trailerpilot.com, in addition to penning program notes and a series of essays for the Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s CDF Salon Series. Since fall 2009 he has been the Dance editor in Chicago for Time Out, a weekly arts and culture magazine published worldwide.