The New Dance Lab is a partnership between The Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission and Johnson County Community College.
The New Dance Lab allows a select group of established and aspiring dance professionals throughout the state of Kansas the opportunity to participate in intimate one-on-one and small group professional development experiences with one of the following national artists:
Owen/Cox Dance Group
Born in the Philippines and raised in LA, CA, Norbert De La Cruz III received a BFA in Dance from the Juilliard School and an MFA in Dance from Hollins University. He is a NY and LA based freelance artist.
A former soloist with Ballet Torino, Aszure Barton & Artists, Metropolitan Opera and Complexions, Norbert has created original works for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, New York City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Hubbard Street II, Ballet Hispanico, BalletX, Peridance, Juilliard, Olympic Ballet Theater, Big Muddy Dance Company, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance and many more.
Norbert was a Princess Grace Foundation-USA award recipient in choreography, Alvin Ailey New Directions Choreography Lab, Joffrey Academy of Dance’s Winning Works and a two-time recipient of the NYC Ballet’s NY Choreographic Institute. He was a former faculty member at Juilliard and a guest visiting artist at SUNY Purchase and Barnard Columbia University. His honorable mentions include the Asian Arts Alliance, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival Award, Youth American Grand Prix’s best choreographer award and was featured in Dance Magazines Top 25 to watch.
Norbert is in constant search of inspiration; seeking for more valuable collaborations and human connections.
www.NorbertDeLaCruziii.com IG: @Norbert.DeLaCruz.iii
Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company
Omar Román De Jesús (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a Queer Puertorriqueño choreographer and director of NYC-based dance company Boca Tuya. He is a 2023 inaugural Baryshnikov Arts Center Fellow at Kaatsbaan, a 2022 Princess Grace Award Winner in Choreography, a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, and a 2020 Recipient of The Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship (Jacob’s Pillow). He has been commissioned to create work on over 20 companies and pre professional schools including: The Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Paul Taylor Dance Company, Ballet Hispánico, Ballet Collective, Limón 2, MOVE NYC, Bruce Wood Dance, Jacob Jonas The Company, Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, Whim W’him, Parsons Dance, The Ailey School, Kennesaw State University, James Madison University and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Omar’s stage work has been awarded top recognition through the Joffrey Academy of Dance’s Winning Works Choreographic Competition, Whim W’him’s Choreographic Shindig, The Dance Gallery Festival, Reverb Dance Festival, and the International Dance Festival of Puerto Rico where he was awarded the Ambassador of Dance medal. Most recently, Omar’s work Los Perros del Barrio Colosal brought home first place from the Palm Desert Choreography Festival. Originally created for the screen in 2021, Los Perros del Barrio Colosal, has been viewed by audiences in over 20 countries and was awarded Best of Screen Dance International and Best Choreography and Best Narrative of ReThink Dance Film Festival. Since 2021, Omar’s work has additionally toured to ENDANZANTE (Colombia), Chop Shop: Bodies of Work (Seattle), PRISMA International Dance Festival (Panama), Masdanza (Canary Islands).
Störling Dance Theatre
Kyra Jean Green, a Canadian-American artist, was born in France, raised in Florida, and now lives in Montreal, Canada. She obtained her B.F.A. in dance from The Juilliard School in 2006. In 2007, Kyra won the Hubbard Street II choreographic competition, and the Kennedy Center commissioned her to present an evening of her work. She has since presented work at The Center for Performance and Research (Brooklyn, NY), CHOP SHOP (Bellevue, WA), F.A.T. (Toronto, CA), Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival (Guelph, CA), Dance Conference U.S.A. (Miami, FL), Quinzena de Dança de Almada,(Almada Portugal) Offset Dance Fest (Brooklyn NY) and CICC (Copenhagen, D.K.). In 2019 Kyra created new works in Germany for Choreolab made in Ulm and Seattle, Washington, for Whim W’him’s choreographic shindig. Later that year, she presented two choreographic works from her company at Prisma Dance Festival in Panama.
After ten years of working as a dancer, in 2017, Kyra decided it was time to create her own company, which she named Trip The Light Fantastic. The company involves the Montreal community’s dancers, visual artists, and filmmakers. The company’s movement language combines contemporary and urban styles and structured improvisation. Trip The Light Fantastic dives toward the harsh realities of the individual psyche and the social stigmas that prevent us from reaching our true liberation. These questions are asked through dance and mixed media to inspire positive social change. The company debuted in September 2017 at the Festival Quartiers Danses in Montreal, Canada, where she won the Prix Coup de Coeur 2016, 2018, and 2020. She has since presented TTLF in Panama, Denmark, New York, and Portugal. In 2021 Trip The Light Fantastic was invited to participate in C2 as the in-house dance company. You can find more info about Kyra and her company at www.TripTheLightFantastic.me
Kansas City Ballet
A 2021 Bogliasco Fellow, Gina Patterson has won such honors as the Choo San Goh Award, a nomination for an Isadora Duncan Award, the Hubbard Street 2 National Choreographic Competition, New Choreographers on Pointe, the National Choreographic Initiative, and a commission by The Cowles Center / SOLO Commissioning Program, funded by the McKnight
Foundation. Many of her works for companies have been generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
During her 25-year career as a principal dance artist, Ms. Patterson danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Ballet Austin, Ballet Florida, and as a guest artist in North America and Europe.
Ms. Patterson has been a prolific creator since 1998, making more than 120 works. Multi-disciplinary full-evening productions include Liquid Roads for MADCO, a contemporary adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for CoDa21, and a one act Hansel and Gretel created for the Croatian National Theatre. She often addresses social issues, as with her Anne Frank’s Diary, 72 Steps on Women’s Suffrage, and It Is as part of Freedom: A Civil Rights Project and Olin Library at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work encompasses concept, direction, and collaboration, appearing in the repertoire of companies such as Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Smuin Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Austin, Richmond Ballet, Dayton Ballet, BalletMet, and DanceWorks Chicago and has been presented internationally in Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Spain.
She educates through classes, creativity workshops and multi-disciplinary collaboration with young artists, having worked with University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Arts Umbrella in Vancouver, Dancers’ Workshop, Interlochen Arts Academy, Point Park University, Goucher College, Mercyhurst University, and the University of Iowa.
Ms. Patterson advocates for empathy and compassion, searching to uncover the authentic and vulnerable – the voice within. She uses her art to examine our humanity and interconnection, believing in the art form’s power — to heal; and through the creative process, build unity and community. ginapatterson.com for more info
The lab is a component of New Dance Partners, an initiative launched in 2013 by the Performing Arts Series/Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College to develop a dance awareness strategy for the region. Through New Dance Partners, a select group of local professional dance companies are paired with reputable choreographers from across the county to create new works. The program provides an opportunity for local dance companies to advance and sustain artistic development while building the local dance audience through a community-based festival in Kansas that celebrates the broad spectrum of dance in the area.
This lab seeks to provide an opportunity for local dance company advancement and artistic development through meaningful contact with national choreographers, to raise the profile of dance in the region and to highlight local talent. We welcome Kansas applicants from all backgrounds and dance disciplines. A small travel stipend may be available for accepted applicants from outside the Johnson County area.
Who Qualifies
Established and aspiring Kansas dance professionals age 18 and older.
Application Period
The 2021 application period has not yet been announced.
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining.
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