Choreographers
Season 6:
ALEXANDER ANDERSON
Alexander Anderson, hailing from South Florida, has swiftly made his mark in the dance world. After attending the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, he gained admission to The Juilliard School, where he honed his skills under the guidance of esteemed choreographers and showcased his choreographic prowess. With notable performances at renowned dance companies like Nederlands Dans Theater and Gibney Dance, Alexander's talent and dedication have garnered critical acclaim, earning him prestigious awards including the Dizzy Feet Foundation Scholarship Award, the 2013 Princess Grace Foundation Scholarship Award, and recognition as Dance Europe Magazine's critic's choice for 'Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer'. As a versatile dancer, choreographer, and faculty member at prestigious institutions, he continues to captivate audiences with his artistic vision and innovative approach to movement. With an impressive portfolio of commissions, including works for Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Peridance Youth Ensemble, Ballet Austin II, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, and Ailey BFA Fordham (Benefit Concert 2023), Alexander Anderson's creative collaborations highlight his ability to bring unique and captivating choreography to the stage. Alexander's contributions to the art of dance and his ongoing commitment to artistic exploration position him as a rising force in the field.
BRYAN ARIAS
Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Arias grew up and studied dance in New York City. He was a performer with the Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT) and Crystal Pite’s company Kidd Pivot. Originating roles and performing in works by master choreographers including Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin and Crystal Pite.
As a choreographer, Arias has created original works for internationally renowned companies such as the Netherlands Dance Theater, Zurich Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, Bern Ballet, Ballet Theater Basel, Tanz Lucerne Theater, Leipzig Ballet, Hessisches Staatsballet, Nuremberg Ballet, Paul Taylor Company, Gibney Company, Charlotte Ballet, Scottish Ballet, among others.
Arias is the recipient of the 2020 prestigious German Der Faust Award, 2019 Jacobs Pillow Fellowship Award, and the 2017 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award.
In 2015, Arias founded ARIAS Company. A project based multidisciplinary company where he created evening length works which toured around the world to festival such as Jacob's Pillow(USA), Danse Danse(Montreal), and The Colours Festival(Stuttgart).
ALBA CASTILLO
From Valencia, Spain, Castillo began her dance career at the age of 17 with Teatres de la Generalitat Valenciana dance company. In 2007, she joined the Compañia Nacional de Danza 2 under the leadership of Nacho Duato, and after, she was a soloist with the Ballet Theater Basel. During her dance career Castillo has originated roles in and performed in works by world renowned choreographers.
In 2012, Castillo began her choreographic career with a work titled ”Bipolar Skin”. The work was awarded second prize at the Certamen Internacional de Coreografía Burgos & New York, and won the Audience Choice Award at the 5th Copenhagen International Choreography Competition. She has been nominated for a 21st. PREMIOS MAX de las artes escénicas (21st. MAX Awards in Spain), and received second prize at Synodales - Concours Chorégraphique Contemporain for her choreography "The Breathing Room". In 2019 she won the Gold Medal and received the best choreography award at the 5th Beijing Ballet and Choreography Competition for her work "Remember me, like this”, and a choreography award at the Oltner Tanztage, NEW IDEAS II for her work "Before You Land”. Castillo has a higher education and a master in stage design.
Castillo has created original works for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam(Netherlands), Opèra National du Rhin (France), Philadelphia Ballet (USA), Ballet Bremerhaven (Germany), Theater St.Gallen (Switzerland), Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern (Germany) and VDF (Spain), among others.
In 2020, Castillo co-founded Company Snorkel Rabbit, a multidisciplinary company based in Basel, Switzerland, and currently the resident company of Opera de Massy(France).
JOSÉ LIMÓN
(1908-1972) electrified the world with his dynamic masculine dancing and dramatic choreography. He was born in Culiacan, Mexico, and his family moved to California in 1915. As a young man Limón came to New York to study art, saw his first dance program, and realized that dance was his destiny. He worked with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman from 1930 to 1940. In 1946, with Doris Humphrey as Artistic Director, Limón formed his own company. Over the following 25 years, he established himself and his company as one of the major forces of 20th century dance. Today, the José Limón Dance Foundation continues his work through two entities: the Limón Dance Company, an international touring repertory company, and the Limón Institute, an educational and archival resource organization.
LAURA O’MALLEY
Laura O'Malley was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and trained on full scholarship at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. Laura went on to dance professionally at globally renowned companies such as the Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, and Stuttgart Ballet, where she was promoted to soloist. In 2012, Laura was invited to dance for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which eventually led to her tenure with Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. In 2017 Laura joined SFDanceworks, where she later also choreographed, received her first choreographic commission in 2019 and accepted a co-director position from 2020-2021.
As a performer, Laura was lauded for her interpretations in dozens of soloist and principal roles including title roles in “Giselle”, “La Sylphide”, “Lulu”. She originated roles in creations by Douglas Lee, Wayne McGregor, Mauro Bigonzetti, Alejandro Cerrudo, Christian Spuck, Krzyztof Pastor, Bridget Breiner, Alonzo King, and Danielle Rowe, and performed work by acclaimed choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Marco Goecke, Hans van Manen, Jorma Elo, Twyla Tharp, and Martha Graham.
Having had the unparalleled experience of collaborating with so many innovators, Laura takes great pride in sharing her knowledge as a facilitator, creator, and educator with LINES ballet’s education programs. Work that led her to serve as the rehearsal director for LINES Ballet from 2021-2022.
In 2022, Laura committed fully to pursuing her own choreographic career. Laura has had works commissioned by American Ballet Theater’s choreographic incubator project, and was a finalist at the 2019 Palm Desert Choreography Festival. Laura’s work was referred to as “promising” by Rachel Howard, for her highly regarded second commission for SFDanceworks. In 2023, Laura is preparing a third commission with SFDanceworks, as well as a second commission with LINES Ballet’s training program.
Outside of choreography and mentorship, Laura enjoys reading with her two cats, hiking the great California trails, and teaching GYROTONIC®.
Photo credit: Nicholas Korkos
PAM TANOWITZ
“Pam Tanowitz is quick-witted and rigorous. The New York-based choreographer and collaborator has steadily delineated her own dance language through decades of research and creation. Charmingly cheeky, the 2020 Doris Duke Artist redefines tradition through careful examination, subtly questioning those who came before her yet never yielding to perceptions stuck in the past. And now, the world’s most respected companies—The Martha Graham Dance Company, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, among others—are proudly integrating Tanowitz’s poetic universe into their repertories.
Tanowitz’s combination of intentional unpredictability, whimsical complexity and natural drama evoke master dance makers from Merce Cunningham to George Balanchine through the clever weaving of movement, music and space. Her “sublime dance theater of the highest caliber” avoids narrative while audiences are instead “taken, poetically, through planes of existence” (The New York Times).
Tanowitz holds degrees from Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College, where she clarified her creative voice under former Cunningham dancer and choreographer Viola Farber. After attaining her MFA, Tanowitz moved to New York City to begin her professional career. She immersed herself in dance by working in administration at the New York City Center, splitting her time off by studying the Center’s archived dance videos or developing her own work in their studios. In 2000, she founded Pam Tanowitz Dance (PTD) to explore dance-making with a consistent community of dancers. She has since been commissioned by The Joyce Theater, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Vail Dance Festival, and many other leading arts institutions, and has received numerous honors and fellowships from organizations ranging from the Bessie Awards, The Guggenheim Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts and Princeton University, among others.
When awarding Tanowitz the 2017 BAC Cage Cunningham Fellowship, Mikhail Baryshnikov, the center’s artistic director, described her interrogative approach to choreography as “a distinct intellectual journey.” Her dances have been called a “rare achievement” (The New York Times) and her 2018 work for PTD, Four Quartets, inspired by T.S. Eliot’s literary masterpiece and set to music by Kaija Saariaho, was called “the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century” (The New York Times). In 2019, in addition to receiving the Herb Alpert Award, Tanowitz was named the first-ever choreographer in residence at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Tanowitz’s meticulous years of study have resulted in a non-nostalgic dance dialogue with her own artistic antecedents. But it is not only dance history that colors her choreographic palate. With the same curiosity and intellectual exchange, Tanowitz engages directly with her dancers in the studio. She asks questions and assigns tasks. Her “no steps are off limits” approach encourages the dancers’ own input, which allows an intimate complicity to take place on stage. Of her “gloriously rich” premiere at the Royal Ballet, The New York Times described the dancers as “dancing for and with one another,” and the audience “lucky to be watching” such a tender rapport.
Tanowitz’s resourceful creativity allows her pieces to develop in real-time. Masked contemporary references peak out among traditional movement turned on its side, creating subtle accessibility in the best way possible. Her reconstruction of deconstructed classical and modern dance renders her work uncannily familiar while being entirely brand-new. With a toolbox filled by the present and past, Tanowitz is making dances for the 21st century.”
Text by Sarah Silverblatt-Buser
Photograph by George Etheredge
STAGERS
VINCENT McCLOSKEY
In addition to being an adjunct faculty member in the dance department of Barnard College since 2015, Vincent McCloskey (he/him) teaches in the Open Arts Department at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Having studied ballet and modern dance in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and in New York at Alvin Ailey and the Joffrey Ballet School, Vincent appeared with the Mark Morris Dance Group and was a member of Pam Tanowitz Dance and the Lucinda Childs Dance Company for ten years. He has also performed in the work of Dusan Tynek, Patricia Hoffbauer, Yvonne Rainer, Sean Curran, and Karole Armitage. He has assisted Pam Tanowitz staging her works since 2017.