The Professional Program
Summer 2021
EKMAN – ARIAS – FORSYTHEApply below!
The Professional Program aims to give selected dancers professional experience learning current repertory from renowned teachers and rehearsal dancers.
This program is repertory-based and in addition to technique classes, dancers will participate in workshops based on the techniques and repertory from top choreographers, Alexander Ekman, William Forsythe and Bryan Arias. This program would be a fantastic supplement to any dancer's training.
Choreography Fellows
We are happy to welcome the choreography of the following choreographers to our program. Students will learn repertory taught by professional assistants.
Alexander Ekman
Born in Sweden, Alexander Ekman danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Cullberg Ballet and the Nederlands Dans Theater NDT 2 before ending his dancing career in 2006 to concentrate entirely on choreography. Since then, the works of the young choreographer have been in international demand and represent a uniquely original style in their combination of entertainment, surprise and irritation.
In 2006 Ekman achieved his international breakthrough with “Flockwork” for the NDT 2. The Ballett Theater Basel danced this piece as part of the ballet evening “Absolut Dansa” in 2013. Works for u. a. the Compañía Nacional de Danza, the Göteborg Ballett, the Berner Ballett, the Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin, the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz and the Boston Ballet. Alexander Ekman's first full-length work was in 2011 with ``Ekman’s Triptych`` for the Cullberg Ballet. The same year, he worked as a teacher and choreographer at the Juilliard School in New York City before becoming an Associated Choreographer at the Nederlands Dans Theater from 2011 to 2013.
In 2010 Ekman landed a world hit there with “Cacti”, which was awarded numerous prizes such as the Olivier Award (2012) and the Helpman Award (2013). Ekman also created the dance film ``40 Meters Under`` for and with the Cullberg Ballet in 2009, which was broadcast on Swedish television, and in 2014 he worked with Swedish choreographer Mats Ek on video projections for his work ``Håll Plats``.
Since her first joint production «Tyll» for the Royal Swedish Ballet in 2012, Ekman has worked closely with the composer Mikael Karlsson. With him he created his two full-length narrative works ``A Swan Lake``, premiered at the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo in 2014, and ``Midsommarnattsdröm`` in 2015 for the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm.
Ekman received the German Theater Prize DER FAUST for ``COW``. In 2017 Alexander Ekman choreographed another full-length ballet entitled ``Play`` for the ballet of the Paris Opera. His most recent work, Escapist, premiered at the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm in April 2019.
Bryan Arias
Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Bryan moved with his family to New York City at the age of nine. While growing up Bryan was exposed to many urban and social dance styles, receiving his formal dance training at
La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts.
As a dancer, Bryan went on to perform with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, The Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT), and Crystal Pite’s company Kidd Pivot. He has originated roles in and performed in works by notable choreographers including Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin and Crystal Pite.
As a choreographer, Bryan is the recipient of the First Place and
Audience Choice awards for his work Without Notice at the Sixth Copenhagen International Choreography Competition,
nominated for the Rolex mentor and protégé award, a 2017 winner of the Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award and the recipient of the 2018-19 Jacobs Pillow Fellowship award. Bryan has choreographed for the Juilliard School, Netherlands Dance Theater 2, Ballet Vorpommern (Germany), The Scottish Ballet, Tanz Lucerne Theater, Ballet Theater Basel, The Paul Taylor Company, Charlotte Ballet and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.
William Forsythe
William Forsythe is a radical innovator in choreography and dance. For more than four decades, he has redefined the syntax and praxis of his field, exerting unparalleled influence on subsequent generations of artists. Over the course of his career, he has developed an extensive repertoire of groundbreaking ballet choreographies and experimental, non-proscenium-based dance-theater works, as well as an open-access digital platform for dance analysis, notation, and improvisation. His works are featured in the repertoire of many of the world’s major ballet companies, including Paris Opera Ballet; Mariinsky Ballet, Saint Petersburg; Semperoper Ballet, Dresden, Germany; Royal Ballet, London; New York City Ballet; San Francisco Ballet; Boston Ballet; and the National Ballet of Canada. Parallel with the evolution of his choreographic performances, Forsythe has worked for more than twenty years on installations, film works, and discrete, interactive sculptures, which he calls “choreographic objects.”
Forsythe was born in 1949 in New York. He was resident choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet, Germany, from 1976 to 1984, and director of Ballet Frankfurt, Germany, from 1984 to 2004. He established and directed the Forsythe Company from 2005 to 2015, and was most recently artistic advisor to the Paris Opera. He was named an honorary fellow of the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London and holds an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School in New York. Solo museum exhibitions include Proliferation and Perfect Disorder, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2006); Additive Inverse, 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo (2007); Focus on Forsythe, Sadler’s Wells and Tate Modern, London (2009); Transfigurations, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio (2009); Nowhere and Everywhere, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (2013); The Fact of Matter, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany (2015); and Wanås Konst, Knislinge, Sweden (2017). Beginning in 1989 with a special commission by architect Daniel Libeskind, The Books of Groningen, Forsythe has produced numerous installations, among them Tight Roaring Circle, Artangel, London (1997); Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time, Creative Time, New York (2005); and Black Flags, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany (2014–15). He has participated in the Whitney Biennial (1997); Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2005, 2009, 2012, 2014); and Sydney Biennale (2016).
Forsythe has received several awards, including the title of Commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters (1999); Hessische Kulturpreis/Hessian Culture Prize (1995); German Distinguished Service Cross (1997); Wexner Prize (2002); Golden Lion of the Biennale di Venezia (2010); Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2012); and Grand Prix de la SACD (2016).