CONTACT Tim Dunn (714) 556-2122 x4209, Tdunn@SCFTA.org Images: SCFTA.org/media RELEASE DATE November 19, 2018 Dorrance Dance Makes Its Segerstrom Center Debut Performing West Coast Premiere of ETM: Double Down from Groundbreaking Choreographers Michelle Dorrance and Nicholas Van Young May 3, 2019 in Segerstrom Hall Tickets on sale now COSTA MESA, CA Groundbreaking tap dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance, winner of a 2015 MacArthur Fellowship and one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today (The New Yorker), brings her company Dorrance Dance to Segerstrom Center for the Arts for one night only: Friday, May 3, 2019 in Segerstrom Hall at 7:30 p.m. The Stage said, The varied sequences are individually stunning technically innovative with room enough for improvisation. The company will perform the West Coast premiere of the complete ETM: Double Down. Single tickets start at $39 and are available now online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. Michelle Dorrance and her Bessie Award-winning collaborator Nicholas Van Young bring tap dance into the age of electronic music. Performing on percussive electronic tap boards designed and made by Young, the company creates a thrilling combination of movement and music, producing what Dorrance and Young call ETM (which stands for Electronic Tap Music). Young s electronic tap boards make the stage talk back, as every step, swipe and scrape of their choreography sets off an element of sound,
Dorrance Dance NEWS 2/5 building musical loops, turning the stage into a musical instrument in its own right. With Afro-Brazilian, indie-pop, and music from Adele triggered by the eight dancers footwork, ETM: Double Down takes this American dance form to a new level and reminds the audience that tap dancing is something to both watch and listen to. Young built the ETM: Double Down equipment over two years, connecting them to a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) controller, popular in electronic music since the 1980s. ETM: Double Down also features live music by an acoustic trio that includes vocalist Aaron Marcellus, bassist Gregory Richardson and pianist Donovan Dorrance. Along with the musicians, there are seven tap dancers, including Dorrance and Van Young, Ephrat Bounce Asherie, a B-girl (2016 Bess Award Winner), whose movement also activates the music, Christopher Broughton, Elizabeth Burke, Warren Craft, Leonardo Sandoval and Byron Tittle. Dorrance Dance honors tap dance s unique history in a new context by upholding the traditional form while pushing its rhythmic, technical, and conceptual boundaries. The company is passionately committed to expanding the audience of tap dance, America s long-standing indigenous jazz vernacular. By incorporating other forms that have shaped the foundation of American culture such as street, club & experimental dance Dorrance Dance highlights the traditional elements of tap dance and its musical rhythms in a contemporary light. Founded in 2011 by Artistic Director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company s inaugural performance garnered a Bessie Award for blasting open our notions of tap. In the following years, the company has received countless accolades, rave reviews, and has performed for packed houses at The Joyce Theater, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center, Vail Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill, Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, among many others, including international venues in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, England, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The company is currently touring its repertory nationally and internationally while rehearsing and creating new works in its NYC home and through creative residency opportunities. As Dorrance Dance continues to expand its programs to help shape and educate the next generation of tap dancers, the company will partner with Nicholas Van Young's Institute for the Rhythmic Arts, among other educational initiatives. Michelle Dorrance is a New York City-based tap dancer, choreographer, director, teacher, performer, and is the founder and artistic director of Dorrance Dance. Mentored by Gene Medler, she grew up performing with his North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble and has since performed with: STOMP, Savion
Dorrance Dance NEWS 3/5 Glover s ti dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy & Co, JazzTap Ensemble, Rumba Tap, Ayodele Casel s Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee s Dancing Ladies, Harold Cromer s original Opus One, Derick Grant s Imagine Tap, Jason Samuels Smith s Charlie s Angels/Chasing the Bird, Jon Batiste and Stay Human on CBS s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and toured the US, Europe, and Australia playing the bass for indie-pop sensation, Darwin Deez. Most recently Michelle was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre and Vail Dance Festival to create three new works of choreography. She also has served as Vail Dance Festival s 2017 Artist-In- Residence, curated Tireless: A Tap Dance Experience at Jacob s Pillow Dance Festival while co-directing it s tap education program with Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, and collaborated with Nicholas Van Young on Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum s first site-specific commission for the Guggenheim Rotunda. Michelle s choreography is performed throughout the world and has been featured at countless theaters, clubs, and festivals including a choreographic commission for the The Martha Graham Dance Company as a part of their Lamentation Variations, and a high-fashion short film for Tabitha Simmons. Michelle is a 2018 Doris Duke Artist, 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, 2016-17 New York CityCenter Choreography Fellow, 2016 United States Artists Award Recipient, 2015 MacArthur Fellow, 2014 Alpert Award winner, 2013 Jacob s Pillow Dance Award winner, 2012 Princess Grace Award winner, 2012 Field Dance Fund recipient, 2011/2015 Bessie Award winner. She is an Artist-In-Residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation, has been featured on the cover of Dance Magazine (twice) as well as Dance Teacher Magazine, is a Capezio Athlete, is a Virgo (Aquarius rising, Gemini moon), and her favorite colors are various shades of green and grey. A passionate educator, Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University, she teaches on faculty at IFTRA, taught on faculty at Broadway Dance Center, and teaches as a guest artist at universities, festivals, and arts organizations through the world. She credits the master hoofers from whom she studied with in her youth for constant inspiration and influence. Nicholas Van Young, a 2015 Bessie Award winner, is a New York-based dancer, choreographer, musician and master teacher. He began his professional career at age 16 under Acia Gray and Deidre Strand with Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX, eventually rising to principal dancer and resident choreographer. Since moving to New York, Young has performed with Manhattan Tap, RumbaTap, Dorrance Dance and to Cyro Baptista s Beat the Donkey. Young has toured as a drummer for Darwin Deez and spent almost a decade with STOMP, performing the lead role and as rehearsal director. He tours both nationally and internationally, teaching and performing at various Tap Festivals. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of his own dance company, Sound Movement. Young co-created ETM: The Initial Approach and ETM: Double Down with Michelle Dorrance, which feature innovative and unique tap dance instruments of his own design.
Dorrance Dance NEWS 4/5 Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds its corporate partners, including Kia Motors America, Official Automotive Partner and United Airlines, Official Airline. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence, offering unsurpassed experiences and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring arts-based education and community engagement programs. Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County s largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School. The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. Segerstrom Center is a leader among the nation s performing arts centers for providing education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. The Center s programs reach hundreds of thousands of students each year in five Southern California counties. Community engagement programs developed through the Center for Dance and Innovation and Center Without Boundaries also connect the Center more comprehensively with Orange County s many diverse communities. The CDI supports flagship artistic programming and a wide range of projects that celebrate innovation, nurture creativity and engage audiences of the future. It is home to the ABT Gillespie School and the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities. The Center Without Boundaries develops partnerships with noncultural organizations to help them in their own efforts to respond to the ever-changing needs of the community. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons performed at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. In addition to Segerstrom Center for the Arts as a presenting and producing institution, it also identifies the beautiful 14-acre campus that embraces the Center s own facilities as well as two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award -winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.
Dorrance Dance NEWS 5/5 DORRANCE DANCE ETM: DOUBLE DOWN Segerstrom Center for the Arts Segerstrom Hall 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Friday, May 3, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. Choreography by Michelle Dorrance and Nicholas Van Young, with Ephrat Asherie and solo improvisation by the dancers Original music by Gregory Richardson, Nicholas Van Young, Donovan Dorrance, Aaron Marcellus, Warren Craft, with Michelle Dorrance Additional music by Adele Adkins, Karin Dreijer Andersson, Olof Dreijer, Justin Vernon and Patrick Watson Tickets - In person - Online - Start at $39, tickets go on sale DATE The Box Office 600 Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Open 10 a.m. 6 p.m. daily SCFTA.org Phone - (714) 556-2787 Open 10 a.m. 6 p.m. daily Group Sales - (714) 755-0236 Information provided is accurate at the time of printing, but is subject to change. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a public, non-profit organization. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a registered trademark. # # #