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UCLA National Dance/Media Project Names 1999 Fellows

Carolyn Campbell (ccampbel@arts.ucla.edu) (310) 825-6540
For Immediate Use Thursday, November 05, 1998.

Eight individuals have been chosen to participate in the UCLA National Dance/Media Project Fellowship Program. The 10-week residency, which begins in January 1999, is a major initiative of the Center for Intercultural Performance in the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture's Department of World Arts and Cultures (WAC).

Fellows are selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants and undergo a rigorous screening process. The 1999 Fellows include seven professional choreographers and film/video artists --Charles Dennis (New York), Victoria Marks (Los Angeles), Marlene Millar (Warsaw, Indiana), Morleigh Steinberg (Los Angeles), Philip Szporer (Montreal, Canada), Carmella Vassor (Philadelphia), and Andy Abrahams Wilson (San Francisco) -- and UCLA WAC graduate student Diana Sherwood.

Now in its second year, the Fellowship Program is an intensive professional workshop that provides the opportunity to study with distinguished leaders in the fields of dance and media. Fellows develop collaborative projects that explore the cutting edge of documentation and dance/media experimentation. While at UCLA, they have access to the rich resources of the Department of World Arts and Cultures and the Center for Intercultural Performance.

The UCLA National Dance/Media Project is designed to enhance the quality, quantity and accessibility of dance documentation. The program fosters generative strategies that record dance and enhance its creative practice and intellectual investigation. In addition to the Fellowship Program, components include the Leadership Group, a core advisory team that meets annually to provide expertise and develop strategies for advancement in the field of dance.

The UCLA National Dance/Media Project along with the National Initiative to Preserve America's Dance (NIPAD), Washington, DC, comprise SAVE AS: DANCE, a multimillion dollar national initiative funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts that advances the ability of artists and communities to document and preserve dance choreography and traditions. SAVE AS: DANCE supports the significant contribution of dance artists and dance traditions to the development of American culture through documentation, preservation and public access. The Save As: Dance web site address is http://save-as-dance.org.

The Pew Charitable Trusts support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems. In 1997, with $4.5 billion in assets, the Trusts granted $181 million to 320 nonprofit organizations.

For further information about these and other programs, visit the Center for Intercultural Performance's web site at www.arts.ucla.edu/centers/cip/cip.html or contact Ming Ng at (310) 206-1867 or at ming@arts.ucla.edu.

Detailed biographical information about each recipient follows.

1999 UCLA National Dance Media Fellows Biographies

CHARLES DENNIS (New York) is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates works of dance, performance art and video. A former member of Robert Wilson's theater company, his work has been presented in venues throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Dennis is the recipient of two Choreographer's Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and two Fellowships in Choreography and Performance Art from the New York Foundation for the Arts. His repertoire includes solo pieces as well as intergenerational community-oriented group works. He is the producer and director of "Alive and Kicking," a video documentary series about cutting edge dance and performance artists. The series, which airs on Manhattan Cable, is distributed to museums and universities worldwide, and has a web site (www.ps122.org/palive.htm). Since 1978, he has taught dance, performance and video workshops in a wide variety of settings, including art centers, schools, mental health facilities, senior centers and universities. He is co-founder of Performance Space 122 in New York City, one of the country's most active centers for new dance and performance, and serves on its board of directors and artists advisory board.

VICTORIA MARKS (Los Angeles), an assistant professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures, creates dances in community settings as well as for stage, film, and professional dancers. Before coming to UCLA, she lived in England, where she worked on choreographic projects and directed the choreography program at London Contemporary Dance School for three-and-a-half years. Her collaborations with British film director Margaret Williams have been broadcast on television in the United States, Europe and Australia. Recent projects include site-specific work for the opening of the Getty Center; "Ah Q," a dance/theater collaboration with acclaimed Beijing playwright, Xu Ying; and performances in New York (DTW); Washington, D.C. (Dance Place); Los Angeles (J. Paul Getty Museum, California Plaza and Dance Kaleidoscope); and Antwerp, Belgium. Marks received the 1997 Alpert Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. She has been the recipient of grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the London Arts Board, among others, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship in Choreography. Her numerous awards for her dance films include the Grand Prix in the Video Danse Festival (1995 and 1996); the Golden Antenae Award from Bulgaria; the IMZ Award for best screen choreography; and the Best of Show in the Dance Film Association's Dance and the Camera Festival.

MARLENE MILLAR (Warsaw, Ind.), an experimental and documentary filmmaker, has been working in dance and film since 1988. Her exploratory and collaborative work with both visual and performing artists has resulted in a number of award-winning films and videos. She received her B.F.A. in film production and contemporary dance from Concordia University in Montreal, where she later taught video production classes that she developed specifically for dance. Now based in the Midwest, Millar has studied in the graduate filmmaking program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is presently completing a documentary on small town life in the Bible Belt. An expert in the field of digital editing technology, she has created training seminars and has worked as an advisor on feature films, television series and documentaries. Planned projects include a series about the creative process in the arts, with colleague Philip Szporer.

DIANA SHERWOOD (Los Angeles), a dancer, performer, writer and director, is currently working on her second M.A. in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures, having received her first in dance ethnography in 1996. Her academic background includes studies in religion, philosophy and dance. She re-enrolled in World Arts and Cultures to explore cross-cultural connections between performance and belief systems. The focus of her studies has been to consider what meaning we make and express when performance is bound to media and new technologies. Sherwood has created and performed in seminal dance and media installations at UCLA, and has danced as a soloist for the Los Angeles-based Movement Company. She has also danced with the Boston Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Graham School in New York, and with modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm. Sherwood was honored by working on a piece especially choreographed for her by Holm.

MORLEIGH STEINBERG (Los Angeles) is a dancer, choreographer, lighting designer and filmmaker. She was a co-founding member of ISO Dance Theater and a formative member of Momix, with which she has toured extensively. She has also toured with Daniel Ezralow and Friends, the rock group U2, and as a solo artist/performer. She has collaborated on several productions with Los Angeles-based Butoh dancer Oguri and Roxanne Steinberg, and has been working as lighting designer for Oguri and Renzoku. She choreographed and performed in numerous music videos and films, inspiring her to explore the medium of film. She conceived and directed her first film, "Traveling Light," which was noted in festivals around the world. She continues to direct film projects, including dance-inspired shorts, music videos and documentaries.

PHILIP SZPORER (Montreal, Canada) is a freelance writer, broadcaster, producer, lecturer and consultant. He is currently a correspondent for the daily radio program, "The World," a co-production of the BBC and WGBH Radio, broadcast on Public Radio International. He has done various broadcast work in the arts, music, variety and public affairs divisions for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio and television networks, BBC Radio and Radio Netherlands International. Publication credits include HOUR, for which he is dance critic and feature writer; The Gazette; The Village Voice; The Globe and Mail; and Dance Connection. Szporer was dance consultant on the National Film Board of Canada's award-winning "Lodela," an experimental film that unites the arts of dance and film. Future projects, with colleague Marlene Millar, include a series of films about the creative process.

CARMELLA VASSOR (Philadelphia) has been involved in the arts since the age of seven, dancing with Omo Ife (Arthur Hall's African Dance Ensembles' Children's Company). She later studied drama at the Performing Arts School in Philadelphia. After receiving her B.F.A. in drama from New York University, she joined the Philadelphia Dance Company and worked with other area companies as well. Her desire to return to the dramatic arts inspired her to relocate to Los Angeles, where she also began her journey into film and television production. She gained experience with a local cable company as well as on low- and no-budget film/video projects. During this time, she began producing community-based cultural, spiritual and motivational programming. Now back in Philadelphia, Vassor has combined her skills and interest in dance and the media arts. Most recently she opened a video production studio, Wild Child Productions, where she plans to nurture dance media projects and provide an open space where dancers, choreographers and media artists can showcase, experiment and produce work.

ANDY ABRAHAMS WILSON (San Francisco) is an independent filmmaker with a specialty in films about dance and the arts. He received his B.A. in cultural anthropology from Northwestern University and his M.A. in film and anthropology from the University of Southern California. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his 1996 documentary short, "Bubbeh Lee and Me," a portrait of his grandmother and of his search for his place in the world. His feature film, "Positive Motion," documents choreographer Anna Halprin's dance group of HIV-positive men. Drawing connections between performance and ritual, the film won Best of Show in the Dance on Camera Festival and top awards at the Grand Prix de Video Danse Festival. His other collaboration with Halprin, "Embracing Earth," shows dancers moving with the shapes, rhythms and textures of nature. Fascinated by the transformative power of dance and movement, Wilson uses his camera literally to enter the dance. In all his work he strives to dissolve barriers between observer and observed to create a heightened sense of intimacy. He operates Open Eye Pictures, an independent production company.


Contact: Carolyn Campbell
Phone: (310) 825-6540
Email: ccampbel@arts.ucla.edu