Ellen Cornfield Dance Press Kit 2015

8/10/2019 Ellen Cornfield Dance Press Kit 2015

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compelling NYTimes, Siobhan Burke 2014


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Ellen Cornfield has received support for her work fromnumerous organizations, including from the Asian CulturalCouncil for her repeated trips to Japan, the Low RoadFoundation, Meet the Composer, MCAF among others. Sheperformed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company forover eight years, touring the world and earning a reputation asone of the foremost Cunningham dancers of her generation.

Growing up a tomboy in Virginia she became interested indance at an early age, when her mother sent her to study balletin her elementary school cafeteria so that she would gain morepoise. She became serious about dance at the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley, where she both studied and then taughtGraham technique. Her move to New York City cemented herpath as a dance artist.

She formed Cornfield Dance in 1989 to support herchoreographic investigations, and has traveled with hercompany throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Japan,bringing her elegant and distinct choreography to newaudiences, performing in theaters, universities, as well asoutdoor and public spaces.

She has choreographed dances for many institutions, includingschools (Montclair State University, Hofstra University,Dartmouth University), dance companies (Scranton Civic Ballet,Reflex Dance Company Holland), and organizations (92 nd Street

Y Commissioning Series, Buskers Fare NYC, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, Jos Limon Company residency project).

She has been on the faculty at the University of California atBerkeley, and has been a guest artist at North Carolina Schoolfor the Arts, Ohio State University, Dartmouth University, SUNYPurchase among many others. Her teaching in Europe includesfor for various dance companies, including Rambert DanceCompany London, Charles le Rois Dance Belgium, and GroupeEmile Dubois France.


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Ellen Cornfields choreography exemplifies the exhilarating combination of heart and intellect, performed by dancers who are among the most proficient technical and kinetically expressive dancers around. The company hastoured nationally and internationally, to France, England, Holland, Poland, Russia, and Japan. Cornfields works revel inthe use of space, time and geometric relationships, creating a defined container filled with movement mixing elegant,robust, and at times quirky material, interspersed with surprising details suggesting stories that never become literal orobvious. The dances have rigorous structures that carry a pleasure all their own. Intelligence and humanity shinethroughout.

Cornfields interest in making her work available to a wide spectrum of audience has been realized in much of thecompanys work, with performances in alternative spaces - gardens, museums, plazas - as well as inside traditionaltheater spaces. International venues for her choreography include the International Dance Festival in Bytom, Poland (fourtimes), the C. Munch Theatre, Paris, The Place Theatre in London, the OPEN LOOK Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia, andthree venues in Japan over a two-week tour, with performances in Tokyo and Okayama.

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Pas de Detour, an evening-length dance for three plus Ms. Cornfield, deals with the idea ofobstacles, as we experience them in our lives, and the ways they can seemingly detour and derailus. These blocks can be our own emotions or the inevitable unplanned, unexpected life events.This work physicalizes these ideas, sporting a robust and voracious movement vocabulary thatbullets through the space at breakneck speed, then dissolves into a fluid, sinuous vocabulary.Within this highly physical language Cornfield utilizes choreographed facial expressions, inserted

with surgical precision to enhance and emphasize a specific moment. Pas de Detour establishes arich movement tapestry, ranging from a kinesthetic whirlwind to the details of our inner lives.

Time: 60 minutes, 10 minute section available Performers: 4 Dancers

Pas de Detour (2014 - 2015)Choreography: Ellen CornfieldMusic: Andreas Brade

Costumes: Rene Kurz

Performance Venue Possibilities Appropriate for stage and studio.

The opening duet [was] a powerfulcombination of parallel movements thatclaimed the entire floor, where they seemed

to levitate instead of just leaping.Martha Sherman, danceviewtimes 14

p

Photos: Steven Schreiber


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Small Stages, a work for five performed on and around a 6' X6' stage, zooms into close-up, framing the development ofrelationships in small stages attraction and courtship, asolitary figure relating to an empty chair, the negotiation andtussles built into a long-term relationship, the playfulnessamong friends. With humor, exuberance, conflict, passion, andtenderness, this work creates a large canvas in a small space, alandscape of human emotion and interactions.

Time: 32 minutes Performers: 3 Dancers, 2 non

dancing performers

Small Stages (2013)Choreography: Ellen CornfieldMusic: Andreas Brade

Costumes: Ellen Cornfield

Performance Venue PossibilitiesSuited to any venue - stage, studio, alternative/site-specific,outdoor locations, neighborhood cafes.

Small Stages was most compelling ...why bother with a theater, when youcan do so much with a platform the

size of your bathroom?Siobhan Burke, New York Times 14

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Photos: Bottom Left - Aaron Booher, all other - Steven Schreiber


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The furniture created a channelfor gentle humor

Martha Sherman,danceviewtimes 14

Slinking and slicing through the space, two women perform amercurial study in kaleidoscopic emotions, juxtaposing recognizableeveryday movements and situations with dance phrases full ofunexpected twists and turns. The dance language is interspersedwith idiosyncratic muscle movements a hip twitchspringy jumpshands (as) fluttering accents. In one section the women wrapthemselves on, around and over two sturdy stools, extending thesense of pixie play. This duet beguiles and provokes, providing anever-changing portrait of the two women and their interactions.

Time: 28 minutes Performers: 2 Dancers

Furniture Suite (2012)Choreography: Ellen CornfieldMusic: Andreas Brade

Costumes: Ellen Cornfield

Performance Venue Possibilities Appropriate for stage, studio, or alternative spacelocations. Originally performed in a hotel lobby.

...a crisp duet, moving in and out of parallel turns and elegant high leg lifts.

Martha Sherman, danceviewtimes 14

Photos: Steven Schreiber


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Small Stages was most compelling...thirty-six square feet can barely contain onedancer, let alone three, and when the trio occupied the platform together or in

pairs, they charted interweaving pathways with exciting precision, never sacrificingthe fullness or directness of their movement to the confines of the squarewhybother with a theater, when you can do so much with a platform the size of your

bathroom?New York Times July 2014 Siobhan Burke

Ellen Cornfield didnt need much space, much set, or much hoopla. Her smallcompany of excellent dancers moved to graceful and distinct choreography, adding

just enough humor to make it feel like a genuine celebration. Cornfield paidtribute to (Cunninghams) discipline and energy in her choreography, but shehumanized the work with tender underlying jokes and human expression, triggeringconnections among the dancers as characters in vaguely told stories.

Danceviewtimes October 2014 Martha Sherman

lively dancesfluency of kinetic invention spinning from (Cornfields) fertile

imaginationSolomons Says October 2014 Gus Solomons

Cornfield Dance gives us dancing! a kinetic balance between grace andathleticism that makes clear their passion and spot-on training.

iDanz, 2009

interesting program sponsored by the Art & Tech Department --> Dance for aSmall Room. portrayal of dancers interacting with each other and the musiciansin their confined space (beautifully situated in the Babbio Atrium with a backdropof the New York skyline), it developed meaning into relaying the idea ofconfinement, not solely physically, but societally and psychologicallyit was a good

show Art & Tech Newsletter, Stevens Institute of Technlogy, 2008

Fault Lines combines visual clarity with an ongoing springiness. People leapacross the space. Women race toward men and are whirled off their feet Theaccomplished dancersmove on strong, articulate legs. Cornfield skillfully variestheir big, bold patterns breaking out a trio here, a duet event there, a burst ofindividual steps.

Village Voice, 2007

(The dancers move) less by intent than by instinct the way birds feeding alonewill suddenly flock and fly up at change in the wind. Their forays are rich and full ofvariety from wild allegro to serenity in the blink of an eye.

Village Voice, 2002

Rich choreographic imagination. youthful passion and energy.Zachodni Newspaper Poland, 1998

Cornfield Dance has an internal power generated from the abstraction of thechoreography. It was fascinating. I was intoxicated from the combination of thetension and release of the dancing, as I drank in the space and time the dancerscreated through their bodies.

Dance Magazine Japan, 1997

Cornfields dances frankly celebrate the highly trained dancer as an exemplar ofhuman thought, ingenuity, and vitality its invigorating to see complex movementthat can surprise us with unexpected dynamic shifts or startling collusions ofindividuals and body parts Every gesture is elegantly rendered and the

product of elegant choices. Village Voice, 1996


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Cornfields illustrious career as a dance maker, master teacher, and premiere dancer for MerceCunningham establishes the scaffolding upon which the range and content of the tour/residency

activities are built, tailored to meet the needs of each specific community.

(click on categories for more information)PERFORMANCES

Alternative Venues, indoors and outdoorsStage & Studio Venues

CLASSESTechniqueRepertoryBreathing & AlignmentChoreography

Aesthetics and the work of Merce Cunningham Video for DanceMusic for Dance

WORKSHOPSCreative for DancersCreative for Adults (including non-dancers)Creative for Children

DISCUSSIONSPre-performancePost-performance

Joan Finkelstein Executive Director of theHarkness Fdtn for Dance(Former Director of Dance @92nd Street Y)

A marvelous dancer/ choreographer.Ms. Cornfieldhas developed her own uniqueaesthetic vision.(She) is ateacher with long experience.She is articulate about the workand encouraging butdemanding with her students.The results are real progress intechnique and performance.

Kathy EmanuelsonBoard of Directors Scranton CivicBallet

Ellen Cornfields premier was aone of a kind dance experiencefor Scranton and the CivicBallet Company I must

emphasize the incredibleopportunity for every local

performer Each and every onecame away experiencingartistic growth and education.

Reba AdlerFormer Professor Dance History@ Hunter College

"It was a real treat to have youin class last week! The students

were delighted; several alsosaid to me that they loved yourchoreography.ThanksSOOOOO much again formaking the art of dance cometo vibrant life for them and for

Stormy Brandenberger Hofstra University, Drama andDance Department

What has made your class sospecial is the creative andinsightful choreographicexperience you provided to the

students. As I watched thestudents participate in creatingtheir own phrases, discussingand showing their work, solving

problems and determining therhythm, spacing and sequencesto produce a complete

presentation, I thought of howimportant this creative aspectis; and how rarely it is seen inmost classes. The studentswere very luck to have the

opportunity to study with you.me! "

For Booking Information:

[email protected]

212.982.7803

Ellen Cornfield Dance Press Kit 2015

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