Sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado Date
and Time: Single
Ticket Prices: Season
Ticket Packages: Location: Running
Time: Preconcert: Event
Overview: Program: Artist
Bio: Garth
Fagan, a Distinguished University Professor of the State University
of New York, is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1996
he was named one of only twenty-five American scholars, artists,
professionals and public figures to receive the title Fulbright
50th Anniversary Distinguished Fellow. He has been awarded the prestigious
three-year Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for
the Arts, and holds honorary doctorates from several prestigious
universities including the Juilliard School and the University of
Rochester. Fagan has received two coveted awards in recognition
of his contribution to modern dance: the Dance Magazine Award
for “significant contributions to dance during a distinguished
career” and the “Bessie” Award (New York Dance and
Performance Award) for Sustained Achievement. In
1996, Fagan was chosen to choreograph Walt Disney Theatrical Productions
new musical The Lion King which opened on Broadway in the
fall 1997 to extraordinary critical praise. For his innovative choreography,
Fagan was awarded the prestigious 1998 Tony Award for Best Choreography.
In addition, he received the 1998 Drama Desk Award, 1998 Outer Critics
Circle Award, 1998 Astaire Award, 2000 Sir Laurence Oliver Award,
and 2001 Ovation Award. Fagan’s
singular dance language draws on many sources: he likes the sense
of weight in modern dance, the torso-centered movement and energy
of Afro-Caribbean tradition, the speed and precision of ballet,
and the rule-breaking experimentation of the post-moderns. His own
dance company, Garth Fagan Dance, is the embodiment of his innovative
movement style, and he sets at least one new work on the company
each year. Garth Fagan Dance is at the top of its profession; the
Company’s dancers are renowned for their individuality, their
natural, unstylized approach, and their sheer physical virtuosity.
Their distinctive movement quality comes from years of training
in Fagan Technique, the teaching method Garth Fagan developed hand-in-hand
with his own dance vocabulary when he started the ensemble in 1970. Garth
Fagan Dance tours extensively each year; in addition to the many
major U.S. venues which have hosted the company, the Company has
performed at such prestigious festivals as Jacob’s Pillow,
Spoleto USA, Dance/Aspen, and the first National Black Arts Festival.
Garth Fagan Dance has also performed at international arts festivals
in France, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Austria, Italy,
and in Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Garth
Fagan Dance has been cited for its excellence and originality with
a New York Governor’s Arts Award. In addition to Mr. Fagan’s
“Bessie” Award (the dance world’s equivalent to an
Oscar), the company has four additional “Bessie” winners
in its ranks: Norwood Pennewell, Steve Humphrey, Natalie Rogers,
and Sharon Skepple. As a solo choreographer, Fagan has produced commissions for a number of leading companies, including his first work en pointe, Footprints Dressed in Red for the Dance Theater of Harlem; a solo for Judith Jamison, Scene Seen, for the debut of the Jamison Project; Jukebox for Alvin, for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company; Never No Lament for the Jose Limón Dance Company; and, Ellington Elation, part of a triad of pieces commissioned by the New York City Ballet in honor of Duke Ellington’s centenary and the NYCB’s 50th anniversary. Links: Audio: |
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