Patricia Hoffbauer, Sam Kim, Pam Tanowitz, Colleen Thomas

Patricia Hoffbauer is a Brazilian-born choreographer, director, performer and educator. In addition to  creating her own work, she has developed a 10-year artistic collaboration with writer/performer George Emilio Sanchez with whom she has toured throughout the United States and Latin America. In 2002-03 Ms. Hoffbauer and Mr. Sanchez were the Viola Farber Artists-in-Residence at Sarah Lawrence College. At the end of that residency they presented Hoc Est Corpus/This Is A Body at Symphony Space in April 2003. Her last collaboration with Mr. Sanchez, Milagro, premiered at the Dance Theater Workshop in April 2004. Their collaborations and her individual work have been supported by the NEA, NYFA, NYSCA & The Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund. Hoffbauer has taught at Wesleyan University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Miami Dade Community College, Sarah Lawrence College, Pratt Institute, Marymount Manhattan College and Yale University. She is currently on the faculty of Hunter College’s Dance Program and has a one-year appointment at Princeton University. Hoffbauer has been working with Yvonne Rainer and Raindears since 2002 when she first performed Three Seascapes at Jacob's Pillow.

 

Sam Kim uses the dance form to inquire into the very nature of what dance is.  Her dances often focus on the margins of culture and behavior, valuing the edges, while courting the danger inherent in rejecting dance’s heavy legacies.  At heart, Kim considers herself an outsider working in an outsider’s form—her choreographic practice is a means of deeply engaging in a personal game of brinkmanship.

Since 2002, Kim has created several, long, commissioned works presented as seasons in NYC:  Darling (Performance Space 122, 2009), dumb dumb bunny (The Kitchen, 2007), Cult (Dance Theater Workshop, 2007), AVATAR (Mulberry St Theater, 2006), Nobody Understands Me (Dance Theater Workshop, 2004), Placid Baby (Performance Space 122, 2003) and Valentine (Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, 2002). Kim has also created several shorter works since 1997.  Kim’s work has also been presented nationally by other progressive venues such as Highways Performance Space (LA), Studio 303 (Montréal), the Unknown Theater (LA) and Bryant Lake Bowl Theater (Minneapolis). 

Kim's work has been supported by grants from organizations such as the Lucky Star Foundation, the MAP Fund and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation. Kim was a Spring 2010 Dance Theater Workshop Outer/Space Creative Resident, a 2007-09 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Dance Artist-in-Residence and a 2004-05 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence.  Kim has been awarded residencies at New York Live Arts Studio Series (2013-14), Movement Research (2013-14), Baryshnikov Arts Center (Fall, 2013) Djerassi Resident Artists Program (2013) Baryshnikov Arts Center (Spring, 2013) and The MacDowell Colony (2012) to develop Sister to a Fiend, her latest evening-length work. Kim has been deeply engaged with and responsive to the NYC downtown dance community through various leadership roles.  She served on the Artist Committee of the Board at Dance Theater Workshop (2006-2010).  She was also a member of the Artist Advisory Committee at Performance Space 122 (1999-2003).  In addition, Kim is a certified hatha yoga instructor and founder/moderator of Real Feedback, a workshop devoted to looking at choreography through a contemporary, critical lens.  She has taught classes and workshops in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and NYC.

In 1991, Kim moved to NYC to attend Barnard College, Columbia University where she earned a B.A. in English in 1995.  Kim began making dances at 19.  She has been committed to the dance form ever since and now lives and works in Brooklyn as a choreographer and performer.

 

Pam Tanowitz has been making dances since 1992 She founded Pam Tanowitz Dance in 2000, and has received commissions and residencies at  New York Live Arts, The Joyce Theater, The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, The Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process program, Baryshnikov Arts Center. 

 Tanowitz received a 2009 Bessie Award for the dance, Be in the Gray With Me, at Dance Theater Workshop. She was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011. She is a 2013-14 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Additional awards include Jerome Robbins Foundation, NYFA BUILD, Joyce Theater Residency, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award. Tanowitz holds a BFA in Dance from the Ohio State University and an MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was mentored by former Merce Cunningham principal dancer Viola Farber-Slayton.

Tanowitz has collaborated with several illustrious dancers, including New York City Ballet Dancers and American Ballet Theater Dancers. Tanowitz has set her work on The Julliard School. Purchase Dance Corp, Marymount Manhattan College, Oregon Ballet Theater  and The Ohio State University. She was on faculty for American Ballet Theater, ABT/Bermuda and taught at Hunter College, American Dance Festival, Sarah Lawrence College and Greenwich Academy.

 

Colleen Thomas is a New York based choreographer and performing artist.  She began her professional career with the Miami Ballet and went on to work with renowned contemporary choreographers such as Nina Wiener Dance Company, Donald Byrd/The Group, Bebe Miller Dance Company, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and The Kevin Wynn Collection among others. She is the artistic director for ColleenThomasDance. In 1997 a creative collaboration with Bill Young evolved into an intimate company, Bill Young/ Colleen Thomas and Co., focused on rigorous physicality and dynamic partnering. Her works have been performed throughout the U.S, Brazil, Estonia, Hong Kong, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Taiwan, and Venezuela. She has also shown her work at many domestic venues, including California State University at Long Beach, Bates College, Columbia University, Connecticut College, University of Maryland, Kumble Arts Center, Dance New Amsterdam, Hundred Grand, Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce SoHo, Southern Theater in Minnesota, Kaye Playhouse, SUNY Purchase, Boston Conservatory, Smith College, and Danspace Project.  Thomas has received grants from the Harkness Foundation, Mertz Gilmore, NYSCA, and a McKnight Fellowship to support her work.

Thomas is the co- director and a curator of the LIT series at 100 Grand. LIT supports the presentation of innovative work in an up-close and personal setting.  The series showcases works by emerging artists who are bringing fresh ideas to the form, as well as established artists who are experimenting with new directions.