Chamber Dance Project, Dancers & Musicians Tear the Edge Program

DIANE COBURN BRUNING, FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

In 2000, choreographer Diane Coburn Bruning founded Chamber Dance Project, dancers & musicians in New York City guided by a conviction that dance should be performed with live music, that smaller venues afford a more intense experience for viewers and performers alike, and that sharing the creative process engages audiences on a deeper level. In 2013 she moved the company to Washington, D.C. Diane is an award-winning choreographer who has worked with dance, theatre, and opera companies throughout the U.S. and abroad. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two fellowships New York Foundation for the Arts, the McKnight National Fellowship, a Dewar’s Young Artist Award, fellowships from Sundance Film Institute, Yale University School of Drama, Leopold Schepp Foundation and Virginia Commission on the Arts, and a Strauss Fellowship. She has also received support from Meet the Composer, the Harkness Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts, Heathcote Foundation, David Howard Foundation, and The Carlisle Project. Diane has worked with Atlanta Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Boston Ballet, Juilliard Dance Ensemble, American Repertory Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Joffrey II, Nashville Ballet, Aspen Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Ballet Memphis, Daghdha Dance (Ireland), Minnesota Ballet, Chautauqua Ballet, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and Studio Theatre among others. Her popular Ramblin’ Suite, her collaboration with the Red Clay Ramblers, was commissioned by Atlanta Ballet and performed by Milwaukee Ballet. She has worked on productions with Pittsburgh Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, and four with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center. Vogue Television did a feature on her, and Dance magazine named her as one of “25 to Watch.” Diane’s works appeared in the International Ballet Festival in Colombia, South America, and her major work Boots was premiered near Berlin with Ballett Magdeburg. She has done commercial work for top brands and clients including Nickelodeon, People magazine, Lord and Taylor, and Lladro. She has done theatrical work for Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and Shakespeare Theatre Company. At Shakespeare Theatre Company she worked alongside director Michael Kahn, receiving a Helen Hayes Award nomination for her choreography of the musical Improbable Frequencies. She has been a guest artist at more than 25 conservatory and university dance departments, including several times for Juilliard and Tisch/NYU. She has been a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute and New York City Ballet and has served on many grant panels. Diane directed the Craft of Choreography Conference, helped found Pacifica Choreography Project, and has led choreographic workshops throughout the country Graduating with honors from Butler University’s Jordan College of Arts, she later received their Alumni Achievement Award. She holds a master’s in choreography from NYU and studied composition privately with Bessie Schoenberg and music with Juli Nunlist. Diane studied for a year with renowned designers Jennifer Tipton and Ming Cho Lee on a post-graduate fellowship from Yale University School of Drama.

DANCERS

CHRISTIAN DENICE

Christian Denice’s professional dance experience includes Odyssey Dance Theatre, River North Dance Chicago, Company E, Montgomery Ballet, BODYTRAFFIC, the Cambrians, and Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal. Christian has spent the past two years on faculty with the Joffrey Academy of Dance and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s HS Pro Program. As a choreographer, he has created new works for Odyssey Dance Theatre, LEVELdance Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, Interlochen Center for the Arts, METdance too, the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Visceral Dance Chicago, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Western Michigan University, METdance Houston, Modern America Dance Company, Modas Dance, SALT II, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and Eisenhower Dance Detroit. Christian is the 2015–2016 winner of the University of South Florida’s Echo Choreographic Competition and the 2016 winner of the Joffrey Academy’s Winning Works Choreographic competition. In April 2016, Christian directed and choreographed a short dance film entitled “the watchers” filmed by Salt Lake City-based videographer Bryce Johnson. He is a certified Power Vinyasa yoga instructor and teaches for CorePower Yoga. Recently, Christian had the opportunity to re-stage KOSMOS by Andonis Foniadakis on the dancers of the National School of Dance in Athens, Greece.

FRANCESCA DUGARTE

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Francesca Dugarte trained at Academia de Ballet Clasico Nina Novak and La Scala Theatre Ballet School. She has been a principal dancer at Teatro Teresa Carreno, a demi-soloist at Zurich Ballet, a principal dancer at Victor Ullate Ballet, guest artist at Slovakia National Ballet and is currently a member of The Washington Ballet. In 2011, Francesca was a contestant on the reality show, Amici di Maria de Fillippi in Rome. She is the winner of numerous awards including second place in Youth American Grand Prix, second place in Arabesque International Ballet competition in Russia, Jury Award in Jackson Ballet Competition, first place and Presidential Sponsorship Award in Korea’s International Ballet Competition, first place in Rieti Danza Festival, and most recently, second place in World Ballet Competition in Orlando. Francesca has danced a wide repertoire of the classics as well as contemporary works by Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, Victor Ullate, Septime Webre, Trey McIntyre, Val Caniparoli, and Annabelle Ochoa among others. She made her debut with Chamber Dance Project in Diane’s pas de deux Berceuse in performances at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute in March 2014. This is Francesca’s sixth season with CDP, and she is sponsored by Liubov and David Keeton.

JULIA ERICKSON

Originally from Seattle, Julia Erickson received her training on scholarship with Pacific Northwest Ballet School and San Francisco Ballet School. She toured to Europe and Asia with PNB and danced with Texas Ballet Theater for two seasons prior to joining PBT in 2001. She was promoted to soloist in 2004 and to principal in 2009. Among her principal roles, Julia has performed Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), La Bayadère (Nikiya), The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora, Lilac Fairy, Carabosse), La Sylphide (the Sylph), Le Corsaire (Gulnare), Diana and Acteon; Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Western Symphony(4th Movement), Who Cares?, Prodigal Son, Sylvia Pas de Deux, Agon, and Serenade; and Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite (Anita), In the Night, and Fancy Free. She has also danced the roles of Lady Capulet in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette, Myrtha in Giselle, “An Episode in his Past” in Antony Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas (Lilac Garden), the Wife in Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, and featured roles in Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena, Hippolyta), The Four Temperaments (2nd Theme), and Divertimento No. 15. Her contemporary repertory includes Paul Taylor’s Company B; Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, and Octet; William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sinfonietta. Julia also dances for Santa Monica-based Barak Ballet, received Pittsburgh’s 2014 BRAZZY Award for outstanding female dancer and is an entrepreneur and writer. This is Julia’s third season with CDP, and she is sponsored by Kate Costlow and John D’Amore.

DAVIT HOVHANNISYAN

Born in Armenia, Davit Hovhannisyan began dancing at the age of six and four years later he was accepted into the National Ballet School of Armenia on a full scholarship. At the age of 16, he began his professional career with the Armenian National Ballet Company. After arriving in the United States he received critical acclaim dancing with numerous companies throughout the country and joined Milwaukee Ballet in 2004. He is a principal dancer with Milwaukee Ballet where he is in his ninth season. He has danced many principal roles such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Basilio in Don Quixote, Rudolfo in La Bohème, the title role in Dracula, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Captain Hook/Mr. Darling in Peter Pan, Prince Solor in La Bayadère, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Captain Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the Moon Prince in Scheherazade, Franz in Coppélia, and leads in The Nutcracker as well as in numerous contemporary ballets. Davit has worked with contemporary choreographers including Michael Pink, Stephen Mills, Bruce Wells, Diane Coburn Bruning, Trey McIntyre, Margo Sappington, Kathryn Posin, and Mark Godden, among many others. This is Davit’s fifth season with CDP, and he is sponsored by Reina and Brad Brekke.

AUSTIN POWERS

Austin Powers, a native of Portland, Oregon, began his ballet training at the age of 5. He trained on full scholarship at Houston Ballet Academy, San Francisco Ballet School, Alonzo King LINES Ballet School, the Center for Movement Arts, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Austin began his professional career in 2014 as a trainee with Ballet San Jose, and the following year was a silver medalist at the Youth America Grand Prix competition. He joined BalletMet in 2015, where he has been performing for five seasons. He has danced original choreography by Cooper Verona, Myles Thatcher, Edwaard Liang, Matthew Neenan, Dalia Rawson, Mads Eriksen, and Grace-Anne Powers. Some of his favorite roles have been in Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet as Tybalt, 18+1 by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Interplay by Jerome Robbins, Symphonic Dances by Liang, Fool’s Paradise and After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon, Cacti by Alexander Ekman, and Herr Drosselmeyer in Gerard Charles’ The Nutcracker. He has also collaborated with his wife Grace-Anne, to choreograph and dance several works for San Jose’s Commons arts festival, and an original production of Amahl and the Night Visitors for Opera Project Columbus.

GRACE-ANNE POWERS

Grace-Anne Powers, a Pennsylvania native, is currently an artist with BalletMet. She began her ballet training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and continued her studies at The Art of Classical Ballet in Pompano Beach, Florida, with Magaly Suarez. Prior to joining BalletMet in 2015 she was a dancer at Ballet San Jose, a soloist at La La La Human Steps in Montreal and a principal soloist with the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. She has performed a large repertoire of principal roles in the classics including Giselle, Swan Lake, La Bayadère , Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Esmeralda, Raymonda, and Le Corsaire, among others. With La La La Human Steps, she performed in New Work choreographed by Edouard Lock, which premiered in Amsterdam in 2011 and then toured internationally for the following two years. She has also had the pleasure of dancing works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Edwaard Liang, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Ohad Naharin, Paul Taylor, Val Caniparoli, Dwight Rhodin, Yuri Zhukov, Amy Siewert, Andrea Schermoly, Alex Ketley, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Micheal Pink, Matthew Neenan, Alberto Alonso, and Jorge Garcia, among others. Her awards include the Jury Award at Shanghai IBC in China and a Silver Medal at the World Ballet Competition in Orlando. She was named one of Pointe magazine’s Standouts of 2018 for her interpretation of the title role in Edwaard Liang’s Giselle. Grace-Anne has also been involved in several film projects for BalletMet including In “Tandem” and “Becoming Violet”, for which she received an Emmy Award.

ALEXANDER SARGENT

Alexander Sargent is a Washington D.C. native, having begun his dance training under Kee Juan Han at The Washington Ballet before attending and graduating from The HARID Conservatory with the Jeannot B. Cerrone Award for excellence in performance. In 2020 he graduated from Juilliard. Alex has performed in works by Martha Graham, Peter Chu, Twyla Tharp, José Limón, and Stephen Petronio and danced the principal role in Donald McKayle’s Crossing the Rubicon at Lincoln Center. Alex has also worked as a digital media producer for performing artists and arts organizations since 2018. This is Alex’s first season with Chamber Dance Project and he is sponsored by Donna And Jon Gerstenfeld.

GRAHAM FEENY, APPRENTICE

Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Graham began dancing at the age of two and trained in all styles at Company C Dance Club. He is now in his fourth year at The Juilliard School where he has performed in works of Bobbi Jene Smith, Jamar Roberts, Paul Taylor, and most recently Ohad Naharin. Additionally, Graham’s participated in Netherlands Dance Theatre and Arts Umbrella’s summer programs where he learned works of Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Sharon Eyal, and Paul Lightfoot among others. This is Graham’s first season with Chamber Dance Project.

MUSICIANS

SALLY MCLAIN, VIOLINIST

Violinist Sally McLain received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with High Distinction from Indiana University, where she studied with and was assistant to James Buswell. Critically hailed as a “violinist with lots of style” (Washington Post), she has performed as soloist to critical acclaim in a variety of venues that include the Clarice Smith Center’s Gildenhorn Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, he Library of Congress, Lisner Auditorium, National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She was a member of the Theater Chamber Players, as well as the Potomac String Quartet, which recorded the complete quartets of David Diamond and Quincy Porter for Albany Records. She is a founding and current member of the Left Bank Quartet, which has been praised for its “brilliant focus and timbral variety” (Gramophone magazine). She is also an adjunct chamber music faculty member at the University of Maryland. She was the concertmaster of the Washington Chamber Symphony for ten seasons and is currently concertmaster for Washington Concert Opera and The Washington Ballet.

JEROME GORDON, VIOLIST

Violist Jerome Gordon enjoys a diversified career as an orchestral, chamber, and studio musician. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C. Mr. Gordon lived in Los Angeles, CA where he performed regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, and Pacific Symphony. He has performed and recorded with numerous artists and continues to work in Los Angeles recording soundtracks for television shows and films. He was a fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. During his tenure in New World he toured Europe performing in concert halls in France, Italy, and Spain. He also performed chamber concerts throughout Italy, and collaborated with members of the Orion String Quartet and the Vienna Philharmonic. In 2014 Mr. Gordon relocated to Washington DC and began playing with the National Philharmonic, Maryland Symphony, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. As a studio musician Mr. Gordon has recorded soundtracks for numerous TV shows, video games, and motion pictures, including such notable titles as Lost, Call of Duty, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Help, Green Book, Frozen 1 & 2, the new live action Lion King, and Minions 2. On stage Mr. Gordon has performed and recorded with popular artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, Stevie Wonder, and Celine Dion, among others. He recently completed an 8-year run with Celine Dion as a violist in her production in Las Vegas, NV at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. After the residency he served as the violist in her string quartet and has been touring with Ms. Dion since 2018. Mr. Gordon received his Bachelor of Music degree and Certificate in Music Business from Northwestern University working primarily with Mr. Roland Vamos. He continued his training at University of Southern California earning a Master of Music degree with Mr. Donald McInnes.

KARIN KELLEHER, VIOLINIST

A classically trained musician, Karin Kelleher has had a varied and successful career in the symphonic world, playing with the Milwaukee Symphony, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and Knoxville Symphony, and holding concertmaster positions with the Woodstock Mozart Festival, Washington Opera Society, the Prairie Ensemble, and Racine Symphony. Currently she performs with local Washington, DC arts organizations, including the Annapolis Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Washington Concert Opera Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic, to name but a few. In 2015, Karin released her debut album, Melange, independently created, performed and produced with her husband, Mike Kelleher. Classical and jazz influences come together in Mike’s charts to form a unique style that reflects their personal and musical life. An active educator, she enjoys working with young performers. She teaches privately, coaches master classes, and participates in school educational programs all over Maryland.

TODD THIEL, CELLIST

Todd Thiel is the principal cellist of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, associate principal cellist of the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and is also a member of the Harrisburg and Delaware Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of Ronald Thomas. At Peabody, Mr. Thiel studied chamber music with noted faculty including Earl Carlyss of the Juilliard String Quartet, Marian Hahn, Ellen Mack, Robert MacDonald and members of the Peabody Trio. His cello teachers have also included Steven Doane, Anthony Elliot and Michael Haber. He has participated in the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan; the Center d’Arts Orford in Quebec, Canada; as well as the Bowdoin, Musicorda, Encore and Chautaqua Music Festivals. He has appeared in performances in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Kimmel Center and Suntory Hall, and has been on tour to Japan, China, England, Scotland, South Africa and Zimbabwe. For five years Mr. Thiel was principal cellist of the New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, a Baltimore-based contemporary music ensemble with which he’s been Artist-in-Residence at the Composers’ Institute of the Walden School in New Hampshire. As a member of the New Horizons String Quartet, he has recorded for the “Living Artists Recordings” label and the Baltimore Composers’ Forum. In addition to performing, Mr. Thiel teaches cello and is on the faculty of Loyola University and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland