Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jorge Amarante is a choreographer and teacher. He graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte del Tretro Colón after receiving a scholarship from the Teatro Colón Foundation for having one of the highest GPAs. Jorge has studied with Maestros Wasil Tupin, Mario Galizzi, and Héctor Zaráspe from the Juilliard School of New York. After graduating, he joined the Ballet del Teatro Argentino de La Plata. He was later invited by principal dancer Julio Bocca to join his company Ballet Argentino, where he toured around much of Europe and South America. In 1992 he won the position of Soloist Dancer of the Teatro Colón’s Permanent Ballet in an international competition.
In 2003 he founded his own company, Surdance Ensemble, with which he has performed at various international festivals in Latin America and Canada. A few years later he became Director of the Teatro Colón’s Permanent Ballet in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2014 he was invited to direct the Monterrey Ballet in Mexico. This is his _______season with Chamber Dance Project.
Peter Boal was raised in Bedford, New York. At the age of nine, he began studying ballet at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. Peter became a member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet in 1983 and became a principal dancer in 1989. In 2005, he retired from New York City Ballet after a 22-year career with the company to become the Artistic Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet. He was also a full-time faculty member at the School of American Ballet from 1997 to 2005. In 2003, he founded Peter Boal and Company, a critically acclaimed chamber ensemble.
Among the many ballets in which Peter was featured at New York City Ballet are George Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), and Prodigal Son; Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering and Opus 19/The Dreamer; Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels; and works by William Forsythe, Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp, and Christopher Wheeldon. Peter danced with Chamber Dance Project while a dancer at NYCB, and we are thrilled to be welcoming him back to the company this summer to restage Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels – a work created on Peter in 1994. This is his _____ season with Chamber Dance Project.
Ulysses Dove (1947-1996), born in Columbia, SC, began studying dance with Carolyn Tate while a pre-med student at Howard University. He transferred to the University of Wisconsin to study with Xenia Chlistowa of the Kirov Ballet, and in 1970 he graduated from Bennington College with a degree in dance. Moving to New York, Dove joined Merce Cunningham’s company and performed with Mary Anthony, Pearl Lang, and Anna Sokolow. In 1973, Dove joined Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where he quickly garnered key roles and acclaim for his commanding presence, bright clarity of movement, and truthful dramatic intensity. Dove turned to choreography at Alvin Ailey’s urging and in 1980 created the solo Inside for Judith Jamison. He left the Company the same year to begin a significant freelance career choreographing dances for the Basel Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, London Festival Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and the Choreographic Research Group of the Paris Opera, where he spent three years as assistant director. Dove’s choreography was marked by its relentless speed, violent force, and daring eroticism. He was also the choreographer for the 1986 Robert Wilson-Philip Glass opera The Civil Wars. Several of his ballets have found their definitive interpretations in performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. His Red Angels (1994) was a hit of New York City Ballet’s Diamond Project, and a companion piece, Twilight (1994), was his final creation. Dove’s work was the subject of Dance in America: Two by Dove, an Emmy Award-winning 1995 show in the PBS Great Performances series.
John-Paul Simoens began his dance training at age seven under Diane Lauridsen in Los Angeles, California. In 2012 he was a semi-finalist in the Prix de Lausanne competition in Switzerland where he received a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Ballet School. In 2014 He was named an apprentice with the company. John-Paul has been with the San Francisco Ballet for nine years performing principal roles including Helgi Tomasson’s Don Quixote, Concerto Grosso and Fifth Season; Jerome Robbin’s Fancy Free and The Cage; Val Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House; Benjamin Millipied’s The Chairman Dances; Arthur Pita’s Bjork Ballet; Yuka Oishi’s Bolero; Liam Scarlett’s Fearful Symmetries and many other featured roles. John-Paul has been involved in the process of creating new works with many choreographers including Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe, Cathy Marston, Justin Peck, David Dawson, Dani Rowe, Yuri Possokhov, Robert Garland and Myles Thatcher among others. This is John-Paul’s first season with Chamber Dance Project.
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 & Juliet, Basilio in Don Quixote, Rudolfo in La Boheme, the title role in Dracula, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Captain Hook/Mr. Darling in Peter Pan, Prince Solor in La Bayadere, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Captain Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Moon Prince in Scheherazade, Franz in Coppélia, and leads in The Nutcracker, as well as numerous leads in 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 tenth season with Chamber Dance Project.
Sona Kharatian is a seasoned professional in the world of ballet, bringing over two decades of experience as a professional ballet dancer, instructor, and rehearsal director.
Most recently she held the position of Rehearsal Director / Ballet Master at The Washington Ballet, where she has been instrumental in coordinating rehearsals, teaching and coaching dancers, and maintaining the artistic integrity of performances.
Sona’s journey in ballet began with her training at the Choreographic Institute in Yerevan, Armenia, followed by studies at the prestigious Kirov Academy of Ballet and The Washington School of Ballet. Her extensive training and dedication to the art form have led to a successful career marked by performances in principal and featured roles in a diverse range of ballet works by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Choo San Goh, Antony Tudor, Nacho Duato, Christopher Wheeldon, Trey McIntyre, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Frederick Asthon, Septime Weber, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and more. Notable roles in her repertoire include Juliet in Romeo & Juliet, Giselle and Myrtha in Giselle, Carmen in Carmen, and The Siren from Prodigal Son, among others. This is her third season with Chamber Dance Project
Born in Madrid, Spain, Luz San Miguel received her training at Carmina Ocana Ballet School, and on a scholarship at the Municipal Institute of Ballet in Antwerp, Belgium. Prior to joining Milwaukee Ballet, she danced with BalletMet, Charleston Ballet Theater, Tulsa Ballet, Dresden Ballet and Leipziger Ballet in Germany. She has performed as a guest artist in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and several cities in the United States. Luz has performed leading roles in ballets by John Cranko, George Balanchine, John Neumeier, Nacho Duato, Anthony Tudor, Stanton Welch, Uwe Scholz, Glen Tetley, Paul Taylor, Lila York and Jerome Robbins among others. During her time with Milwaukee Ballet, she has performed roles such as Lucy in Dracula, Clara and Marie in The Nutcracker, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri and Matador Lady in Don Quixote, Tinker Bell in Peter Pan, Swanhilda in Coppélia, the lead roles in Cinderella, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Romeo & Juliet and La Bohème. Luz is returning for her tenth season with Chamber Dance Project.
Michael Cherry was born and raised in Springfield, Virginia. He is currently a senior at George Mason University and is working towards receiving a BFA in Dance and Choreography as well as a minor in Arts Management. Michael has had the opportunity to dance in works created/set by Camille A Brown, Alejandro Cerrudo, Doug Varone, Manuel Vignoulle, Rafael Bonachela, Rena Butler, Fiona Jopp, Susan Shields, Shaun Boyle-Darcy and Christopher d’Amboise. During past summers he has had the opportunity to attend the Juilliard summer dance intensive in 2018 and 2019, the Complexions Summer Intensive and winter intensive, as well as the LINES Summer dance intensive. He has had the opportunity to create works on dancers in the DMV area and is beginning his work as a company member with Complexions Dance in New York this next work.
Odin was a high school scholar athlete, started dancing at 17 and is a senior at George Mason University’s School of Dance. He has worked with choreographers Rena Butler, David Parsons, Kate Skarpetowska, Ronald K. Brown among others. He also plays the cello and piano. This is his first season with Chamber Dance Project.
“…one of the local jazz scene’s most promising performers” and “brightest voices in jazz” – THE WASHINGTON POST
A fixture on the D.C. jazz scene for over 15 years, vocalist and DC area-native Lena Seikaly is already making her mark in national and international jazz circles as a revivalist of traditional jazz vocals, as well as an innovator in contemporary vocal jazz styles. She’s headlined globally, from Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai to the Kennedy Center and major U.S. festivals, performing with renowned artists such as Christian McBride and Cyrus Chestnut, as well as ensembles like the USAF Airmen of Note and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. This is her third season with Chamber Dance Project.
Originally from Belfast Ireland, Matt Torney worked as a director before moving to the United States in 2006 to complete an MFA in directing at Columbia University. He has directed in New York, regionally in the US, and internationally. His productions have been nominated for numerous awards. Currently, Matt is the Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, Georgia.
Matt directs both new plays and dynamic productions of classics, with a focus on deep work with actors and creating vivid imagery through design. Recent work includes Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards), If I Forget by Steven Levenson (nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards), MotherStruck! By Staceyann Chin (nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards including ‘Best Production’), and The Hard Problem by Tom Stoppard.
Prior to joining Theatrical Outfit, Matt Tourney was the Associate Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, one of the leading contemporary theatre companies in Washington, DC. He was also the Director of Programming for Origin Theatre, an Off-Broadway company whose mission is to bring the best of European new writing to the USA. From 2007-2015, he was an Associate Director of Rough Magic in Dublin, one of Ireland’s leading independent theatre companies for over 30 years. This is his third season with Chamber Dance Project.
Violist Uri Wassertzug has performed around the world in locations including Alaska, the UK, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand. He is a member of the National Chamber Ensemble and appears frequently on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Concerts series. In the past, he was a member of the Sun Quartet and the Empyrean Ensemble, a new-music group.
In 1998 Uri Wassertzug was appointed as a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House/ Washington National Opera Orchestra, and also joined the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho. He occasionally appears as Guest Principal Viola with the National Philharmonic and has played with many other symphonic and opera orchestras.
Wassertzug is on the faculty of George Washington University, where he teaches viola, violin, and chamber music; previously he taught at California State University in Sacramento. He strives to pass on to students the passion and drive that led him to pursue a musical path, along with the tools to realize those dreams. His own studies were at the University of Maryland in College Park and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Some of his most influential teachers included the members of the Guarneri Quartet, Robert Becker, and Isadore Tinkleman. This is his ____ season with Chamber Dance Project.
Jimmy Garver has over 17 years of experience creating sound designs and creating music for live performance, films, and art installations. His work has been heard at or commissioned by the Apollo Theatre, Lincoln Center Dance on Camera festival, the Whitney, MCA Chicgo, ICA-LA, Hirshhorn Museums; BAM, Joyce SoHo, Atlantic, Alliance, A Contemporary, Woolly Mammoth, Signature, and the Studio Theatre Companies. Some previous collaborators include Will Rawls, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Sweat Variant, Ephrat Asherie. Jimmy is a member of the Music For Furniture ensemble and the Conduction Series radio broadcast on WGXC/Wave Farm. His sound art collaboration with his partner Rebecca Bray – the Brayver Concern – has shown audio-based interactive art installations throughout the Northeast U.S. He’s currently based in upstate New York. Jimmy has composed original scores for Prufrock (2019) and Gatsby (2022) and this is is his third season with Chamber Dance Project.
Header Photo: Silhouettes of our dancers in Songs by Cole
Photo by Eduardo Patino.NYC
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Chamber Dance Project. All rights reserved.
Chamber Dance Project is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law and most appreciated. Federal Tax ID 13-4109515. Chamber Dance Project is a Resident Company at BalletNova. Chamber Dance Project is supported by The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Diane Coburn Bruning, Artistic Director | Sally McLain, Principal Musician
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