Choreographers
Season 7:
ODC State of Play Festival Co-Collaboration
Expansion of Season 6’s World Premiere, The Broken Glass
August 2-3, 2024
BRYAN ARIAS
Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Arias grew up and studied dance in New York City. He was a performer with the Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT) and Crystal Pite’s company Kidd Pivot. Originating roles and performing in works by master choreographers including Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin and Crystal Pite.
As a choreographer, Arias has created original works for internationally renowned companies such as the Netherlands Dance Theater, Zurich Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, Bern Ballet, Ballet Theater Basel, Tanz Lucerne Theater, Leipzig Ballet, Hessisches Staatsballet, Nuremberg Ballet, Paul Taylor Company, Gibney Company, Charlotte Ballet, Scottish Ballet, among others.
Arias is the recipient of the 2020 prestigious German Der Faust Award, 2019 Jacobs Pillow Fellowship Award, and the 2017 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award.
In 2015, Arias founded ARIAS Company. A project based multidisciplinary company where he created evening length works which toured around the world to festival such as Jacob's Pillow(USA), Danse Danse(Montreal), and The Colours Festival(Stuttgart).
Season 7:
Z Space
November 7-10, 2024
RENA BUTLER
Rena Butler hails from Chicago, IL, and began her studies at The Chicago Academy for the Arts. She studied overseas at Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan, and received her BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Rena performed with companies including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, AIM by Kyle Abraham, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, David Dorfman Dance, The Kevin Wynn Collection, Pasos Con Sabor Salsa Dance Company, and Gibney Company.
Rena is a recipient of the prestigious 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Award for Choreography and San Francisco’s 2024 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. She has created works for Het Nationale Ballet in The Netherlands, National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Opera's Orpheus and Euridice, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Norrdans in Sweden, AIM By Kyle Abraham, Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart, Germany, The Lyric Opera of Chicago's Proximity, Cincinnati Ballet, The New Orleans Museum of Modern Art, AIM by Kyle Abraham, a film for Third Coast Percussion x Devonté Hynes/Blood Orange, Oregon Ballet Theater, The Juilliard School, Oklahoma City Ballet, Parsons Dance, TEDxChicago Virtual Salon 3.0: Design Your Life, Charlotte Ballet, BalletX, and more. She has been spotlighted in Dance Magazine’s On The Rise feature in 2013, and was the featured cover story for Dance Magazine’s November 2021 issue.
Facilitation and Mentorship play a big role in Rena’s artistic persona. Butler has taught dance and choreographic workshops at L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Danse de Marseille in France, The Macau Cultural Center in China, The Juilliard School, The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Ailey Camp Chicago, and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. She served on the Consortium for Chicago Dancemakers Forum for 3 years, was on the annual panel for Black Girls Dance in Chicago, and co-created and directed DanceLab—a free, choreographic course for the Chicago youth. She currently serves on Dancewave’s Artistic Advisory Council in NYC.
Butler’s upcoming commissions include Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Opera, SALT Dance, Ballet D’Avignon and Arles Youth Ballet in France, Parsons Dance, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and more. For updated commissions and whereabouts, visit renabutler.com
JA COLLECTIVE
JA Collective is a creative collaboration between Los Angeles natives Jordan Johnson and Aidan Carberry. JA Collective was formed at University of Southern California when Jordan and Aidan found themselves drawn to making work together. Aidan’s strong background in various hip-hop forms and acting, plus Jordan’s contemporary and theater background lead to them developing a unique style together. They are known commercially for their work with the band half•alive for which they’ve made international touring shows, music videos, and tv performances. Also, they have collaborated commercially with Future, Frank Ocean, Taika Waititi, Mike Mills, Paul McCartney, Olivia Wilde, Shia Labeouf, and More. Aside from their commercial success, Jordan and Aidan have been traveling and performing in a new work of William Forsythe’s that they helped choreograph called “Friends Of Forsythe”. They have also been developing their own live performance works in Los Angeles and abroad. Through JA’s continual play in different realms of dance and multidisciplinary forms, they hope to challenge and positively impact the community around them.
Photo: Skye Schmidt Varga
MARCO GOECKE
Marco Goecke completed his ballet training in 1988 at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung ballet academy in Munich as well as at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague, where he received his diploma in 1995. Engagements followed at the Berlin State Opera and Theater Hagen. It was in the year 2000 at this theatre that Goecke created his first choreography, entitled Loch. There followed several choreographies for the Noverre-Society with dancers from the Stuttgart Ballet, and an invitation to the New York Choreographic Institute. In July 2003 Goecke won the Prix Dom Pérignon in Hamburg with the piece Blushing, danced by the Stuttgart Ballet. In the years that followed, he received numerous commissions for international companies such as Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, the Norwegian National Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and the Berlin State Ballet.
In the 2005/2006 season Marco Goecke was appointed Choreographer in Residence at the Stuttgart Ballet, and it was there in December 2006 that he created his first narrative ballet The Nutcracker, which was later also filmed for the ZDF theatre channel. From 2006 to 2012 Goecke also held the post of Choreographer in Residence at the Scapino Ballet in Rotterdam. Since the 2013/2014 season he has been Associate Choreographer at the renowned Nederlands Dans Theater. Between 2019 and 2023 he was Artist in Residence with Gauthier Dance Stuttgart and held the position as Artistic Director of the State Ballet Hannover.
Of the over ninety works Goecke has created in just a few years, many are also performed by companies for whom they were not originally created, for example in Tel Aviv, in Sao Paulo, by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, by the Canadian National Ballet, by the Ballett-Theater in Munich, by the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki, by the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow, by the Zurich Ballet, by the German Opera on the Rhine in Düsseldorf, and by the Vienna State Opera.
Goecke has received several international awards, including the Culture Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 2005, the Nijinsky Award in Monte Carlo in 2006, the Choreographer of the Year in the critics’ survey by the magazine Tanz in 2015, and the Dutch dance prize Zwaan as well as the Italian prize Danzadanza for the best choreography of the year in 2017. This award was for the full-length work Nijinski, which he created in 2016 for Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart; since then it has been performed on worldwide tours to great success.
In 2022 he was awarded with the Jiří-Kylián-Ring and the German Dance Prize 2022.
The book Dark Matter (Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg), published in 2016, offers a concise overview of his oeuvre.
His most recent successful works include the full-length piece “A Wilde Story” based on the live and work of the author Oscar Wilde for the Staatsballett Hannover and “In The Dutch Mountains” for the Nederlands Dans Theater created in 2023.
From the season 2025/26 he will be Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of the Ballet at Theatre Basel.
Photo: Rahi Rezvani
STAGERS
ALEXANDER ANDERSON
Äffi, Marco Goecke
Alexander Anderson, hailing from South Florida, has swiftly made his mark in the dance world. After attending the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, he gained admission to The Juilliard School, where he honed his skills under the guidance of esteemed choreographers and showcased his choreographic prowess. With notable performances at renowned dance companies like Nederlands Dans Theater and Gibney Dance, Alexander's talent and dedication have garnered critical acclaim, earning him prestigious awards including the Dizzy Feet Foundation Scholarship Award, the 2013 Princess Grace Foundation Scholarship Award, and recognition as Dance Europe Magazine's critic's choice for 'Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer'. As a versatile dancer, choreographer, and faculty member at prestigious institutions, he continues to captivate audiences with his artistic vision and innovative approach to movement. With an impressive portfolio of commissions, including works for Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Peridance Youth Ensemble, Ballet Austin II, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, and Ailey BFA Fordham (Benefit Concert 2023), Alexander Anderson's creative collaborations highlight his ability to bring unique and captivating choreography to the stage. Alexander's contributions to the art of dance and his ongoing commitment to artistic exploration position him as a rising force in the field.
FIONA LUMMIS
Jiří Kylián Workshop
Fiona Lummis was a dancer for twenty years with Netherlands Dance Theater (1981-2001). Fiona created roles in 15 of Jiří Kylián’s ballets, and in numerous works by Hans Van Manen, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin and Mats Ek among others. She danced featured roles in the repertoire of William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, Lar Lubovitch and Glen Tetley. She graduated from the Elmhurst School of Dance and The Rambert School in England, and also has a comprehensive Pilates teaching certificate from B.A.S.I. (Body Arts and Science International). In 1992 she received the Gouden Theaterdans Prijs for her performances in William Forsythe’s “Steptext” and in 2000 was awarded the “Oeuvre Prize” in recognition of her career in The Netherlands.
Fiona can be seen on many of the Arthaus films of Kylián’s ballets, including the “Black and White Ballets” and “Kaguyahime.” She is also featured in 8 recordings of Hans Van Manen’s ballets in his “Master of Movement” DVD collection, and is recognized as one of his Muses. Fiona works closely with the Kylián and Van Manen foundations, teaching their repertoire in colleges, schools, and companies in the US and Europe.
She is presently on the Faculty of the USC Gloria Kaufman School of Dance as an Artist in Residence and Lecturer in Dance.
Photo: Cheryl Mann