Philadelphia A.W.A.R.D. Show! Choreographer Bios

Eric Bean Jr, a native of Bermuda, began his training at the age of fifteen under the tutelage of Suzette Harvey (founder/artistic director of Bermuda Dance Company). He received a BFA in dance education from the University of the arts. Currently in his third season as a member of Koresh Dance Company, he has had the opportunity to work with artists such as Ronen Koresh, Robert Battle, Itzik Galili, Paul Selwyn Norton and Ohad Naharin. He received his first opportunity to set work professionally on Eleone Dance Theater in 2005 (where he was a soloist/ principal dancer for four seasons), and since has gone on to create works for several companies including Brandywine Ballet, Missouri Contemporary Ballet and the Bermuda Civic Ballet. With an interest in blending various techniques and finding universal themes in which to relate, Eric uses his choreography to find new ways to satisfy both his artistic curiosities and the curiosity of others.

Zane Booker, a native Philadelphian, began his professional career with the Philadelphia Dance Company under the direction of Joan Myers Brown in 1982. Since then he has been a member of The White Oak Dance Project, Complexions, Les Ballet of Monte Carlo, and Netherlands Dance Theater. Zane credits include works for the Philadelphia Dance Company, Ballet X, Dance4Nia, La Cage Aux Folles/Mogador Theatre-Paris and the Opera of Monte Carlo. Philadelphia Dance Projects and the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center both commissioned works by Booker. In 2006, Zane became the founder and artistic director of the Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative (SLJ), a socially conscious, multimedia, dance theater company, promoting HIV/AIDS awareness. The following year, Dance Magazine chose SLJ as one of "25 companies to Watch." Zane is a professor at University of the Arts and Howard University. In 2009, SLJ was chosen to be part of a residency at Swarthmore College. Zane has served on review panels for The Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership, and currently serves on the review panel for the National Dance Project. He is also a member of the Dance/USA Philadelphia Advisory Board.

Eleanor Goudie-Averill, a 2007 MFA Dance Performance graduate of the University of Iowa, currently directs the Stone Depot Dance Lab and dances for MacArthur Dance Project and Group Motion in Philadelphia.  Her choreography has been shown in NYC, Philly and throughout the Midwest, and she was recently a selected artist for DNA's RAW Material. Ellie has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of dance at Bucknell University and Artistic Coordinator of the UI Youth Ballet and currently teaches Ballet and Modern technique at Temple University.  She began her training at Ballet Midwest in Topeka, Kansas and holds a BFA in dance from the University of Kansas.  Along with performing, choreographing, and improvising she loves teaching dance to people of all ages and jumping for joy!

Sarah Konner received a BFA in Dance and a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan in 2010. Sarah recently moved to Philadelphia, and has been performing and presenting new work at various venues in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, including the Triskelion Arts Dance Comedy Festival, Greenspace, Urban Research Theater, and the Inhale performance series. Sarah had two works adjudicated for the American College Dance Festival, and has performed an original duet at the National Gala for the ACDFA at the Kennedy Center. In addition to her own choreography, Sarah has performed major works by Laura Dean, Forsythe, Amy Chavasse, Michael Miller, and Paul Taylor, among others. She is currently dancing with ChavasseDance&Performance, Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Co., Olive Prince Dance, and Amy Cova, and is collaborating with Austin Selden and others to create new dances for the camera and the stage.

Bronwen MacArthur danced as a freelance artist with New York and Copenhagen (DK) based companies including those of Bill Young, Donna Uchizono, and Tim Feldmann. With these and others she has performed and taught throughout Europe, the U.S. and South America. Bronwen formed MacArthur Dance Project (MDP) in 2007 and her choreography for dance, operas, plays and multimedia events has been performed in NYC, New England, Philadelphia, Russia, France and Scotland. Bronwen's collaborations with composers include Doug Henderson, Matthew Suttor, Willow Williamson and Bryan Senti. MDP and its collaborative work have been supported by LEF Foundation, NEFA's Regional Dance Development Initiative, New Haven Mayor's Community Arts Grant, Vermont Performance Lab/Marlboro College, Summer Stages Dance/Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist Project and a Silo at Kirkland Farm residency made possible by DanceNOW/[NYC]. Bronwen is a Susan Hess Modern Dance 2010-11 Choreographers Project resident and teaches ballet and contemporary dance here and internationally.

Meredith Rainey began dancing in 1983, joined the Milwaukee Ballet in 1985, and in 1987 joined the Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet. When the joint venture ended, he remained with the Pennsylvania Ballet and was promoted to soloist in 1999 until retiring in 2006. After this retirement, Meredith decided to focus his creativity on his choreography. He spent two years as part of the Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio's Choreographer's Project. There, he took part in workshops and discussions with Ralph Lemon, Simon Dove and Wendy Rogers. In 2008, he was awarded a New Edge residency at the Community Education Center of Philadelphia, during which he started a new project, Look Inside, that eventually evolved into his company Carbon Dance Theatre (CDT). CDT empowers performers and entertains audiences by creating work that is rooted in classical ballet and infused with the collaborative processes of theatre. CDT has been presented in Baltimore and Pittsburgh and is a resident company at Drexel University.

Gabrielle Revlock is a native Philadelphian and graduate of Vassar College with a BA in Art History. She founded Mano/Damno in 2002. Mano/Damno has received support from the Susan Hess Choreographers Project (2010-11), Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2009), the nEW Festival (2008-2009) and the New Edge Mix (2006). Her stage work has been shown at various venues including the Joyce SoHo (NYC) and the Korzo Theater (The Hague, Netherlands). Mano/Damno films have been shown at the 2007 & 2008 dance film festival, Motion Pictures programmed by Philadelphia Dance Projects. Bryn Mawr College, Drexel University and Vassar College have commissioned her works. Director Gabrielle Revlock has received three professional development awards from Dance Advance and received a 2010 Philadelphia Rocky Award. As a company member of Jeanne Ruddy Dance, she has performed the works of Jane Comfort, Suzanna Linke and Robert Battle.

Rain Ross is an accomplished teacher, choreographer, and performer who has lived and worked in Hawaii, England, New York, South Africa, Seattle, and Philadelphia.  After performing with both ballet and contemporary companies, she founded and directed Lehua Dance Theatre, a non-profit contemporary repertory dance company based in Seattle, which she has now moved to Philadelphia under the name Rain Ross Dance. Rain has worked with such artists as Toni Pimble, David Dorfman, Wade Madsen, and Hannah Wiley. Rain received her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Iowa and her B.A. in Dance and English from Mount Holyoke College.  Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Dance at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and has previously taught at Oakland University, the University of Iowa, Mount Holyoke College, and Interlochen Arts Camp.

Brian Sanders' JUNK is known for their ingenious use of found objects and clever inventions that bridge the gap between dance and physical theater. Sanders' choreography blends traditional dance theater with an inventiveness and physicality that gives reason for critics to hail JUNK as "Philly's most imaginative perpetrator of dare-devilish physical theater" and declare Sanders as "the city's most exciting choreographer." Brian built his signature style by creating off-the-wall choreography with found objects and other discarded debris giving way to the troupe's name, JUNK. "I like to find the dance inside these pieces of junk; something unique and unexpected that gives us [the audience] a new and inspiring look on life," says Brian. The troupe's shows are an exhilarating feast of exciting physicality and creativity, elegantly served up with beauty and wit. Dance Magazine cites Brian's work as "accessible, technically flawless, and thrilling comic dance turns."

Tyger-B has currently decided to scratch his past works and let 2010-11 start the new mark of his future goals, allowing the lessons of the past to never be forgotten but accepting the present with a new mindset. With a good and grateful foot, he is stepping towards the destiny designed and created exactly for his many forms of art. Ready, willing and, most importantly, able, he moves towards the blessed future as a student, teacher, instructor, motivator and enlightened and blessed individual. Giving many thanks to his past, organized present and untraveled future, Tyger-B invites all to walk this clear mile and share his happiness, vision and gift!

Raphael Xavier is an award winning artist from Wilmington, Delaware, credited for the resurrection and the growth of the Breaking community in Philadelphia since 1996. He is currently active Alumni of the world renown Hip Hop Dance Company, Rennie Harris Puremovement. Raphael is a Pennsylvania Fellow of the Arts in Folk and Traditional forms, 2011 Susan Hess Modern Dance Choreographers Project recipient and has been funded by the Independence Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He is also a 2011 ACTA award recipient and 2010 Durfee Grantee. A professional breaker/dancer for the last 15 years he also works in a variety of fields including music, photography and film, incorporating them into the dance. A self-taught practitioner since 1983, he continues to learn, recreate and expand the breaking vocabulary. His dance work has been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Dance Theatre Workshop in NYC, The Wilma Theatre and Painted Bride in Philadelphia, and in Lithuania and Brazil.

Yu Wei studied at the Wuhan Song and Dance Theater Academy, where she became the principal dancer of the Wuhan Song and Dance Theater. She has performed with the Dance Companies in Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan Provinces, and in Beijing with the China Song and Dance Company. She was the lead dancer of National Ballet's Lijiang River Sentiment and Yao Shan Flame. She has also been a guest artist in many important national festivals and was selected as a member of the China National Contemporary Famous Dancers tour. Yu Wei has been awarded First Prize at the Professional Dance Skill Competition, the Silver Award for Choreography in Hubei province and the Excellence Award in the National First Lotus Dance Competition in Beijing. The Yu Wei Chinese Dance Collection has toured extensively in America since 2000. In 2007, Yu Wei was invited to perform at the International Dance Festival in Busan, South Korea, and Cult TV International film festival in Heythrop Park, England. Yu Wei has received awards from the Leeway Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and has been selected for the roster of Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour since 2004.