HISTORY

Created in 2001, Alexandra Beller/Dances has been extremely active in the New York scene as well as throughout the United States, Cyprus, Hong Kong and Korea. The work has been commissioned by and performed at Dance Theater Workshop, P.S. 122, Joyce SoHo, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s, University Settlement, Aaron Davis Hall, and other major NYC venues as well as Jacob’s Pillow, SUNY Purchase, and in Michigan, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Arizona. The company consists of five dancers/actors and regularly collaborates with sound, design, costume and visual artists. Funding has been received from HERE Art Space, Dance New Amsterdam, The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, LMCC, Puffin Foundation, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, and private funders. Upcoming projects include an eight week tour through Oslo, Amsterdam, Poland, Prague and St. Petersburg, Russia this summer.

Alexandra Beller/Dances is an ensemble of highly skilled dancer/actors working on the edge between dance and theater. Rich with personal revelations, performances attempt to move, stimulate, impassion and incite the audience. Ripe with metaphor, abstracted narrative and controversial ideas, the dances traffic through the dangerous territory of homophobia, sexism, and emotional isolationism. The company seeks to intersect distinctions between races, nationalities, sexual orientations and political affiliations through a series of artistic collisions. The creations are a truly unique hybrid form, where speaking and moving are essential forces in the creation of meaning. Dances often pay homage to great writers and fertile landscapes of words are often used to create a sense of place, time and relationship. Movement is a key to the startling, idiosyncratic and mysterious information that resides in the body. The process is highly collaborative and focuses on bringing as many artistic models to the table as possible in an attempt to create original imagery, sound and structure. Humor, irony, satire and pathos are interchangeable in the drive towards meaning. Education, performance, discussion and community involvement are all pathways taken towards audience and community partnerships.

Alexandra Beller/Dances became a 501©3 non profit company in 2006.
PAST PERFORMANCES

"other stories": Jacob's Pillow Inside Out Series
Becket, MA: July 27, 2011

"other stories" World Premiere: Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Co-Lab Commission from Summer Stages and ICA: July 24, 2011

"egg": Former Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company members
Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston: July 18-19

"other stories" work-in-progress: MR Open Performance
DTW 3rd Floor Showing, NYC: June 1, 2011

"other stories" work-in-progress: Draftworks,
Danspace Project, NYC: May 21, 2011, 2010

"egg": Performance Mix, Joyce Soho
Joyce Soho, NYC: April 15, 2010

"other stories" work-in-progress & piece:
Dance New Amsterdam, NYC: February 25 - 28, 2010

"piece" (excerpt):
APAP Dance New Amsterdam, NYC: January 7, 2010

"piece" work-in-progress:
Duo Multicultural Arts Center, NY: December 9 - 12, 2009

25th Anniversary Gala: Dance New Amsterdam, NY
October 24, 2009

"other stories": OpenLook Dance Festival
St. Petersburg, Russia: July 10, 2009

"other stories": Performance Festival:
Bytom, Poland: July 2, 2009

"what comes after happy": Abrons Art Center, NY
May 7 - 10, 2009

Panelist: Dance New Amsterdam, NY
March 18, 2009

"what comes after happy" (work-in-progress): Kumble Theatre, Brooklyn, NY
March 11, 2009

"what comes after happy" (excerpt): Dance New Amsterdam
February 8, 2009

"us" (excerpts): BRICStudio, Brooklyn, NY
January 23 - 24, 2009

"what comes after happy" (excerpt): City Center Studios, NYC
January 11, 2009

Lecture (Getting Started): Dance New Amsterdam
January 9, 2009

"us" Benefit: 100 Grand Street
November 3, 2008

"what comes after happy": John Ryan Theater
October 22 - 26, 2008

"us": Creative Alliance, MD
October 10, 2008

"us": The Tank
August 22, 2008

"us": NACL Festival
>August 16, 2008

"us": Berkshire Fringe Festival
July 17 - 21, 2008

"egg": BAX First Weekends
May 2 - 3, 2008

"what comes after happy": Symphony Space Dance Sampler
April 26, 2008

"egg": BRAVO Blue! University of Michigan
March 10, 2008

"what comes after happy": HERE's CultureMart
HERE Arts Center, January 16 - 17, 2008

"us" (excerpt): HERE's Hybrid Brunch
HERE Arts Center, January 13, 2008

"us" (excerpt): 26th Annual Lennon Tribute for Homeless Children
Ailey CitiGroup Theater, December 14, 2007

"Your are Here"(excerpt)/"what comes after happy"
Dance New Amsterdam's Splice, October 18 - 21, 2007

"Keeping Things Whole": Earl Mosley's Institute for the Arts
August 5, 2007

"Dangling Fruits of Joy or How To Make Love": Dance New Amsterdam
Summer Intensive July 25-26, 2007

"us"
solo show at HERE Art Space June 21-24, 2007

APAP at HERE Art Center January 14, 2007

"Dangling Fruits of Joy or How to Make Love"
Connecticut College, December 8-10, 2006

"Please"
Kumbell Theater at Long Island University October 6, 2006

"Your are Here"
Dance Theater Workshop April 5-8, 2006

APAP
City Center, January 21, 2006

"us"
solo show (work in progress) at HERE Art Space January 14-15, 2006

The A.W.A.R.D. Show
at Joyce SoHo January 7, 2006

"Please" (excerpts from "Your are Here")
November 9-10, 2005 at HERE Art Space

"Your are Here", "Diet Coke Can Save Your Life", "Or Are You Just Happy To See Me"?
December 2, 2005: Roberts Hall at Rhode Island College

"Culture of Life"
Philly Fringe Festival, September 7, 2005

"Culture of Life" (WIP)
HERE Art Center, August 31 & September 1, 2005

Comp Show
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Theater, July 31, 2005

Dance Makers
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Theater, July 29-30, 2005

"us"
Galapagos Art Space, June 17, 2005

"Plastic Love"
COCA, St. Louis, June 3, 2005

Burlesque Benefit
Hiro at The Maritime Hotel, May 17, 2005

"us"
Dance Theater Workshop, April 29, 2005

"Your are Here"/Blink: an evening of dance theatre by Alexandra Beller and Alethea Adsitt
March 16-20, 2005, The Connelly Theatre

Pull To Pop: an evening of avant-garde burlesque
Galapagos Art Space, February 18, 2005

"Reasons for Moving"
Power Center for the Arts, Ann Arbor, MI, February 3-6, 2005

"Your are Here" and "other stories"
92nd St Y, Sundays at 3 Sunday, Nov 7th 2004

Lit
Friday, November 19th 2004, Bill Young Studio

Raw Material
Nov 20-21, 2004, Evolving Arts

"Why Things Fall"
The Yard at Martha's Vineyard, September 3-5, 2004

"Your are Here"
The Yard at Martha's Vineyard, September 24-25, 2004

The Neighbor of Nothing
Dance Space Center (Summer Dance Intensive Performance), July 2-4, 2004

"Moving Men or Telling left From Right"
Dance Space Center (20th Anniversary Concert), May 15, 2004, 7 pm
And at University Settlement April 26, 2004

Lecture at University of Cincinatti
April 13, 2004

BAAD Ass Women Festival
March 20, 2004

From the Horses Mouth
The Duke Theatre, February 25-29, 2004

Continuous Replay (w/Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company)
Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House, February 7, 2004

"Diet Coke Can Save Your Life"
Memorial Audtorium, Montclair State University, January 31, 2004

Dancers Responding to AIDS Benefit
Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, December 6, 2003

Fall Concert
Life Hall, Montclair State University, November 21-23, 2003

"We Sink As We Run"
Betty Pease Theatre, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, October 21, 2003

"We Sink As We Run"
Wellspring Theatre at the Epic Center, September 26-28, 2003

© Alexandra Beller/Dances 2010
Website by Tara Lee Burns