Since 2009, the Bard Dance Program has hosted an in-residence dance company bringing their technique and composition to the academic program in the form of teaching, educational licensing projects, master classes, full-Company production residencies, and public performances.
Villa Albertine
Bard College Dance Program Launches Two-Year Partnership with Villa Albertine
Beginning in fall 2023, the Bard College Dance Program is launching a two-year partnership with Villa Albertine, a cultural institution that supports exchanges in arts and ideas between the United States, France, and beyond. Each semester, artists selected by Tara Lorenzen, director of Bard’s Dance Program, and Nicole Birmann Bloom, Villa Albertine’s program officer for the performing arts, in collaboration with Centre National de la Danse (CN D, Pantin, France) and other French choreographic centers, will teach technique and repertory courses in Bard’s Dance curriculum.
Past Partnerships
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GIBNEY2020-2023
The Bard College Dance Program and GIBNEY, a New York City–based dance and social justice organization led by Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Gina Gibney, began a new partnership in the fall of 2020. This is the fourth professional partnership launched by the Dance Program, which began in 2009 with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
GIBNEY
2020-2023
The Bard College Dance Program and GIBNEY, a New York City–based dance and social justice organization led by Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Gina Gibney, began a new partnership in the fall of 2020. This is the fourth professional partnership launched by the Dance Program, which began in 2009 with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
The Bard Dance Program/Gibney Partnership provides unique opportunities for Bard students to work closely with Gibney’s resident dance troupe, Gibney Company, a commission-based, repertory company that works with renowned and rising international choreographers representing a broad range of aesthetics and techniques.
Gibney's Director of Engagement Amy Miller, Bard's Dance Program Director Tara Lorenzen, and Professor of Dance Maria Simpson champion the partnership.
Each semester, artists selected by Gibney’s leadership teach courses embedded in Bard’s dance curriculum, including studio courses for all levels of dancers, as well as seminar courses that address discipline-specific topics, such as Dance Writing as Activism. A special feature of this partnership is the opportunity to perform Bard Dance Senior Projects at Gibney Center in Manhattan in the spring. Gibney also offers yearlong artistic advising of student choreographers. Extracurricular workshops and master classes further enhance the educational field of study. Gibney Company’s residency at the College will include open rehearsals and a public showing. This partnership represents a wide-ranging vision of what dance can be in a liberal arts curriculum at a time when artist engagement in both local and global communities is essential.
*Tara Lorenzen has danced with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Stephen Petronio, Beth Gill, and Maria Hassabi, has worked for the American Dance Festival and Kaatsbaan|cultural park for dance on their education initiatives, and has been teaching in the Dance Program at Bard College since 2016. -
2018–19
Beginning in fall 2018, the Bard Dance Program embarked on a partnership with the American Dance Festival (ADF). Through coursework, artist residencies, performance opportunities, and public dialogs, students encountered a range of well-respected artists who put research and inquiry at the center of their professional practices. ADF’s critical lens for 2018 was to examine how two influential roots of modern dance—the African diaspora and Western European dance traditions—operate within contemporary practice. -
2009–15
Beginning in fall 2009, the Bard Dance Program embarked on a partnership with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to offer new classes in technique, creative structure, and critical analysis. After BTJ/AZ’s merger with Dance Theater Workshop, renamed New York Live Arts, the partnership expanded considerably. Regular offerings included technique (two levels, offered four days a week), repertory, composition, junior seminar in professional practice, and Senior Project oversight and advising. -
2015–18
Trisha Brown Dance Company engaged in an extensive, two-year residency that included teaching, educational licensing projects, master classes, full-company production residencies, and public performances to cultivate a curriculum that embodied the artistic practice of its founding artistic director, Trisha Brown. Courses included dance technique and composition, ultimately incorporating interdisciplinary studies with other forms including music and the visual arts. Each year, students learned repertory for public performance.
