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Christopher Williams

Brooklyn, NY

Born 1975, Washington, D.C.

Dancer, Choreographer, Puppeteer

I am interested expanding live performance by exploring the relationship of history, music, prosthetic costume, mask, and puppetry to the movement of the human body. I experience a certain harmony between seemingly dispirit forms due to their common potential for movement. The body of a dancer can become an armature upon which to sculpt, a musical instrument, a visage upon which masks may appear, a medium through which puppets can rouse, and even a time machine in my work.

I am interested in exploring the longstanding human need to explain mysterious lacunae left in the mind by the unknown. This is increasingly important to me, as our current paradigm tends to provide less time to ponder the existence of unknown locations, flora, or fauna. Though we are led to believe certain truths about the universe, ample ambiguous territory remains. I feel that working through a variety of creatively combined genres both provides powerful spectacle for audiences and exposes a place where the public imagination is enabled to soar.

1999 B.A., Sarah Lawrence College

1998 Diploma from the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq

2004-2006 Performer, Tere O'Connor Dance

2003-2006 Member, Artists Advisory Board, Danspace Project

2000-2006 Performer, Douglas Dunn & Dancers

SELECTED WORKS

2006 The Portuguese Suite, 9 short dances set to traditional Portuguese fado songs, Danspace Project, New York

2005 Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, eleven solos based on early virgin martyr saints in collaboration with the Anonymous 4, Performance Space 122, New York

2004 Mandragora Vulgaris, women's quartet with original hand puppets, Patricia N. Nanon Theater, The Yard performing artists' colony, Martha's Vineyard, MA

2004 Piedras, multi-media performance in collaboration with visual artist Rosario Lopez, video artist Roberto Herrera, composer Ivan Jimenez, and poet Rusty Morrison, Casa del Teatro Nacional, Bogota, Colombia

2003 Virgo Genitrix, women's trio with original Bun-Raku-style puppets in collaboration with The Anonymous 4, HERE Arts Center, New York

2003 Retromingent, duet in collaboration with Kindra Windish, La Mama Experimental Theater Club, New York

2003 Incubus, duet for film and live performance in collaboration with composer Peter Kirn, NWEAMO Festival, San Diego, CA

SELECTED GRANTS AND AWARDS

2006 Greenwall Foundation Arts and Humanities Grant

2006 Dance New Amsterdam Artist Residency

2005 New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") as choreographer/creator citing Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins

2005 Dance Theater Workshop Digital Fellowship

2003 Resident Artist Commission, Dream Music Puppetry Program, HERE Arts Center

2001 Jim Henson Foundation Seed and Project Grant

Year Awarded 2006
CategoryDance
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