SPRING 2021 AUDITIONS

ABOUT SPLICE: 5 DANCE FILMS

Splice: 5 Dance Films —TAPS Spring Main Stage — will consist of five dance pieces choreographed by TAPS Lecturers in Dance featuring Stanford Students. Rehearsing throughout Winter or Spring quarter, these five pieces will be pre-recorded and presented to the public via video the weekend of May 27th.

ABOUT THE PROJECTS

01/05 | RAVE AND THE RING (Working Title)
Choreography by Katie Faulkner
AUDITIONS | Friday, March 12 at 4PM PT

ABOUT THE PIECE

This collaboratively-created dance film will explore philosopher Émile Durkheim’s term, collective effervescence, the phenomenon of ecstatic unanimity groups of people can experience when unified by a thought and/or action. We will specifically look at the ways rhythm can be used to illuminate this concept, deepening kinetic relationships even at a distance.

ABOUT THE PROCESS

Looking for 6-10 dancers from any movement style or background. In addition to working collaboratively to source and refine movement material in rehearsals, dancers will be required to film themselves performing this material on their own time, submitting videos by the deadlines provided. Dancers will be supported with clear direction as to how best to capture their performances through this medium and needn’t have extensive experience in video to be successful in this work.

This piece will rehearse M/W 5:30-7:30pm PT. FRI 5:30-7:30pm PT will be used as needed for one-on-one or small group rehearsals. Once cast, students will need to enroll in Dance 27 Faculty Choreography Project: Katie Faulkner (1-2 units, S/NC). Dancers cast in this piece may perform in other pieces of Splice: 5 Dance Films, so long as there is no conflict with the rehearsal block timings.

HOW TO AUDITION

Auditions for this piece will be held via 60-90 second video submission. Videos should be submitted HERE no later than Friday, March 12 at 4PM PT.

WHAT TO PREPARE? 

Video submissions should aim to be 60-90seconds in length. Please do not edit the video or add any additional effects. The focus will be on your dancing and choreographic creativity, not your filmmaking skills.

Seat yourself at a table with your camera placed on the table as if you were sitting across from it. Introduce yourself by creating a gestural and specific movement​ portrait that utilizes the table. (For inspiration, you can look to the 52 Portraits project created by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion which inspires this prompt.)

You may use recorded music or not, but the portrait must in some way demonstrate your proficiency with rhythm and musicality.

For Questions on Video format email khfaulk@stanford.edu.

ABOUT KATIE FAULKNER

Katie Faulkner is a choreographer, performer, teaching artist and the Artistic Director of little seismic dance company. Since founding the project-based company in 2006, Faulkner has received support in the form of numerous grants, commissions, residencies, and awards. She was an Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco’s ODC Theater from 2009-2011 and has been in residence at the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts, the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Rauschenberg Residency, and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. She has received two CHIME Grants from the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company enabling year-long choreographic mentorships with choreographers David Gordon and Erika Chong Shuch. Faulkner has also received multiple Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and nominations, the top prize for her work in the Joyce Theater A.W.A.R.D. Show!/San Francisco competition, and the 2010 SF Bay Guardian GOLDIE (Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery) Award for dance.

In addition to her direction of little seismic, she works as a freelance choreographer developing works for a variety of platforms. In so doing, she has collaborated with composers, animators, filmmakers, writers, fellow choreographers and theater and music video directors. Faulkner has been commissioned to create multiple works for universities, presenting agencies and professional companies throughout the country and enjoys the balance of these projects with those of her company. As a dancer she has performed the works of Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Alex Ketley, Randee Paufve, Victoria Marks, Susan Rethorst and Ann Carlson. She worked with several of these choreographers as a dancer with AXIS Dance Company, with whom she performed both locally and nationally from 2003-2007. She has been an active educator since 2002 and is currently on faculty at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. In January 2015 she received her certification in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis from the Integrated Movement Studies program.

02/05 | TRACE LINES IN THE PROVISIONAL
Choreography by Diane Frank
AUDITIONS | Fri-Sun March 12-14 10AM-5PM PT

ABOUT THE PIECE

We are all changed by extraordinary circumstances — pandemic, political, environmental, and social upheaval. This work springs from a visceral response to that impact as we move through our ordinary days. How do we proceed, stay alive, stay open during such prolonged assaults on our senses? What in our bodies keeps us going, connecting? 

ABOUT THE PROCESS

Looking for a diverse cast of 6-8 dancers. Once cast, students will need to enroll in Dance 27 Faculty Choreography Project: Diane Frank (1-2 units, S/NC). This piece will rehearse on Fridays from 3-5 pm PT + an additional hour weekly with each dancer (M/W 4-5 pm or by arrangement other days/times, including weekends.) Dancers cast in this piece may perform in other pieces of Splice: 5 Dance Films, so long as there is no conflict with the Friday 3-5 pm rehearsal or agreed-upon individual rehearsals and filming schedule.

HOW TO AUDITION

Auditions for this piece will be held by Zoom appointment between Fri-Sun MAR 12-14 between 10AM PT and 5PM PT. Email diane.frank.dance@gmail.com to schedule a 30-45min audition interview. 

WHAT TO PREPARE

Plan to hold your audition interview in a clear indoor/outdoor space where you can move fully, easily. Wear comfortable dance or sports clothing. Be warmed up and ready to dance.  

If outdoors, wear shoes to protect your feet. Prepare any short movement phrase or dance — 30-60 seconds long — something that you can dance with ease and confidence — any style, genre, form, with or without music, your own choreography or someone else’s. You may also share video clips of yourself in performance. You will be asked to learn some movement material; we will work together to develop it, as we would in rehearsal. 

ABOUT DIANE FRANK

BFA in Theater; MA in Dance; Assistant Professor, Dance Department at the University of Maryland, founding member of the Maryland Dance Theater. Frank then moved to New York City to begin an 11-year career with Douglas Dunn and Dancers, touring nationally and internationally. She trained with Merce Cunningham throughout her time in NYC, and was a member of his teaching staff at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio for eight years; at Cunningham’s request, she taught technique and repertory at the American Center’s Atelier Cunningham in Paris. A frequent guest teacher at the Paris Opera, she assisted Douglas Dunn in both the creation of new work for the Opera and the setting of established repertory. Frank has been the recipient of seven NEA Choreography Fellowships, as well as commissions from the Jerome Foundation, DTW, Dance Bay Area, and Meet the Composer, and Arts Silicon Valley. Her work has been performed both in the United States and abroad.  

At Stanford, Frank has taught contemporary dance technique, choreographed, and mentored graduate and undergraduate student dance projects. She has organized and advised Stanford’s student participation in the American College Dance Festival as well as other Divisional dance education and performance projects on- and off-campus. She has also organized numerous choreographic commissions by guest artists, frequently acting as Rehearsal Director, setting and maintaining works by choreographers as diverse as Elizabeth Streb, Holly Johnston, Brenda Way, Parijat Desai, Hope Mohr, Janice Garrett, among others.  

In 2005, she played a significant role in the development of Stanford Lively Arts’s campus-wide interdisciplinary arts event “Encounter: Merce,” organizing its “Music and Dance by Chance” commissions, as well as an IHUM lecture series on Cunningham’s video dances and concert repertory. She has twice taught Cunningham repertory in Stanford workshop classes. Frank has been instrumental in developing a number of residency projects and artistic collaborations for the TAPS. Highlights include: the repertory reconstruction project of Anna Halprin’s “Myths”; Elizabeth Streb’s “Crash” performed with Streb’s company on Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium stage; and “Cantor:Rewired,” site-specific outdoor iterations of Parijat Desai’s work fusing Southeast Asian classical Indian dance with post-Modern choreographic strategies. In 2011, she assisted in the reconstruction of Anna Sokolow’s signature masterpiece, “Rooms”. Frank also teaches “The Duets Project,” a performance class that builds partnering and ensemble skills through duet repertory. Strongly interested in site-specific performance, Frank has taught the theory course “Figure/Ground: Site-Specific Dance Performance in Outdoor Environments.” Complementing this course, she conceived and organized “Red Rover,” a series of commissioned site-specific dance performances traveling the grounds of Stanford campus. Recent site-specific projects include “Construction Site” and “Action SEQuence: Six Dances on the SEQ”. Frank also instituted the Firework Series, a quarterly informal showing of student work followed by discussion among artists and audience. She also founded and currently organizes the Bay Area Dance Exchange, a day-long intensive hosted by Stanford for Bay Area college and university dance programs; eleven schools gather to share studio practices, creative processes, and performances of works. Recent choreography includes the site-specific duet “Cleave,” from which she developed a video dance with filmmaker David Alvarado, as well as “Sea Change,” a series of duets, and “Escalating Overlap for Figure/Ground.”  

Her work “Twilight Composite” was selected for performance at the American College Dance Festival Gala at the Kennedy Center in March 2012. “Branch, Tendril, Vine” and six “Tendril” solos have been created and performed by solo artists in the Bay Area and nationally. “In a Winter Garden,” a contemplative performance collaboration for dance, sculpture, and music was created with composer Jaroslow Kapuscinski, sculptor Will Clift, and musician Ko Ishikawa. “Tools for Traveling Toward the Light,” involved collaborators Erik Flatmo (scenic design) and composer Hassan Eskhatrian (live electronic music score). Her most recent work, “Goat-trout-snake-lizard girl” investigated the intersection of the natural world and women’s core movement patterning in relation to it; composer Tim Russell created the sound score. In addition to her own work, Frank currently tours as a performer in “Doggie Hamlet” by the acclaimed choreographer/director Ann Carlson. Frank has twice served as Acting Director of the former Dance Division of Stanford Drama.

03/05 | CARRY ON WE MUST (Working Title)
Choreography by Ronnie Reddick
AUDITIONS | Week of March 8

ABOUT THE PIECE

Ronnie Reddick will also be creating a piece for Splice: 5 Dance Films. Along with group choreography there will also be a bit of solo work, this piece will explore Hip Hop with some lyrical/freestyle moments of dance performance. 

ABOUT THE PROCESS

Rehearsals for this piece are flexible.  Dancers cast in this piece may perform in other pieces of Splice: 5 Dance Films. No additional course enrollment is mandatory for this rehearsal process, but if available to take DANCE 59: Hip-Hop II in Spring, there will be some creation of work in this class.

HOW TO AUDITION

Auditions will be held by 30-minute Zoom appointment during the week of March 8th. For those interested in auditioning, please email ronnie.reddick@gmail.com to set up a timeslot.

WHAT TO PREPARE? 

Plan to hold your audition interview in a clear indoor/outdoor space where you can move fully, easily. Wear comfortable dance or sports clothing. Be warmed up and ready to dance.  

The Choreographer will send sample choreography ahead of time (after your timeslot is confirmed). In addition, the Audition will include some impromptu, live freestyling to provided music.

ABOUT RONNIE REDDICK

Ronnie Reddick is one of the Bay Area’s most dynamic and multi-talented choreographers with an edge of what’s happening in the world of dance and fashion today. This multifaceted San Francisco based Choreographer/Dancer made his mark by combining Hip Hop, Jazz, Fashion and Theatrics to create one of the most explosive and dynamic styles to hit the dance scene recently, making him one of the most sought after Hip Hop/Contemporary choreographers in the Bay Area and beyond. Along with his busy career, Reddick is also the Choreographer/Show Director at Asia SF. This unique restaurant/dining experience is taking the world by storm and features one of the most beautiful gender illusionists in the world.

In the entertainment world, Reddick has worked with such artists as Michael & Janet Jackson, Deborah Cox, Paula Abdul, Kristine W., Tony, Toni, Tone, Jody Watley, Santana, Kelly Price, RuPaul, Robin Thicke, Snoop Dogg, Overtone Band and M.C. Hammer along with many corporations like Sony, Sony PlayStation, Intuit, Prudential, Gap, Macy’s, MAC Cosmetics, Nordstrom, Starbucks, API, Apple Computer, Google, Yahoo, Xilinx, Sun Micro Systems, BEBE, Univision Television, E*Trade, Coca Cola, and Microsoft.

In addition to teaching at Stanford, Reddick teaches at Santa Clara University and has taught master classes around the world, including Princeton University, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Canada. He continues to work with, train, and inspire dancers that are now dancing around the world. Reddick also teaches dancers about the business of dance and how to work in today’s world as a professional commercial dancer.

“Technique is only the beginning of what makes a memorable dancer, and we don’t start dancing to end up doing chorus,” says Reddick. “You have got to have that extra something.” It is through his experience and selfless devotion that Ronnie Reddick is inspiring a new generation of talent.

04/05 | RIOT OF SPRING
Choreography by Aleta Hayes

ABOUT THE PIECE

A violet disruption. As the dawn follows night, spring follows winter. Cycles, light and the explosive power of renewal, after a long period of shaping and being shaped by the darkness, in contemplation. We enact the repeated refrains of nature. Press reset, shake the house, emerge anew, will into being — a profusion of possibilities.

ABOUT THE PROCESS

This piece has already been cast from within its companion academic course this Winter. For others interested in being involved with this piece, email ahayes1@stanford.edu.

ABOUT ALETA HAYES

Aleta Hayes is a dancer, choreographer, performer, educator and lecturer. Hayes holds an M.F.A. (1993) in Dance and Choreography from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a B.A. (1991), with Departmental Honors, in Drama, with a concentration in Dance and the Visual Arts from Stanford University.

Hayes worked in New York City for fifteen years, choreographing solo and group dance pieces. Performances interpolated acting and singing with dance. She had leading roles in major productions such as Jane Comfort’s dance/opera Asphalt (book by Carl Hancock Rux, music and lyrics by Toshi Reagon) and Robert Wilson’s The Temptation of St Anthony (with music and libretto by Bernice Johnson Reagon). Hayes taught for eight years at Princeton University in the Program in Theater and Dance and the Program in African American Studies. While at Princeton, she developed pedagogically innovative courses that combined cultural history, theory, and performance.

In 2004, Hayes returned to Stanford on a Ford Foundation Resident Dialogues Fellowship through the Committee on Black Performing Arts. A Lecturer since 2006, Hayes’s contemporary dance classes are a hybrid of dance, drama and performance. Introduction to Contemporary Modern Dance: ‘Liquid Flow’ is the gateway, foundational dance and movement course for Contemporary Dance in TAPS. Other notable classes include, Dance Improvisation StratLab, Afro-Styles and Dance-Making and Musical Theater Dance. For the course Stanford Dance Community: Inter-Style Choreography Workshop, taught since 2018, guest instructors include leaders and choreographers from dance clubs on campus. 

The Chocolate Heads Band started as a performance-making workshop created by Hayes to teach choreography, interdisciplinary research, and collaboration. An admixture of dance styles, genres, and contemporary performance, this class welcomes student artists from dance, music, visual and spoken word art, and design, as well as from non-art fields. Taught each Fall as a choreography workshop and performer training lab, Chocolate Heads becomes a ‘prototypical’ dance troupe that performs frequently around the campus.

Hayes also teaches at the d.school, (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) and other arts entities and programs on campus. At Stanford, Hayes has had many leading roles as a dancer, singer and actor including, most notably: Suzan-Lori Parks’s In the Blood, directed by Professor Harry J. Elam, Jr. (2005). In the spring of 2006, she choreographed, performed a multimedia solo piece, Deianeira (an adoption of Sophocles’ Women of Trachis) created for her and directed by Drama and Classics Professor Rush Rehm. She performed the role of ‘Mama’ in Raisin in the Sun (2019), directed by Elam. Hayes has choreographed musicals and plays in TAPS, including Everybody (2020), directed by Michael Rau, REVIVAL: Remembering the Afro Now-One Nation Portal to the Future (2019) directed by Amara Tabor-Smith, Spring Awakening (2016) directed by Elam, and Helen/Hecuba (2018), directed by Rehm.

05/05 | DISTAL IMPRINT
Choreography by Alex Ketley

ABOUT THE PIECE

Developed through an extensive movement practice with the dancers, Distal Imprint is also in response to the stasis and upheaval currently being experienced by the world. It explores the ideas that expansiveness can be born from our collective confinement, and connection can transcend circumstantial limitations. The film is being developed in collaboration with Bay Area composer Eli Nelson, dramaturge and poet Carol Snow, with contributions from artist and San Quentin State Prison inmate William Clark.

ABOUT THE PROCESS

This piece has already been cast from within its companion academic course this Winter. This piece is seeking a Digital Content Creator — applications can be found in the “Assistants” section on the right hand column. For others interested in being involved with this piece, email aketley@stanford.edu.

ABOUT ALEX KETLEY

Alex Ketley is a choreographer, filmmaker, and the director of The Foundry. Formerly a classical dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, he left the company to create The Foundry as a platform to explore his interests in alternative methods of devising performance. The company has allowed Ketley the freedom to pursue projects that would be difficult to realize within his commissioning career. A few examples of these are: Syntax, an hour long duet systemically using the mechanics of language as an organizing mechanism; Lost Line researched how the application of environment affects the generation of movement and studied in direct response to California’s diverse physical landscapes; Please Love Me jettisoned the structure of performing in a theater context and was developed with a curiosity about how people genuinely connect and experience artwork; and the No Hero Trilogy which was a multi-year project that explored what dance and performance means to the lives of people living throughout rural America. The Foundry’s diverse work has been enthusiastically received by audiences, the press, and funders.

For his independent work as a choreographer he has been commissioned extensively throughout the United States, as well as projects in Germany and Italy, and has received acknowledgement from the Hubbard Street National Choreographic Competition, the International Choreographic Competition of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, the Choo-San Goh Award, the Princess Grace Award for Choreography, four Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography Residencies, the Gerbode-Hewlett Choreographer Award, the Eben Demarest Award, the National Choreographic Initiative Residency, a Kenneth Rainin Foundation New and Experimental Works Grant, three CHIME Fellowships, a Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation Grant, the Artistry Award from the Superfest International Disability Film Festival, and his work was featured on national television through an invitation from the show So You Think You Can Dance. His pieces and collaborations have also been awarded Isadora Duncan Awards in the categories of; Outstanding Achievement by an Ensemble, Outstanding Achievement in Choreography, Outstanding Achievement by a Company, and nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design.

As an educator he has taught throughout the world and is currently a Lecturer at Stanford University’s Theater and Performance Studies Department. He was the founding Resident Choreographer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance for fourteen years until its closure in 2018.

In 2020 he became a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, one of the most prestigious honors in the United States recognizing individuals “who have demonstrated exceptional creative ability in the arts.”