Christopher Rudd, Named A 2019 Fellow Of The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation

RudduR Dance announces that its founder, artistic director, and choreographer, Jamaican-born Christopher Rudd, has been named a 2019 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Formerly of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Cirque du Soleil, and Carolina Ballet, Christopher blends contemporary ballet with theatricality and aerial artistry to create provocative experiences that address social and political landscapes.

This is exciting news for the 4 year old company, whose mission of bettering the world through dance coupled with Christopher's unique mix of dance genres has quickly helped them gain national and international recognition. The Company has also just been awarded the USArtists International grant by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation to support the first stop on their 5 country RudduR Dance Empowers the America tour to combat divisive rhetoric through community engagement, person to person cultural diplomacy, and by presenting thematically empowering dance.

Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the 168 fellows were chosen from a pool of almost 3000 applicants. "It's exceptionally satisfying to name 168 new Guggenheim Fellows," Edward Hirsch, president of the Foundation, said in a statement. "These artists and writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best. Each year since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has bet everything on the individual, and we're thrilled to continue to do so with this wonderfully talented and diverse group. It's an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do."

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: Since its establishment in 1925, the Foundation has granted more than $360 million in Fellowships to over 18,000 individuals, among whom are scores of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, poets laureate, members of the various national academies, and winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Turing Award, National Book Award, and other significant, internationally recognized honors.

The Guggenheim Fellowship program remains a significant source of support for artists, writers, and scholars in the humanities and social sciences, and scientific researchers. New and continuing donations from friends, Trustees, former Fellows, and other foundations have ensured that the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation will be able to continue to carry out its historic mission. For more information on the Fellows and their projects, please visit the Foundation's website at http://www.gf.org.

Since its founding in 2015, RudduR Dance has presented works locally in 4 NYC boroughs - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx - nationally in Florida, Utah, and Texas, and internationally in France, Trinidad & Tobago (twice), and Burkina Faso, West Africa. Fiscally sponsored by Miami Dance Futures Inc. and Pentacle, RudduR Dance has been supported by World Learning Arts Envoy, and The US Embassy Burkina Faso, CUNY Dance Initiative, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, New World School of the Arts Alumni Foundation, Career Transition For Dancers, STREB's GO! Emerging Artists Commissioning Program, American Dance Abroad, Harlem Stage, Dance Gallery Festival, Mark Jupiter, Chelsea Piers, and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Rudd and his team are having their first benefit this Spring and invite all who want to learn more about the Company and its activities at home and abroad to: RudduR Dance Empowers the Americas Benefit in DUMBO at Mark Jupiter - 202 Plymouth St, Brooklyn, NY, 11201 on Thursday, May 9th at 6:30 PM. Tickets: $125 general admission & $50 artist tickets.