Juilliard Dance's 2015-16 Season Opens with 'New Dances: Edition 2015'

Juilliard Dance, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, opens its 2015-16 season this month with "New Dances: Edition 2015" featuring four world-premiere dances by innovative choreographers Helen Simoneau (First-Year Dancers); Aszure Barton (Second-Year Dancers); Zvi Gotheiner (Third-Year Dancers); and Kyle Abraham(Fourth-Year Dancers).

The program features Strange Garden by Helen Simoneau; return to patience by Aszure Barton; Vivo Rota by Zvi Gotheiner; and non sequitur paramour by Kyle Abraham. Ms. Simoneau's work has an original score by Juilliard faculty member Jerome Begin and will be performed by Juilliard musicians. Ms. Barton's work is set to a score by Caroline Shaw that will be played by Juilliard pianist and Kovner Fellow, Angie Zhang.

"New Dances: Edition 2015" performances take place on Friday, December 11 (7:30pm); Saturday, December 12 (7:30pm); Monday, December 14 (7:30pm); and Tuesday, December 15 (7:30pm); and Sunday, December 13 (3pm) in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Tickets for $30 are available at events.juilliard.edu.Tickets are free for Juilliard students; non-Juilliard students may purchase tickets for $15, only at the Juilliard Box Office.

About the Choreographers for "New Dances: Edition 2015"

Helen Simoneau is a native of Québec, Canada. She is the artistic director of Helen Simoneau Danse. Ms. Simoneau has received commissions from the American Dance Festival, the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard, Springboard Danse Montréal, and the Swiss International Coaching Project (SiWiC) in Zurich. She was a resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NYC and Bates Dance Festival in Maine, and has received fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation and from the North Carolina Arts Council. Notable venues that have presented her work include Joyce SoHo in NYC, Tangente in Montréal, The Aoyama Round Theatre in Tokyo, the L.I.G. Art Hall Busan in South Korea, Jacob's Pillow (Inside/Out), Movement Research at Judson Church, Athens International Dance Festival in Greece, and Danza Urbana in Bologna. Her work has also been presented at PACT Zollverein in Essen as one of three finalists for the Kurt Jooss Prize and at the 13th Internationales Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, where she was awarded first place for choreography. Ms. Simoneau received a B.F.A. from the North Carolina School of the Arts and an M.F.A. from Hollins University.

Aszure Barton, an award-winning New York City-based choreographer, was born and raised in Canada. She received her formal training at the National Ballet School in Toronto, where, as a student, helped originate the ongoing Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase. She has created works for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ekaterina Shipulina/Bolshoi Ballet, Alvin Ailey, American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, Nederlands Dans Theater, Benjamin Millepied and Company, Bayerisches Staatsballet, Houston Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Sydney Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (Resident Choreographer 2005-08), among others. Ms. Barton has also led master classes, mentored and created for renowned training institutions, including Juilliard, Harvard University, N.Y.U., Canada's National Ballet School, the Laban Institute, and many others. Other work includes choreography for the Broadway revival production of The Threepenny Opera, film and installation projects, and international outreach activities. She was the first artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2005 and has been a resident artist at The Banff Centre since 2009. She was proclaimed an official Ambassador of Contemporary Choreography in Canada and has received many prestigious awards, including the Koerner Foundation Award for Choreography and Canada's prestigious Arts and Letters Award. Ms. Barton is the founder and director of Aszure Barton & Artists, a collective of visual, sound, and performing artists, and her work continues to tour to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.

Zvi Gotheiner was born and raised in Israel. He began his artistic career as a gifted violinist and began dancing at 17, soon after forming his first performance group. Mr. Gotheiner came to New York in 1978 on a dance scholarship from the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation, and went on to dance with the Joyce Trisler Dance Company, Feld Ballet/NY, and the Batsheva Dance Company. He is the artistic director of ZviDance, which he founded in 1989. The company's performances have received critical acclaim at venues such as The Joyce Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Central Park's SummerStage, Jacob's Pillow, and American Dance Festival, to name a few, as well as internationally to Germany, Poland, Russia, Columbia, and Japan. Mr. Gotheiner is a recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts choreography fellowships, the National Arts Club Weiselberg Award, and American Dance Festival's Teaching Tribute Award.

Kyle Abraham, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, began his dance training at the Civic Light Opera Academy and the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He continued his dance studies in New York, receiving a B.F.A. from S.U.N.Y. Purchase and an M.F.A. from N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts. In November 2012, Mr. Abraham was named the newly-appointed New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist for 2012-14. Just one month later, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered his work, Another Night, at New York City Center to critical acclaim. He was named the 2012 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award recipient and 2012 U.S.A. Ford Fellow. Mr. Abraham received a prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his work in The Radio Show, and a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in 2010. The previous year, he was selected as one of Dance magazine's 25 to Watch for 2009. His choreography has been presented throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to performing and developing new works for his company, Abraham.In.Motion, he recently premiered The Serpent and The Smoke, a new pas de deux that he performed with Wendy Whelan as part of Restless Creature. He is currently creating a new work for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

About Juilliard's Dance Division and Lawrence Rhodes, Artistic Director of Juilliard Dance

The Juilliard Dance Division, entering its 64th season in 2015-16, is a groundbreaking conservatory dance program whose faculty and alumni have changed the face of dance around the world. The program was established in 1951 by William Schuman during his tenure as president of Juilliard with the guidance of founding director Martha Hill. It became the first major teaching institution to combine equal dance instruction in both contemporary and ballet techniques. Among the early dance faculty members at Juilliard were Alfred Corvino, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, José Limón, Anna Sokolow, Antony Tudor, and Hector Zaraspe.

Ballet master and master teacher, Lawrence Rhodes, was appointed the artistic director of the Juilliard Dance Division in July 2002. Going into his 14th year in the fall as director, he has reordered the curriculum and elevated requirements for the diploma and degree programs at Juilliard. He has increased the number of performances and brought in many prominent choreographers to work with the students. Graduates of the program have gone on to perform with virtually every established contemporary and ballet dance company in the United States and abroad, and they also are among the directors and administrators of respected companies worldwide.

Alumni of Juilliard's Dance Division include Robert Battle, Pina Bausch, Martha Clarke, Mercedes Ellington, Robert Garland, Charlotte Griffin, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Adam Hougland, Saeko Ichinohe, Loni Landon, Jessica Lang, Lar Lubovitch, Bruce Marks, Susan Marshall, Austin McCormick, Andrea Miller, Ohad Naharin, and Paul Taylor.