SYTYCD's Melinda Sullivan to Debut New Show GONE at Alvin Ailey Theater, 8/5-6

Melinda Sullivan's GONE is an original 50-minute theatrical dance work which paints a haunting narrative of identity, loss, transition, and grief through tap dancing, sanding, and contemporary movement.

Named among the "Top 25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine, 25-year-old Sullivan was raised in Thousand Oaks, CA, and has been dancing professionally since the age of 14. Inspired by the legacies of Gregory Hines and Ann Miller, Sullivan is a quadruple threat-a dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer-dedicated to preserving the rich tradition of tap dance through teaching and performance. She is known for her performances on So You Think YouCan Dance and for her role as the mysterious Zoe Finn on As the World Turns.

Melinda has starred opposite Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and on director and screenwriter Jon Chu's new YouTube channel, DS2DIO. Sullivan has also appeared onGlee, Dancing with the Stars, How to Rock, One on One, It's Complicated, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Star Search. Her work has been featured at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) and the L.A. Tap Fest and Pasadena Dance Festival, and she was a semifinalist for Center Theatre Group's Sherwood Award. Sullivan has choreographed and collaborated on a variety of film shorts with Imagiland Productions, including a tribute to Ann Miller. Her film collaboration with cinematographer Jeremy Jackson, Gone, was featured at the 2012 Topanga Film Festival.

GONE, directed by renowned director and choreographer J.T. Horenstein, said, "The opportunity to develop dramatic tension, full character background, and story line through dance alone, without text or lyrics, is a challenge that I'm rarely afforded in my professional career," said Horenstein. "Adding an intellectual layer to Melinda's exceptional choreography is an honor and a gift given to me by a smart creator with a specific story in mind."

An original score by composer and pianist Nikos Syropoulos offers a modern, cinematic fusion of chamber music and jazz, foregrounding topics of time, generation, and tradition articulated through Sullivan's choreography.

Melinda's work earned her first place in the Capezio A.C.E. Awards in 2012, an annual competition for emerging choreographers, which provided seed funding for her feature-length project. Twenty-five-year-old Sullivan was the first woman, and tap dancer, to win the prestigious award. A Kickstarter project to supplement theA.C.E. Award grant and help fund the cost of travel fees for the cast surpassed its goal of $15,000 in less than three weeks.

The world premiere of the work will feature Sullivan and a group of 11 talented dancers who have worked in theater, television, and on concert stages around the world, including Tiffany Daniels from Oprah Winfrey's The Color Purple and Bianca Revels from Season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance. SullIvan Hopes to tour the project nationally after its East Coast debut
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The show will play August 5 and 6, 2013 Two performances nightly at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased on the project's website www.melindasullivandanceproject.com.

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