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Seán Curran Company In 1997, after two seasons at New York City’s Danspace Project where the dancers were paid with subway tokens for rehearsals and dinners after performances, Seán Curran decided it was time to grow up organizationally, to pay the dancers in real money and to create the Seán Curran Company. Since those modest beginnings the Seán Curran Company has toured throughout the United States and performed in festivals in France and Germany.

The company’s first major commission came in 1997 from Celebrate Brooklyn for the piece Folk Dance For the Future. Until then, Seán Curran, who took traditional Irish step dancing lessons as a child, had resisted using his Irish voice in the pieces he created. Folk Dance for the Future marked the beginning of Seán Curran’s incorporation of his Irish background into his choreographic works.

Other New York appearances soon followed the Celebrate Brooklyn performance, including performances at Dance Theater Workshop, The Joyce Theater, and The New Victory Theater.

The company has also had two engagements at Jacob’s Pillow, most recently in 2004 when Art/Song/Dance, a collaboration between Seán Curran and the Broadway composer Ricky Ian Gordon, premiered.

In the fall 2005, the Seán Curran Company premiered Aria, a new work which combines recorded apologies with opera arias by Handel.

Seán Curran (Artistic Director) began his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in Boston, Massachusetts. He went on to make his mark on the dance world as a leading dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He received a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award for his performance in Secret Pastures.

A graduate and guest faculty member of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Curran was an original member of the New York City cast of the Off-Broadway percussion extravaganza Stomp, performing in the show for four years. He has performed his solo evening of dances at venues throughout the United States as well as at Sweden’s Danstation Theatre and France’s EXIT Festival.

Current and recent projects for Curran include productions of Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for The Shakespeare Theater, the twentieth anniversary production of Nixon in China and Street Scene at Opera Theater of St. Louis; choreography for the New York City Opera productions of L’Etoile, Alcina, Turandot, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Capriccio, and Acis and Galetea; the Playwrights Horizons’ production of My Life with Albertine; Shakespeare in the Park’s As You Like It. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut choreographing Romeo and Juliette. Curran’s work has appeared on Broadway in James Joyce’s The Dead for Playwrights Horizons and The Rivals at Lincoln Center Theater. He has created works for Trinity Irish Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre’s studio company, Denmark’s Upper Cut Company, Sweden’s Skänes Dance Theater, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Ririe Woodbury Dance Theater, and Dance Alloy, as well as for numerous college and university dance departments.

Curran has taught extensively at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Center, Bates Dance Festival, and Boston’s Conservatory of Music. Irish American Magazine selected Curran as one of its “Top 100” in the year 2000. Curran was awarded a Choreographer’s Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2002.

Happiest when making new work or performing, Seán Curran hopes to continue being an ambassador for the art of dance by building and educating the dance audiences of tomorrow.

ANNIE BOYER (rehearsal director/dancer) is originally from Bethesda, Maryland and graduated cum laude from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in dance in 2001. She joined The Seán Curran Company in November 2001, and since then has also performed with the New York City Opera ballet and the Metropolitan Opera ballet. In August 2006 Ms. Boyer relocated to San Diego, California, where she is a member of Jean Isaacs' San Diego Dance Theater, as well as a ballet and modern teacher for Canyon Crest Academy, a performing arts high school.

NORA BRICKMAN (dancer) earned a BFA in dance from The Boston Conservatory, where she graduated summa cum laude. As a member of The Boston Conservatory Dance Theater, she performed works by Paul Taylor, Vaslav Nijinski, Agnes de Mille, and Jules Perrot. Nora also performs with the Metropolitan Opera. Most recently, she has been seen in Romeo et Juliette and War and Peace. Other operas include, The Pearl Fishers and Haroun and the Sea of Stories with New York City Opera, and Nixon in China with Portland Opera. She also performed with The Santa Fe Opera during their 2007 summer season in Platee and Daphne . Nora grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, where she danced leading roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, and Coppelia. She has been a member of the Seán Curran Company since 2002.

WINSTON DYNAMITE BROWN (dancer) a native of Kansas City, Missouri, started dancing at Smith Sisters Dance Studio. He continued his training at the Missouri State Ballet, the University of Missouri Kansas City where he recently earned his BFA, and The Center Dance under the Mentorship of Tyrone Aiken. Mr. Brown has worked with the Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre, Deeply Rooted Productions, Albany Berkshire Ballet and the National Dance Company of Nassau. He has participated in a number of summer programs the Missouri State Ballet, Alonzo King pre-professional program, and Jacob's Pillow summer intensive. He was the inaugural recipient of the Lorna Strassler Award for Excellence and a three-time fellowship recipient at the Alvin Ailey School. Mr. Brown was a member of with Taylor 2 in 2005 through 2007, and has been with The Seán Curran Company since 2005.

ELIZABETH COKER GIRÕN (dancer) trained at the Washington School of Ballet and joined The Washington Ballet for three seasons. She has toured nationally with the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration, and internationally with Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Company. She was honored to study under Lydia Diaz at the Ballet Nacional de Cuba as part of a guest artist exchange program. In 2006, Elizabeth graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University with a degree in psychology and dance; she is also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor’s society. Elizabeth has taught and set choreography at the Washington School of Ballet, Harvard University Ballet Company and George Washington University. She is also currently creating work with Diana Crum and Dancers. She has been inspiring audiences with and has been with The Seán Curran Company since 2005.

EVAN COPELAND (dancer) a native of Central PA. He received his BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he performed works by Merce Cunningham, Kay Cummings, Dwight Rhoden, and Bill Young. He has also studied at the Salzberg Experimental Academy of Dance(SEAD) working with Bruno Carverna, David Hernendez, Andrew Harwood, Douglas Becker and more. Evan has recently worked with Stephen Pier and Nicholas Andre Dance Theater(NADT) . Currently he is working with Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.Motion and is delighted to be a part of The Seán Curran Company since 2005.

JOE DORAN (Production Manager/ Technical Director) graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts and has been living and working in NYC for 4 years. In addition to working with Seán Curran Dance Company, he is also the resident lighting designer and Lighting Supervisor on tour for HT Chen and Dancers. He also recently designed Palissimo's "Blind Spot" at the Chashama Theatre on 42nd Street and has designed for the International Fringe Festival. Other New York Credits include work at Urban Stages, The Looking Glass Theatre, The West End Theatre, The Present Theatre Company and The Brooklyn Lyceum. When not designing, he is working at The New 42nd Street Studios and the Duke on 42nd Street, Dance Theatre Workshop, The Jewish Community Center, and is a teaching artist for The Roundabout Theatre Company.

MATTHEW HENLEY (rehearsal director/dancer) is originally from Tempe, AZ. While pursuing a Dance Degree and Religious Studies Degree at the University of Arizona, Tucson, he performed with Orts Theater of Dance, an Aerial Modern company. After graduating and moving to NYC in 2001, he performed and taught extensively for Randy James Dance Works. Matt has been and has been bringing boisterous tranquillity to the stage through The Seán Curran Company since 2003.

FRANCESCA ROMO (dancer) was born in London, England. She trained at the Royal Ballet School from 1993 to 2000. She went on to complete a one-year Certificate Course at the London Contemporary Dance School. After a year-long apprenticeship with the Richard Alston Dance Company she formally joined the Company in Autumn 2003 and was a full-time member through Spring 2006. During her tenure at the Richard Alston Dance Company, Francesca performed in a variety of pieces, touring with the company throughout England and the United States. The U.S. tour included performances of Richard Alston’s Overdrive, Fever, and Gypsy Mixture at the Joyce Theatre in New York City.

Ms. Romo currently resides in New York City, where she is a Member of two dance companies – The Seán Curran Dance Company and Gallim Dance Group. She joined The Seán Curran Dance Company upon her arrival in the USA in 2006, and helped establish Gallim Dance Group as an original Member with director Andrea Miller.

KEVIN SCARPIN (dancer) was born in Cypress, California. He began his dance training at UC Berkeley while studying rhetoric and comparative ethnic studies, and continued his dance training at North Carolina School of the Arts where he received his B.F.A. in 2000. In addition to the Sean Curran Company, Mr. Scarpin currently works with the Mark Morris Dance Group and Keigwin + Company. Kevin has worked with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Doug Varone at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Bill Young and Dancers, and with the New York City Opera Ballet. Kevin has studied on scholarship at the Merce Cunningham Studio and continues his training in New York with ballet teacher Janet Panetta. Mr. Scarpin has worked with The Seán Curran Company since 2000.

HEATHER WALDON-ARNOLD (dancer) began her professional career at Boston Ballet. During her seven years with Boston, she performed classics like Swan Lake to Twyla Tharp's In The Upper Room. Also, at the ballet, she had the opportunity to work with Mark Morris and Bill T. Jones. After Boston, she joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Upon leaving Chicago, Heather began freelancing in San Francisco where she worked with Robert Moses. In 1997, she began dancing for Seán Curran. Besides dancing for Mr.Curran, Heather has set his work at Barnard University, NYU, Alvin Ailey School, and Bucknell University. She also has worked with Molissa Fenly, Amy Cox, and Anna Myer. Ms Waldon has been gracing the stage with the Seán Curran Company since 1997.