When I see something good that reminds me what dancing can be at its most basic,
I'm faint with pleasure.

The village Voice

company

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

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.

dancers

Elizabeth Coker Girõn (associate artistic director/dancer) trained at the Washington School of Ballet and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba before joining The Washington Ballet for several seasons. She has been a member of the Seán Curran Company since 2006, and its Associate Artistic Director since 2009. Elizabeth has been creating work and performing with Ana Isabel Keilson since 2008.

Elizabeth graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University in 2006 with a degree in psychology and dance and earned an MA in 2010 from Teachers College of Columbia University in the field of Motor Learning and Control. She is currently conducting research at Teachers College on uses of motor imagery by dancers.

Elizabeth has taught and set choreography at the Ballet Hispanico School, Roger Williams University, Harvard University, Peridance, Steps Repertory Ensemble, Uppercut Dance Theater, and Zenon Dance Company. Elizabeth has also served as guest lecturer in postmodern dance at George Washington University.

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.

Jin Ju Song-Begin (dancer) is a choreographer, dancer and dance teacher from Seoul, Korea. Her work has been performed in Korea, Japan, and the USA. She has worked with prominent choreographers both in and outside of Korea. She was an original member of Dance Company The Body from 2003-2006 in Seoul. She holds a Masters Degree in Choreography from Kookmin University and an Undergraduate Degree from Chung Ang University in Seoul, Korea, where she achieved numerous awards and scholarships. She received two full scholarships to the American Dance Festival (2003 & 2005) where she performed and choreographed. She was invited to showcase her work in the Dance Biennale Tokyo in 2004 and 2006. She was twice commissioned by the Choi Seung Hee Dance Festival in Korea (2006 & 2008). Recent performances of her work include performances at Dixon Place (Body Blend Series) and the Reverb Choreographic Festival in New York as well as performances in Seoul. Her work has involved solos, ensemble works, and experimental works relying on "found movement" and "chance operations". She frequently collaborates with composers and live music performances.

Christina Robson (dancer), originally from Boston, MA, graduated summa cum laude from Roger Williams University where she studied Dance Performance and Visual Arts. During her junior year Christina studied abroad at the London Contemporary School. Later that Summer she traveled to France with Washington University's MADE in France program where she studied closely with David Dorfman, Lisa Race and Au Cul du Loup object theater company. Christina has had the opportunity to work with Kelli Wicke Davis, Kate Weare, Tiffany Mills, Neta Pulvermacher, Jenny Rocha and Kyle Abraham. Upon graduating she made the move to the big apple and is totally thrilled to be working for The Sean Curran Company, as well as projects with Kinodance and Deganit Shemy and dancers.

Shane Dennis Rutkowski (dancer) BA Fordham University Lincoln Center. Credits Include: The Sean Curran Company, Apogee Arts (dir. Alison Chase), ASEID Contemporary Dance, Tap Kids (dir. Lisa Hopkins), and the Steps Repertory Ensemble. He starred in the feature film Step Up 2 the Streets and has modeled for Capezio and MAC Cosmetics. Shane also works as a freelance audio and video editor as well as writes for the stage and screen. For more check out www.shanewho.info

Rachel Salzman (dancer) was born and raised in New York City, where she trained at the School of American Ballet and at the Paul Taylor School. In addition to dancing with the Sean Curran Company, she has worked with CorbinDances, Ramon Oller, LottDance, and Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance with whom she recently created an aerial dance solo commissioned by the STREB Emerging Artist Grant Program. Rachel is also a circus artist, performing her own choreography on aerial hoop, silk, and hammock as well as a fusion of dance, hand-balancing, and contortion. She is currently working towards a B.A. in anthropology at Columbia University.

Rebecca Arends (dancer) is originally from Prospect Heights, Illinois. As a Powers-Knapp Scholar, Rebecca holds a B.A. in History and Afro American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rebecca relocated to New York City to attend The Ailey School and was awarded the Oprah Winfrey Foundation Fellowship in 2005. Rebecca studied under Denise Jefferson, Ana Marie Forsythe, Nadine Revene, Milton Myers, and Jean Emile, among others. While attending The Ailey School, Rebecca danced in Judith Jamison's Divining and performed in Alvin Ailey's Memoria with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at New York's City Center. In addition to dancing with the Sean Curran Company, Rebecca has been dancing and creating work with Rosario Dance since 2006, and premiered Tino Sehgal's, "Kiss" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rebecca is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

David Gonsier (dancer) was born and raised in New York City. He came late to the dance world, starting his training while studying philosophy at Skidmore College. Since graduating and returning to New York he has trained at the Paul Taylor and Alvin Ailey schools, as well as with a great many wonderful teachers and choreographers. As a member of the Amy Marshall Dance Company, as well as with opera productions, he has toured across the US, Europe, and Asia. David has been a member of the Sean Curran Company since August 2009.

Zachary Denison (dancer) is thrilled to be a new member of the Sean Curran Company studied acting at AMDA and summer programs and the Actors Studio and the Actors Workshop under Mike Nichols, Alvin Ailey School, First National Bway tour of "The Music Man" and "CATS" regionally "West Side Story"(VMT) NYC credits include "Platforms" (nymf) and "For the Love of Christ" (Cherry Lane) and Aaron Lathams "Pogo and Evie", The Jeff Shade Dance Project, STEPS Rep Ensemble, works by Bradley Shelver, and Heidi Latsky, and The Elan Awards honoring Lar Lubovitch, DRA with Christopher Huggins, danced for Jennifer Hudson, Dancing With the Stars, and MTVdanced for Amanda Selwyn Dance Theater, Salvatore LaRussa Dance, Body Art Dance and a guest choreographer at the Joffrey School.