sa国际传媒官网网页入口

A new partnership is bringing together high-caliber

choreographers with NDI

New Mexico students.

The new Teaching Artist in Residence program invites a renowned choreographer and their dance company to participate in a series of projects with NDI students from sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and Santa Fe over the course of a year. Dana Tai Soon Burgess is the first choreographer to be part of the program.

Dance lesson: Renowned choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess teams up with NDI students

鈥淗e鈥檚 an amazing choreographer,鈥� said Liz Salganek, artistic director at NDI New Mexico. 鈥淗e grew up in Santa Fe and then he went to University of New Mexico. From there, he moved to Washington, D.C., and started his own dance company, which is now in its 30th year, just like NDI New Mexico.鈥�

Burgess is the choreographer-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution.

鈥淗e does all of these really amazing collaborations where he鈥檒l be commissioned to create choreography inspired by exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery (in Washington, D.C.),鈥� Salganek said. 鈥淗is company does a lot of really beautiful choreography that are based in historical events and personal stories and sort of really beautiful modern dance choreography about this human experience, and he calls it the 鈥榗ultural confluence of American life.鈥� He鈥檚 really interested in choreographing about the intersection of different cultural identities and so he鈥檚 a really wonderful choreographer, really wonderful storyteller. He has all of these connections with New Mexico. So we thought he was just sort of the perfect person to be our inaugural artist-in-residence.鈥�

Burgess鈥� choreography created as part of the Teaching Artist in Residence program will be featured during 鈥淪eeds of Toil: Pineapple Plantation鈥� and 鈥淭ransformations,鈥� performed by the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company and NDI New Mexico advanced students at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 27, at NDI New Mexico at The Hiland Theater, 4800 Central Ave. SE. Admission is free.

鈥淲e have two pieces that are approximately 25 minutes each, and they鈥檙e interspersed between a couple of NDI students鈥� works,鈥� Burgess said. 鈥淥ne work is called 鈥楶ineapple Plantation,鈥� and it鈥檚 actually based on my family鈥檚 immigration to America in 1903 from Korea to Hawaii, where they worked the pineapple plantations for generations. My family is part of the very first Koreans to come to America, essentially in 1903, and when they got to Hawaii, (they worked the) sugarcane and pineapple plantations for three generations. So that鈥檚 what that piece is about. It鈥檚 really about resilience, in a sense of the human spirit.鈥�

Burgess鈥� work, 鈥淭ransformations,鈥� is an abstract work based in the transcendental painting movement.

鈥淭hey were artists that came from the East Coast to Santa Fe and Taos in the 1930s and 鈥�40s,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd they are some of the earliest abstract painters in America. This is based on their paintings.鈥�

鈥淭ransformations鈥� includes costumes by Patricia Michaels.

鈥�(She) is a really well-known costume designer out here in New Mexico and across the country,鈥� Burgess said. 鈥�(She is) from Taos Pueblo, and she and I are old friends from when we were young teenagers. It鈥檚 always great to be able to work with her again, and her costumes are inspired by the paintings of the transcendentalist painting group.鈥�

Burgess said each of the works are 鈥渧ery different visually.鈥�

鈥淚 think (it) will be exciting for people,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e different subject matters. They鈥檙e full company pieces. There鈥檚 nine dancers.鈥�

Creating choreography for NDI hit close to home for Burgess.

鈥淚 grew up in Santa Fe and then to be back in sa国际传媒官网网页入口,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 went to University of New Mexico, the dance program, so to be back here is always really wonderful. It鈥檚 a homecoming. And to be able to tell my family story and to be able to show something that鈥檚 inspired by how other people were inspired by New Mexican landscapes and created abstract work because of it, I think that鈥檚 exciting too.鈥�

Following the performance, Burgess will sign his book 鈥淐hino and the Dance of the Butterfly,鈥� published by UNM Press.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really about my growing up in New Mexico and ultimately building a dance company,鈥� he said. 鈥�... It will be there for people to purchase copies and I鈥檒l be signing after the show. I feel really proud about it and it has gotten really nice acclaim. I think that it highlights just growing up in New Mexico in the early 鈥�70s through the mid 鈥�80s, how it was to be here and trying to become an artist.鈥�