New Victory Dance Chapter 6 Shows & Events » New Victory Dance 2020 » Jane Comfort and Company Jane Comfort and Company You Are Here (Excerpts) For everyone 8 and up Jane Comfort’s You Are Here is an ode to urban dwellers—the millions of citizens who live on top of each other, participate in the daily pedestrian dance of the sidewalk, street and transit system, and who are part of a massive improvised narrative. You Are Here explores how we interact without looking at or touching each other, how we recharge at home each night, and how we head back onto the city’s stage again each morning, ready for more. Choreographed by Jane Comfort Featuring dancers Leslie Cuyjet, Paul Hamilton, Cori Marquis, Petra van Noort, Javier Perez, Gabriele Revlock and Darrin Wright Additional Credits Hosted by Penelope McCourty Sign Language Interpretation provided by Hands On, Inc. Interpreter Director John McGinty Sign Language Interpreter Jacinda Damas Audio Description provided by Laura H. Congleton Archival video of You Are Here Learn & Engage About the Company Jane Comfort and Company creates dance theater works that push the intersection of movement and language to a new form of theater. Called “a postmodernist pioneer in the use of verbal material in dance” by The New York Times, Jane Comfort addresses contemporary social and cultural issues with compassion and wit. The company has toured throughout the United States, in Europe and in Latin America, and has received multiple grants from the NEA, NYSCA, NPN, NYFA, Meet the Composer, BUILD and many other organizations. The company celebrated its 40th anniversary with a 40-year retrospective in 2018 at La MaMa. From the Choreographer We are happy to be participating in New Victory’s online dance series and admire the invention and professionalism they have brought to the video process. The company members had fun making their dance party videos in the isolation of their homes or nearby parks and beaches. This has been the company’s first communal (in isolation) event since we all went into lockdown in mid-March. It is interesting that I made You Are Here to celebrate the urban dance that pedestrians do when they negotiate the public spaces of a crowded town. Now, with the pandemic, the idea of the urban dance has changed dramatically. Six feet, folks, and wear your masks! Jane Comfort August 2020 Choreographer Bio Jane Comfort is a choreographer, writer and director known for issue-oriented works integrating text and movement. Since 1978, she has created over 60 dance/theater works, most of them evening-length, that have been presented throughout the United States, in Europe and in Latin America. Recent work includes the company’s Bessie Award-winning 40th Anniversary Retrospective produced by La MaMa and Lumberyard. Jane received a 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild, a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship and 1998 Bessie Award for Underground River, among others. Jane also works in theater and opera, and choreographed the Broadway musicals Passion by Stephen Sondheim and Amour by Michel Legrand. Watch a Talk-Back Video Join choreographers Jane Comfort and Ishita Mili from Chapter 7, as they answer questions about their work submitted by summer camp kids and families watching New Victory Dance. Audio-Described Talk-Back About New Victory Dance A celebration of dance in all its forms, our annual summer dance series features exciting NYC dance companies alongside unique opportunities to see and engage in a wide variety of dance styles. See lineup Did you know? Free arts programming like New Victory Arts Break and this year’s virtual New Victory Dance is just one way we make arts more accessible during this critical time. New Victory, powered by New 42, remains committed to creating quality arts education and engagement to broaden kids’ worldview through the performing arts. Support New Victory Dance Supporters New Victory Dance is supported, in part, by a generous grant from the Blavatnik Family Foundation in honor of Dawdie Appelson, a teacher, arts enthusiast and life-long supporter of the performing arts. Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation | Howard Gilman Foundation | Harkness Foundation for Dance | Mertz Gilmore Foundation | public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council | the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature | The Jerome Robbins Foundation
