Jérôme Bel (2021)

Jérôme Bel was born in Montpellier in 1964 and lives in Paris. His choreographic work include Name given by the author (1994), Jérôme Bel (1995), Shirtology (1997), The last performance (1998), Xavier le Roy (2000), The show must go on (2001), Véronique Doisneau (2004) on invitation of the Paris Opera Ballet, Pichet Klunchun and myself (2005), Cédric Andrieux (2009),
3Abschied (2010), Disabled Theater (2012), Gala (2015), Tombe (2016), Isadora Duncan (2019), and Non human dances (2023).

Since 2019, for ecological reasons, Jérôme Bel and his company no longer travel by plane for creations and tours. Thus, Dances for Wu-Kang Chen (2020), a portrait of this Taiwanese dancer, Xiao Ke (2020), a performance created with this Shanghai-based choreographer, and Laura Pante (2020) were all rehearsed by videoconference. Each of these performers tours their piece in their home language, in their own country, by train.

The films of his shows are presented in contemporary art biennials and in many museums. Bel received a Bessie Award for the performances of The show must go on in New York in 2005 and the Routes Princess Margriet Award for Cultural Diversity (European Cultural Foundation) along with Pichet Klunchun (2005). In 2021, Jérôme Bel and Wu-Kang Chen received the Taishin Performing Arts Award.

Steve Cosson is a director, writer, and Artistic Director of The Civilians. He’s led many projects with the company created from interactions with the public, working with various communities ranging from Evangelical Christians, to L.A.’s porn industry, to inmates in Colombia’s national women’s prison. With The Civilians, he was the first theater company to be Artist-in-Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Recent theater credits include three world premieres: Artificial Flavors by Cosson and the company, Marin Gazzaniga’s The Unbelieving, What You Are Now by Sam Chanse; New York premiere of Whisper House (Duncan Sheik/Kyle Jarrow); world premiere of Paul Swan is Dead and Gone by Claire Kiechel; the Encores! Off-Center revival of Gone Missing (bookwriter); Jill Sobule’s musical Times Square, bookwriter and director of The Abominables at Children’s Theater Company, writer/director of The Undertaking at BAM Next Wave and international tour; director of José Rivera’s Another Word for Beauty, (Goodman Theatre); director of Michael Friedman and Bess Wohl’s musical Pretty Filthy; and the Off Broadway revival of The Belle of Amherst starring Joely Richardson; and he directed the world and New York premieres of Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post-electric play.

April Matthis is an Obie Award-winning actor. Matthis has worked extensively in the New York live performance scene. She was most recently seen on Broadway in the TONY-nominated plays Mary Jane, and August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. Off-Broadway credits includes Primary Trust (Pulitzer Prize 2024), Toni Stone (Roundabout), Help (The Shed); Fairview, LEAR (Soho Rep); Signature Plays—Funnyhouse of a Negro (Signature Theatre); IOWA, Antlia Pneumatica (Playwrights Horizons). In the experimental and movement world, Matthis has appeared in Ralph Lemon’s Scaffold Room at the Walker Art Center and Deborah Hay’s The Blues at MoMA. Matthis is also a company member with Elevator Repair Service since 2007, having performed in numerous productions over the years, including Baldwin/Buckley at Cambridge (Festival d’Avignon); The Sound & the Fury; Fondly, Collette Richland (NYTW); Measure for Measure (The Public); Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf (Abrons Art Center); and GATZ (Perth Festival). TV credits include “Life & Beth” (Hulu), “The Blacklist” (NBC), “Evil” , “The Good Fight” (Paramount Plus), “New Amsterdam” (NBC). Film: Fugitive Dreams, Ramona at Midlife.

Catherine Gallant, (dancer, choreographer, teacher, curriculum writer, and filmmaker) is the director of Dances by Isadora which, since 1989, performs, teaches, and collaborates with dancers throughout the world. She has studied and performed the work of Isadora Duncan since 1982 and is a founding member of the Isadora Duncan Archive. Ms. Gallant performed in Jérôme Bel’s Isadora Duncan, which premiered at L’Alliance’s Crossing the Line Festival in 2019.  Her own work is performed by Catherine Gallant/DANCE which has been seen in the New York City area indoors at Danspace/St. Mark’s Church, Chashama, GreenSpace, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, American Dance Guild, and outdoors at Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out.

Catherine was the dance educator at PS 89 in NYC for 25 years and recently retired. She and her young students were featured in the documentary, PS DANCE! She was on the writing committee for NYC Blueprint for the Arts in DANCE and is now on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and Hunter College sharing her knowledge and experience with a new generation of dance educators. She is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University.