Ronen (Roni) Koresh is a choreographer who brings his passion, emotion and zest for life to the fine art of movement. As does a master craftsman, he has faithfully pursued the daily task of dance creation for over twenty years and seems never to be at a loss for potential solutions to the artistic challenges that confront him.
Born and raised in Israel, Koresh began his dance education as a child. Initially, he trained and danced with his mother, a folk dancer in the Yemenite tradition and with a local Tel Aviv folk dance group. At seventeen, he moved on to more comprehensive study with Martha Graham's Bat Sheva Dance Company. Following a three-year enlistment in the Israeli army, during which he was able to continue with his dance training, he decided to pursue a career in the field.
Immigrating to the United States in 1983 at age 21, Koresh trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. In 1984 he came to settle in Philadelphia where he performed with Shimon Braun's acclaimed Waves Jazz Dance Company. He was also one of the original Evening Magazine Dancers and won a People's Choice Award in 1987 as Philadelphia's Most Outstanding Jazz Dancer.
Mr. Koresh will be joining the Brandywine Ballet's Guest Faculty for the entire 2008-09 season.
Eric Bean, Jr. Dancer, Koresh Dance Company
Eric BeanJr. began his formal training at United Dance Productions in Bermuda at the age of fifteen. Under the tutelage of Ms. Suezette Harvey (founder and artistic director Bermuda Dance Company) he received a strong foundation in Ballet, modern dance, jazz, and a number of social dance styles including African dance, hip-hop and Irish step dancing. Here he was privileged to study under guest faculty such as Kevin Malone, Kimberly Gibson and Nathan Trice to name a few. As a student of United Dance Productions and a member of its Jr. Company, many doors opened for him to learn more and more about the art of dance such as traveling to WashingtonD.C. to perform with the DukeEllingtonSchool of the Arts as well as a performance along side The University of the Arts. It was during the preparation for this production that he was awarded a full scholarship to attend the 2002 Summer World of Dance at University of the Arts.
Since then, Eric has gone on to attend University of the Arts where he graduated in May of 2007 with a BFA in Dance Education, double emphasizing in Modern Dance and Choreography. An up and coming choreographer, he has had the opportunity to set works professionally on the Bermuda Civic Ballet, Eleone Connection and Eleone Dance Theater – a professional dance company based in Philadelphia with which he performed as a principle dancer and soloist from 2003 to 2007. Currently in his second season as a member of the Koresh Dance Company, he has had the opportunity to work with outstanding choreographers such as Ronen Koresh, Christopher L. Huggins, Milton Myers, Shawn-Lamere Williams, Robert Battle and renowned international choreographer Itszik Galili to name a few. He is always sure to give thanks to God, his parents and his mentors Suezette Harvey and Shawn-Lamere Williams for always encouraging him to grow through the passion he finds from dance.
Mr. Bean will be joining the Brandywine Ballet's Guest Faculty for the entire 2008-09 season.
Jae Hoon Lim-Dancer, Koresh Dance Co.
Jae Hoon Lim (Seoul, South Korea) attended Korea University as a physical education major before moving to the United States in 1995. He danced with San Diego Dance Theatre and then joined Koresh Dance Company for three seasons. He left in 2001 to dance with Shapiro & Smith Dance, Sarasota Ballet of Florida, and River North Chicago Dance Company. Jae Hoon's education includes a BFA in Ballet Performance from The University of the Arts, training at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, and training under the direction of John White and Margarita de Saa at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. He also taught modern and jazz at schools such as Sarasota Ballet Academy in Florida and Northwestern University in Illinois; he was on the faculty at the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago. Jae Hoon returned to Koresh Dance Company in 2007
Mr. Lim will be joining the Brandywine Ballet's Guest Faculty for the entire 2008-09 season.
Melissa Rector- Dancer, Koresh Dance Co.
After studying at the North Carolina School of the Arts and Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Melissa obtained her Certificate of Dance from The University of the Arts in 1993. Following graduation, she obtained a scholarship to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. Melissa Rector has been dancing with Koresh Dance Company since its inception in 1991 and is the company's Assistant Artistic Director. She is also a teacher at the Koresh School of Dance where she teaches her unique style that blends modern jazz and Luigi. Her work has been performed locally at the Philadelphia fringe Festival and the Annenberg Center and she choreographed the musical AHAB for Drexel University. She frequently travels around the country to perform, teach master classes, and set choreography on students.
Ms. Rector will be joining the Brandywine Ballet's Guest Faculty for the entire 2008-09 season.
Jessica Gattinella - Repetiteur, Balanchine Trust Foundation; Formerly of the Pennsylvania Ballet
Born in San Rafael, California, and raised in Philadelphia, Jessica Gattinella began her dance training at the age of six with the School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. During her 13 years there, Ms. Gattinella had the privilege of studying under Nina Fedorova, Gloria Govrin, Olga Kostritsky, Adam Luders, and Yvonne Patterson. She furthered her training by attending summer programs at the School of American Ballet and New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, New York. As a Trainee with Pennsylvania Ballet, she performed such ballets as Paquita, Rubies, Stars and Stripes, The Four Temperaments, Christopher d’Amboise’s Just One of Those Things, as well as George Balanchine’s Swan Lake at The Kennedy Center in 1994. After graduating Cum Laude from Philadelphia’s Friends Select School in 1995, Ms. Gattinella joined Pennsylvania Ballet as an apprentice in 1996 and was promoted to Corps de Ballet in 1998.During her ten year career, she performed in over twenty of George Balanchine’s ballets, with featured roles in Agon, The Nutcracker, Raymonda Variations, Theme and Variations, and Who Cares?. Ms. Gattinella also danced featured roles in Cinderella,The Sleeping Beauty, Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake, Margo Sappington’s Rodin, Mis En Vie, Paul Taylor’s Arden Court, Kevin O’Day’s Quartet for IV, and Matthew Neenan’s Le Travail and 11:11.
In 2006, Ms. Gattinella retired from the stage to start a family and she and her husband are now the proud parents of a son, Taggart.She currently resides in Philadelphia and teaches for Pennsylvania Ballet’s school program.
Ms. Gattinella will be joining the Brandywine Ballet's Guest Faculty for the Fall 2008 programs.
Meredith Rainey Former Dancer, Pennsylvania Ballet
Meredith Rainey began dancing at 15 in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale. In 1985 he joined the Milwaukee Ballet. In 1987, he was asked to join the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet, remaining with the Pennsylvania Ballet when the collaboration ended in 1989, and was promoted to soloist in 1999. He was also a demi-soloist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem for a short time in 1997. Meredith has performed works by such choreographers as George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Mary Anthony, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Jose Limon, John Butler, John Cranko, William Forsythe, Jean Grand-Maître, Robert Weiss, Jorma Elo, David Parsons, Trey McIntyre, and Kevin O’Day in North and South America and throughout Europe.
Deciding in 2006 to focus his creativity solely on his choreographic career, Meredith took two years to hone his craft as a part of the Choreographer’s Project at the Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio (Philadelphia). In 2008 he was awarded a “New Edge” residency at the Community Education Center (CEC) of Philadelphia.
Meredith has also won numerous awards including the 1995 & 2002 PA Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant for Choreography, the 2001 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Artist as Catalyst Grant, the 2002 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts and, a 2003 Pew Fellowship in the Arts Finalist. Meredith has been commissioned to create work for Pennsylvania Ballet, Brandywine Ballet, Delaware Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, Phrenic New Ballet, Ballet X, Philadanco for their 25th Anniversary celebration, and has had his work performed throughout North and South America and Europe including Miami International Ballet Festival, the International Ballet Festival of Ecuador, the First and Second International Ballet Festival of Calí, (Columbia) and Madrid, Spain.
Mr. Rainey will be joining the Brandywine Ballet's Guest Faculty for the Spring 2009 programs.
GUEST CHOREOGRAPHERS
Matthew Neenan - Co-Founder, Ballet X
Matthew Neenan began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School and with noted teachers Nan C. Keating and Jacqueline Cronsberg. He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York.
In 1994, Matt joined the Pennsylvania Ballet where he has danced numerous principal roles in works by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Paul Taylor, Peter Martins, Val Caniparoli, Jorma Elo, Lila York, Meredith Rainey, Jessica Lang, Christopher Wheeldon and Jerome Robbins.
In 2000, Matt co-founded and co-directed Phrenic New Ballet, which toured extensively and featured Matt’s choreography in New York City, Baltimore and at the Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Becket, Massachusetts. Matt’s choreography has been featured by the Pennsylvania Ballet (totaling six commissions), Phrenic New Ballet, Philadelphia Opera Company, The Russian Ballet Theatre, LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, and Ballet Pacifica. He has received numerous awards and grants for his choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dance Advance funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and the Independence Foundation. He is also a three-time recipient of grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
In 2002, Matt accepted an invitation and performed and taught at the Silesion International Dance Festival in Poland. He also participated in the Fall 2003 New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute under the direction of Peter Martins. In June 2004, Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania premiered Matt’s first full-length ballet, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream. Matt was featured in the February 2005 issues of Dance Magazine and Philadelphia Magazine.
Christine Cox - Co-Founder, Ballet X
Christine Cox began her ballet training with the Pennsylvania Ballet School and continued at the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, spending summer sessions at the Joffrey and San Francisco Ballet schools. After high school, she danced with Balletmet in Columbus, Ohio for five years before moving to New York. There, Christine danced as a guest artist with Ballet Hispanico and performed for President George H.W. Bush at the Ford Theatre. She then spent one year with America Repertory Ballet Theatre before joining Pennsylvania Ballet in 1993.
Christine has premiered works by a number of gifted choreographers, including Ib Anderson, Rennie Harris, James Kudelka, John McFall, Trey McIntyre, Matthew Neenan, Kevin O'Day, David Parsons, Kirk Peterson, and Christopher Wheeldon. Some of her featured roles include Rum and Coca-Cola in Paul Taylor’s Company B; Vortex in Alvin Ailey’s The River; Choleric in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments; Eve in Margo Sappington’s Rodin, Mis En Vie; the Cowgirl in Agnus DeMille’s Rodeo; and one of the principal females in Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free and The Concert.
Christine co-founded Phrenic New Ballet in 2000 and choreographed several works for the company as well as for Shut Up and Dance, an annual AIDS benefit presented by the Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. She has been awarded fellowship grants from the Independence Foundation and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for her choreography.
In 2004 Christine co-founded BalletX with her long time collaborator Matthew Neenan. They have received critical acclaim and most recently were invited to perform at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. In May of 2006, she staged Mr. Neenan’s 11:11 on Pennsylvania Ballet and rehearsed the company for the New York premiere at The City Center. She has received two Rocky Awards for outstanding achievement in the arts and has worked for 7 years as Assistant Rehearsal Director for the children in George Balanchine’s TheNutcracker. She currently choreographs and teaches at The University of the Arts, Swarthmore College and surrounding studios in the area.
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