Bill Young/Colleen Thomas & Co reach toward the outermost extremes of physical dance - the movements topple over each other with the intensity and urgency of a white-water rapid - while forging a choreographic world full of emotional range and power.  At once abstract and intensely felt, the dancing springs from an investigation of the immediacy of human interactions on stage, and a fascination with the inherent character and expressive power of the purely physical impulse. Noted for its impact across cultural boundaries, the Company's work has spoken to audiences the world over - from Estonia, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary to Portugal, Taiwan, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela.  The impact of the company's overseas exchanges has now become evident in the make-up of this truly international group of dancers - which has included in recent years artists from Greece, Capo Verde, Venezuela, Albania, and China.

BILL YOUNG
(winner of a recent Guggenheim and NYFA Awards) discovered dance through contact improvisation while studying music at Oberlin College.  He showed early work in San Francisco, while dancing with Margaret Jenkins, and later moved to New York where he danced with Douglas Dunn, Randy Warshaw, Merce Cunningham (on video).  In 1988 he established Bill Young and Dancers, which has been presented in NYC at the Joyce Theater, DTW, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS 122, the Duke/92nd St. Y and Symphony Space, as well as on repeated international tours, including performances in Austria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, China Czechoslovakia, Russia, Finland, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela.     Young has created over  50 works, noted for their virtuosity as well as emotional range and power; his commissions include new works for the Estonian National Opera Ballet, Pennsylvania Dance Theater, the Zenon Dance Company (Minneapolis), DanceArt Hong Kong, the Wildspace Dance Company (Milwaukee), Teoria de Gravedad (Mexico), Bratislava (Slovakia) Dance Theater, and the Madach Theater (Budapest).  Supporters include the NEA (6 yrs), Artslink, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, the Mary Duke Biddle, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore, Harkness and Greenwall Foundations, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the USIS/State Dept., the Fund for US artists at International Festivals and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.

COLLEEN THOMAS
moved from Miami to New York 15 years ago.  She has had the pleasure of dancing in the companies of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Bebe Miller Company, Nina Weiner Dance Company, Donald Byrd/The Group, the Kevin Wynn Collection, and Sung Su Ahn among others.  Currently she collaborates and dances with her partner Bill Young.  Her choreography has been seen in this country and others.  She received her BA in Psychology at SUNY Empire State College and an MFA in dance from the University of Wisconsin.  Colleen is an adjunct professor at Barnard College of Columbia University, also at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus and a guest artist at Dance Space Center.

At once witty, dark and furious, Dust moves through imagery from magical sideshow and brooding solos to violent duets and intricate groups in a world transformed by objects and materials - floating in the air, moving around on stage and layered on the floor - the dancers literally kick up a storm. Agirl disappears into a box while a disembodied dinner jacket performs a duet with a man, a single dancer becomes many, and many become one in this jigsaw puzzle of body parts and sublime juxtaposition. .

 
CONTEMPORARY TECHNIQUE
The class will feature a full-bodied, contemporary warm-up, culminating with learning an extended phrase from the repertory - material that emphasizes off-center work - riding momentum at the edge of balance.

CONTACT/PARTNERING
Study the principles of the partnering technique that is now required of almost all contemporary dancers, with 2 masters of the form for over 25 years. Sensation building, center connection and finding the safe edges of risk. Open to all dancers.