A new staging of While Ye May, choreographed by Hannah Kahn in 1982, will include in its four person cast an appearance by guest artist Gabriel Masson, director of Gabriel Masson Dance and currently a professor in the dance department at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Gabe and Hannah first met in NYC in the early 1980s when he auditioned for the company shortly after arriving in the city to begin his dance career. He danced in the company for several years at that time. Hannah says of the rehearsal process,
“I love the idea of revisiting an artistic relationship with this accomplished artist after a twenty-four year hiatus.”
While Ye May joins four other pieces on the concert opening on April 1st at the Lakewood Cultural Center. Linked Up, a premiere set to music by Philip Glass, has given Hannah a chance to incorporate the company’s four newest dancers – Joe Jensen, Chandler Pace, Tiffany Stone and Lori Wyatt – into her creative process. Their fresh exuberance invigorates each rehearsal. Theresa Anton, Tiffany Erickson, and Brittany Roney complete the cast of this septet. Audiences will have a second chance to see Knoxville: Summer of 1915, the title piece for the concert, a work which premiered in Boulder in October of 2010. With this dance Hannah branched out into a narrative mode. Featuring live music composed by Samuel Barber set to text by James Agee and performed live by soprano Irene VanHam Friedlob and pianist Mutsumi Moteki, the piece calls upon the dancers to infuse their movement with characterizations and dramatic intent. Also on the program: Homing (1981), with the addition this time of the dance’s passionate adagio section; and the restaging of Calling, an audience favorite created in 1997.
We hope to see you at the show!
Gabriel Masson’s
career as a choreographer, performer and teacher spans over 20 years. He has toured the world in the companies of Hannah Kahn, Rosalind Newman, Lucinda Childs and Doug Varone, as well as dancing in specific projects with various choreographers including Peter Pucci, Mark Morris and Michele Pogliani(Italy).
Since 1989, he has choreographed over 30 pieces for professional and university dance companies and from 1997-2002 he served as artistic director of his own company, Gabriel Masson Dance, a national touring company, for which he created a critically acclaimed group of dances, The Human Series, Parts I – IV. In 2002, Masson began to investigate film and has completed two projects with differently-abled dancer Hamel Bloom: Almost Together, created with Emmy Award winning videographer Eliot Caplan, and FAMILY: PORTRAIT, created with Mexican videographer Ana Baer.
Masson has an international reputation as a teacher and has taught and performed at festivals worldwide including the American Dance Festival, USA and Korea; The Edinburgh Festival, Scotland; and the Sao Paolo Biennial, Brazil. He is on the rotating faculty of several prestigious dance festivals here in the States including the Bates Dance Festival (BDF). After receiving an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts he was on faculty there from 1990-1995 and from 1997-2001 he served as artist-in-residence at the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia, PA.
Projects include Clan, a collaboration with composer Peter Jones which was funded in part by the Bates Dance Festival and Meet the Composer; Museum Piece, commissioned by San Diego Dance Theater, which premiered at the Museum of Contemporary Art/San Diego and was chosen as one of the Top 10 Dance Events of 2004 by the San Diego Union Tribune; and Midnight, commissioned by Dancers In Company, which premiered at space/place in Iowa City, IA. He more recently developed a multi-media duet, A Story About Apples, with performers David Capps and Toby Hankin, which premiered in Colorado, as well as a revival of Twins, a duet from the repertory of GMDance. Masson’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts, Dance/USA(NCCI), Meet the Composer and various private foundations.
MFA in Performance and Choreography, New York University/Tisch School of the Arts
BFA in Dance, University of Southern Mississippi
Professional Experience
1997 – Present
Gabriel Masson Dance (Artistic Director)
1994 – 1996
Lucinda Childs Dance Company
1989 – 1995
Doug Varone and Dancers
1986 – 1988
Rosalind Newman and Dancers
1985 – 1987
Hannah Kahn Dance Company
