Arthur Avilés (born 1963) is an American Bessie Award-winning

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and

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of Puerto Rican descent. Avilés was born in

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, New York, and raised in

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and the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. He graduated from

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, a liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. After graduating from Bard, he became a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and toured internationally with the company for eight years 1987 to 1995. Mr. Avilés began his own company, the Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (AATT), in 1996 in

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, and moved the company to the Bronx that same year. In addition to his work with AATT, Avilés became the company choreographer for the Paris-based theatrical company Faim de Siecle, and has choreographed a series of productions that have been performed in the United States and in France. In December 1998, he co-founded with Charles Rice-González BAAD! - The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, a new performance and workshop space in the American Bank Note Company Building, a warehouse in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. In October 2013, the organization moved to Westchester Square into a gothic revivalist building on the campus of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. ''

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'' has said that BAAD! is "a funky and welcoming performance space." In addition to the Bessie Award, Avilés received an Arts and Letters Award from his alma mater in 1995, a BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) Award from the

Bronx Council on the Arts The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County to its north; to its south and west, the New York City bo ...

(BCA) in 1999, a PRIDE (Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment) Award honoring outstanding contributions and services to the Puerto Rican, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

) Communities, a 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, in 2008 he received an award from NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson and a NYC Mayor's Arts Award, and 2015 received an honorary doctorate from Bard College. In 2005, AATT was among 406

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arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the

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, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor

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. Anna Kisselgoff of ''The New York Times'' wrote, "If you don’t know Mr. Aviles, you haven’t seen one of the great modern dancers of the last 15 years." Jennifer Dunning, ''The New York Times'' dance critic, described his work as follows: "Arthur Aviles has developed an individual voice and style that might be compared to bold street theater and poster art, communicating his truths about life as seen as a gay male Puerto Rican through simple narratives that are always colorful and often poignant and amusing." Since 1991, Aviles has collaborated extensively with his

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, the

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and performer Elizabeth Marrero. He has also collaborated with other gay Puerto Rican performers such as Jorge Merced. Avilés is publicly gay, as he has indicated in interviews, and many of his dance pieces explore gay topics.La Fountain-Stokes, Lawrence
"A Naked Puerto Rican Faggot from America: An Interview with Arthur Avilés."
''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'' 19.1 (Spring 2007): 314-29.

References

Additional bibliography

* Rivera-Servera, Ramón. "Latina/o Queer Futurities: Arthur Aviles Takes on the Bronx." ''Ollantay Theater Magazine'' 15.29-30 (2007): 127-46. * Rivera-Servera, Ramón. "Building Home: Arthur Aviles's Choreography of the Public Space." in ''Performing Queer Latinidad: Dance, Sexuality, Politics'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012), 46-93. * La Fountain-Stokes, Lawrence
"A Naked Puerto Rican Faggot from America: An Interview with Arthur Avilés."
''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'' 19.1 (Spring 2007): 314-29.

External links

Arthur Aviles Theatre Company

BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance {{DEFAULTSORT:Aviles, Arthur 1963 births 20th-century American dancers 21st-century American dancers Living people American choreographers American male dancers American people of Puerto Rican descent Bard College alumni Bessie Award winners American gay artists American modern dancers Entertainers from the Bronx People from Queens, New York LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people 21st-century American LGBTQ people

See also

References

Additional bibliography

External links