Colin Connor (born 18 June 1954) is a Canadian–British dancer, choreographer, and educator, based in the United States. With over forty commissions that span the worlds of

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

, ballet and

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

. Works draws from a large range of influences – musical, literary, social, and scientific – all used to bring attention back to the communicative power of the

human body The human body is the entire structure of a Human, human being. It is composed of many different types of Cell (biology), cells that together create Tissue (biology), tissues and subsequently Organ (biology), organs and then Organ system, org ...

. He frequently, collaborates with artists of other disciplines, including composers, artists, and designers. As a choreographer, teacher and dancer, Connor is currently influencing the next generation of contemporary dancers and dance makers. Dancers who have trained with Connor have gone on to Mark Morris Dance Group, Scapino Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, The Limon Dance Company and others.

Biography

Connor was born in London, England. He received his first formal dance training in Canada. In addition to his role as choreographer, Connor performed as a dancer from the late 1970s through the 2000s. He danced for eight years as a soloist with the Limón Dance Company and also danced with the Mary Anthony Dance Theater. Additionally, he performed in his own work and was a guest with many other companies. Connor was also a core teacher initiating a new summer Limon workshop for Southern California and is a School of Dance faculty member at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most popul ...

. Currently, he lives in the

Los Angeles area Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, ...

Artistic philosophy

Connor describes his work as, "rooted in the mystery of how we live in our physical beings. It is an ongoing investigation of perception, both of dancers and audience, and based on how, in the end, all human experience is felt through the senses. With our lives increasingly mediated by various technologies, I believe that art which focuses attention back to the completeness of how we live in our bodies becomes ever more essential."Connor, Colin
"Creative Philosophy."
''Colin Connor web site''. Performances have been described in the press as "earthy, a little rough and daring, sexy and totally spellbinding," (''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...

'') and his work has been called "a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

for human resilience," (''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

''). Additionally, his choreography drew this response from

Jennifer Dunning Jennifer Dunning (born February 4, 1942) is a writer and critic for ''The New York Times'' on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 ''But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet'', the 1996 ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'': "a relief these days to see movement treated as a sufficiently expressive medium."

Teaching

As an educator, Connor has been on the faculties of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, where he also worked as a choreographer and movement teacher for the Theater Department's Classical Studio. He also worked at

The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

and the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, the latter also as Choreographer in Residence. He has been a guest teacher at numerous dance training centers in the world including The Place in London, the Rotterdamse Dansacademie,

Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. History The site of Jacob's Pi ...

, Dresden's

Palucca School of Dance The Palucca University of Dance Dresden (), formerly the Palucca School Dresden, is a dance school in Dresden, Germany, founded in 1925 by the dancer and pedagogue Gret Palucca who taught until 1990. The school was recognised as a higher educat ...

, the Joffrey Summer Workshop, The Dance Studio in Novosibirsk, Russia, and the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem. He has been on the full-time faculty at the

(CalArts) since 2004.

Collaboration

According to his biography on the CalArts web site, Connor's "major collaborations include'' Solea'' and the ''Winds'', a radical contemporary/flamenco evening which toured to critical acclaim for three years across Europe, ''Secondhand Sofa'' with bluegrass band The Biscuit Boys for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, ''What The Waitress Saw'', a deconstruction of a diner (with

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning theater designer, Charles Schoonmaker) for the

Boston Conservatory Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founded o ...

's Copland Celebration with orchestra performing his

clarinet concerto A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...

, and ''Near Ruins'', a duet.""School of Dance Faculty Bios – Colin Connor."
''California Institute of the Arts web site''.

Commissions

Future productions are scheduled in 2010–2011 for Canadian Children's Dance Theatre (

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, Canada), The Joyce Theater (New York),

The Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

(Washington, D.C.), The Meeting House (

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

), Richmond Ballet (

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

), and Island Moving Company (Newport, Rhode Island).

Works

Connor has choreographed over 40 works including: * 2010 ''Corvidae'' – Selected for the 2010 ACDFA gala performances at The Kennedy Center * 2009 ''ARENA'' – Commission for the Canadian Children's Dance Theatre * 2007 ''News Falls Like Rain'' – Solo for Debra Noble performed at Flight of Steps and on tour in Guatemala; ''Holdfast'' (The Fragile Warmth of Collisions in Freefall) – Commission for Island Moving Company and Simon Fraser University * 2005 ''Into the Air'' – Commission for Richmond Ballet; ''The Study of Man'' (collaboration with composer, Mark Trayle) – Performances at the REDCAT Theater and Cal Arts * 2004 ''The Rose Garden'' – Commission for Island Moving Company and University of California at Irvine * 2003 ''Secondhand Sofa'' – Winner of Charleston Ballet Theatre's Fountainhead Choreography Competition * 2002 ''Recent Arrivals'' – Commission for Island Moving Company * 2000 ''Vestiges'' – Commission for Richmond Ballet, Joyce Theater Performance (2010) * 1999 ''Solea and the Winds (Lovesongs'') – In collaborative with Flamencos En Route, over one hundred performances across Europe * 1998 '' Full Sail (In Praise of Storms)'' – Winner of the Sarasota Ballet International Choreography Competition; ''Streets and Legends'' – Commission for Richmond Ballet, remounted on Atlanta Ballet Joyce Theater performances (1999) * 1997 ''Pyre'' – For Damaru Dance Company and Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (2009) * 1995 ''Near Ruins'' (duet for Colin Connor and Risa Steinberg) – The Salvage Company * 1994 ''Flaws In The Glass'' – Commissioned by The Carlisle Project, remounted on Hartford Ballet & The Juilliard School

References

External links

* *Baker, Leona. "Preparing a Premiere: Dancers practice for the first performance of the season." Style Weekly. 21 September 2005.
CalArts School of Dance bio for Colin Connor
*Marshall, Lea. "Keeping It Fresh." https://web.archive.org/web/20100614085531/http://dancemagazine.com/issues/April-2010/New-York-Notebook Dance Magazine. April 2010. *Menotti, Andrea "Heart to Coracao" http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-07-24/dance/heart-to-cora-ccedil-atilde-o/ The Village Voice. 24 July 2001. *Proctor, Roy. "Colin Connor's Dance is to be Part of Mixed-Repertory in May." Richmond Times – Dispatch. 25 February 1996. *"Richmond Ballet returns to the Joyce Theater 6–11 April 2010." https://web.archive.org/web/20100605022549/http://elitedance.com/blog/2010/02/19/richmond-ballet-returns-to-the-joyce-theater-april-6th-11th-2010/ Elitedance. 19 February 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Colin 1954 births Living people Canadian contemporary dancers Canadian choreographers Dancers from Saxony