Dance Alloy was a

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

repertory A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...

company based in the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

's neighborhood of

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. It suspended operations in 2012 following a merger with the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater.

History and mission

The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy was founded in 1976 at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

as an artistic collective of nine dancers. Margaret Skrinar, Director of Dance, was the founder with the help of Yolanda Marino and Mary Goodman of the Pittsburgh Dance Council and guest artists Murray Louis, Kathryn Posin and Dan Wagoner. The first concert was performed in December 1976 at the Stephen Foster Memorial Theater and was directed by company choreographer, Rebecca Rice. The Dance Alloy moved off-campus in 1980, and two years later Susan Gillis and Elsa Limbach were named co-artistic directors. Limbach became sole artistic director in 1984 and moved the company to studio space in the Carnegie Museum of

. Established New York choreographer Mark Taylor became artistic director in 1991 and the company continued to grow, touring extensively both nationally and internationally, and offering dance classes in the community. In 1995 it expanded again, under the executive director Stephanie Flom, building its own state-of-the-art studios and employing six full-time dancers as well as numerous technical staff and arts administrators. Dance Alloy's repertory included works by Claudia Gitelman, Lynn Dally, Kathryn Posin, Carolyn Brown, Elsa Limbach, Susan Gillis, Mark Dendy, Eiko & Koma,

Bill T. Jones William Tass Jones, known as Bill T. Jones (born February 15, 1952), is an American Choreography, choreographer, director, author and dancer. He is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The company's home in Manhattan. J ...

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, Victoria Marks, Charles Moulton, Mark Taylor, Douglas Nielson, Tere O'Connor,

Pilobolus ''Pilobolus'' is a genus of fungi that commonly grows on herbivore dung. Life cycle The life cycle of ''Pilobolus'' begins with a black sporangium that has been discharged onto a plant substrate such as grass. A herbivorous animal such as a h ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

, Rebecca Rice Flanagan, J Michael Kane, Gail Stepanek, Jerry Pearson and Elizabeth Streb. In 2003, Beth Corning was chosen to be the next artistic director. Corning was the force behind the reconstruction of the company, and "changed its name to better reflect the diversity of this genre." The last Artistic Director was Greer Reed-Jones. Dance Alloy's mission was something called "Breaking the Fourth Wall." The back wall, when the audience looks at the stage, is referred to as the upstage. The next two walls are the wings or the sides of the stage, and the fourth wall is the barrier between the audience and the stage. This is the wall that Dance Alloy tried to break, the point being to completely engage the audience in the performance. They also set goals to immerse themselves in the community surrounding Dance Alloy, and they achieved this by offering dance education to adults and children of all ages. On June 27, 2012, a merger was announced between the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty and Dance Alloy. Kelly-Strayhorn would manage daily operations of Dance Alloy and the Dance Alloy School but the dance company itself would not be active. The final Company was under the artistic direction of Greer Reed Jones when it dissolved in 2012. Jones joined the Dance Alloy staff in June 2009. Along with the artistic director the company also employed five contracted dancers, including Maribeth Maxa, Stephanie Dumaine, Christopher Bandy, Michael Walsh and Adrienne Misko.

Staff of ALLOY School today

References

External links

Dance Alloy website
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Kelly-Strayhorn Theater website

Dance Alloy viewed on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
{{Pittsburgh Modern dance companies Performing arts in Pittsburgh 1976 establishments in Pennsylvania Dance in Pennsylvania

History and mission

Staff of ALLOY School today

See also

References

External links