Garth Fagan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Garth Fagan (born 1940 in Jamaica) is a modern dance and Tony Award-winning choreographer and the founder and Artistic Director of Garth Fagan Dance, a modern dance company based in Rochester, NY. The company, originally named Bottom of the Bucket - But Dance Theatre, was established in 1970. Fagan first danced with the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica in Kingston before enrolling at Wayne State University in Detroit. He choreographed for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the Limon Dance Company in the 1970s. He has studied the works of Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Pearl Primus, Alvin Ailey, Jose Limon, and Katherine Dunham. He is also influenced by Caribbean and West African dances.[1]


Contents

[edit] Choreography

Fagan's choreography incorporates elements of modern dance, ballet, Afro-Caribbean dance, and social dance. Many of his works are autobiographical or include themes of personal relevance. His untitled 1977 work chronicles the dissolution of his marriage, showing a couple beginning a relationship with affection and passion but eventually drifting apart due to inevitable obstacles. Griot New York, which premiered in 1991 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is about the experiences of the underprivileged living in New York City. The piece juxtaposes linear balletic movement with sharp angular gestures, twitching, and erotic partnering to represent the diversity and contrast found in big cities as well as conflict in his own life. In Moth Dreams, choreographed in 1992, Fagan celebrates his childhood, adolescence, and relationship with his mother.[2]


[edit] Works

  • From Before (1978)
  • Oatka Trail (1979)
  • Prelude (1981, revised 1983)
  • Touring Jubilee 1924 (Professional) (1982)
  • Sonata and the Afternoon (1983)
  • Never Top 40 (Jukebox) (1985)
  • Passion Distanced (1987)
  • Time After Before Place (1988)
  • Griot New York (1991)
  • Moth Dreams (1992)
  • Mix 25 (1996)
  • Two Pieces of One: Green (1998)
  • Woza (1999)
  • Trips and Trysts (2000)
  • Music of the Line/Words in the Shape (2001)
  • Translation Transition (2002)
  • DANCECOLLAGEFORROMIE (2003)
  • ----ING (2004)
  • LIFE: DARK/LIGHT (2005)
  • SENKU (2006)
  • EDGE/JOY (2007)


[edit] Awards and Honors

Fagan won a Tony Award for Best Choreography in 1998 for The Lion King. His work for The Lion King also received the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award that same year.

Fagan is a Distinguished University Professor at the State University of New York at Brockport. In 1989 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

In 2001, Fagan received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award which honors modern dance choreographers.[3] His company has also received a New York Governor's Arts Award.[4]


[edit] External links


[edit] References

  1. ^ Gladstone, Valerie (June 1999). "Broadway's Lion Tamer". Dance Magazine 73 (6). 
  2. ^ Gladstone, Valerie (June 1999). "Broadway's Lion Tamer". Dance Magazine 73 (6). 
  3. ^ Garth Fagan Dance: About Garth Fagan. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  4. ^ Garth Fagan Dance: About Garth Fagan Dance. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
This article about someone associated with the art of dance is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.