A duet repertory company inspired by the Dada movement, Da·Da·Dance Project was founded by Eun Jung Choi-Gonzalez and Guillermo Ortega Tanus in New York City. In the spirit of Dadaism, we challenge conventional notions of art making with travesty, absurdity, and physical authenticity; we constantly question aesthetic ideals.
Drawing from a wealth of experiences in theater, music, poetry, multi-media, visual/commercial art, various dance styles from “traditional” to “cutting-edge” to “street dance” to “improvisation”, we continuously seek to deliver a uniquely expressive vocabulary that communicates to all people and reveals our eccentricity. Our themes frequently include aspects of one’s personality, social and emotional behavior and intelligence, with a curious mixture of the comic and tragic.
Biography:
A native of Korea, Eun Jung Choi-Gonzalez grew up learning Korean traditional dance before she moved to the US in 1991. Since graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1996, she has worked with numerous collaborators and dance companies, including Mark Dendy, The Limón Dance Company, Allyson Green Dance, Risa Jaroslow and Dancers, Seán Curran Co., Malashock Dance & Co., Eun Me Ahn, Lostwax (Providence, RI), Katija Wachter (Germany), Helena Franzén (Sweden), Pulso Cía. de Danza (Mexico), and many others, performing internationally in Asia, Europe, and North America.
She is the recipient of a Union Street Dance Rehearsal Space Grant and has received funds from Danspace Project’s 2006-07, 05-06 and 03-04 Commissioning Initiatives, Korean Cultural Services NY and Dance New Amsterdam. Her choreography has been presented at Sushi Performance and Visual Art (San Diego), CEC (Philadelphia), DancenOw, Danspace Project’s City/Dans, Global Exchange, DraftWork, FOOD FOR THOUGHT, DRA, Mexico Now Festival, Danceworks (Milwaukee), Daegue International Festival (Korea), Sexto Encuentro de Nueva Danza (Mexico City), and nEW Festival (Philadelphia).
As a teacher, Eun Jung has taught at Daegue Catholic University (Daegu, Korea), North Carolina School of the Arts, el Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City), Little Red House School, PS 137, Tanya Tower, as well as various community and musical theater workshops in and around New York City. She was recently invited to teach a composition workshop by Movimiento Escénico/Laborame in Mexico. In October 2008, she will return to Mexico to teach workshops at CICO (Center of choreographic Investigation).
Eun Jung graduated with a master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU in 2003. Since then, She has worked as an interaction designer, implementing digital media as marketing tools for corporate clients including Toyota, Nestle, Phillip Morris, Ford, Cartoon Network, Bacardi, etc.
Native of Mexico, Guillermo Ortega Tanus has danced for numerous companies, choreographers and visual artists including UX Onodanza Danza Bizarra A.C., A Poc A Poc, Eterno Caracol, Kelly Nipper (LA), MIRO Dance Theatre (Philadelphia), and David Gordon’s Pick Up Performance Co. (NY) among many others in both Mexico and the US. He received a Performing Artists Fellowship 2007-08 from the National Foundation of Culture and Arts (FONCA).
Before attending the National School of Classical and Contemporary Dance in Mexico City, he studied music, poetry, theatre, and literature. His studies have motivated him to explore intersections between dance and other art forms in his choreographic work. As a choreographer, he has presented his works at Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church, Tlacochimaco, Foro Experimental of the National Center of the Arts as part of International Day of Dance, Fuego Nuevo theater and la Casa de las Bombas.
Guillermo has received grants from the National Center for the Arts (CENART) 2005-06 as a resident artist with UX Onodanza Danza Bizarra, from the Mexican Institute of the Youth (IMJUVE) 2003-04, and SEDESOL 1997-08 as a visual artist. Future projects include Siteline Project with Risa Jaroslow and Dancers (New York), and Live Arts Festival’s CAR Project with Anonymous Bodies (Philadelphia). He also works as a dance and Pilates instructor.
Philippine-born Gerald Casel (choreographer) received a BFA in Dance from the Juilliard School and an MFA from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has danced in the companies of Michael Clark, Stanley Love, Zvi Gotheiner, Lar Lubovitch and Stephen Petronio, where he was a member from 1991-1998 and served as the Stephen Petronio Company’s Assistant Director and Director of Education from 2001-2005. In 1997, he received a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for sustained achievement. In 1999 and 2006-7, he was a Movement Research Artist-in-Residence, and a finalist for NYFA’s Urbart Artist Initiative Fellowship in 2007. Casel has been a guest teacher at Dance New Amsterdam, Movement Research, Impulstanz and the School for Modern Dance in Denmark. He has served as adjunct professor at Sarah Lawrence College, UW-Milwaukee, Barnard College, and is currently on faculty at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He has been making choreography for his company, GERALDCASELDANCE since 1998, performing at Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce SoHo, The Yard, Danceworks (Milwaukee), Conduit (Portland) and ODC (San Francisco). The company will present its first evening-length piece, Border, at Joyce SoHo May 15-18, and at Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Outside August 22. Future projects include a season at Dance New Amsterdam (New York) and a collaboration with X Factor Dance Company in Edinburgh touring the UK in 2009. www.geraldcaseldance.com
Elise Knudson (choreographer) likes to look for art in the cracks between things. Her choreography has been presented at festivals on the East Coast, in the Midwest, Canada and New York City. Collaborations with kite designers, storytellers, video artists and scientists reveal her affinity for cross-disciplinary endeavors. She has danced for Noemie Lafrance, Yoshiko Chuma, Christopher Williams and Laura Peterson, and currently dances for Risa Jaroslow and Jody Oberfelder. Elise would like to thank Eun Jung and Guillermo for their enthusiasm and this inspired production model. www.airelise.com
Alban Bailly (composer/performer), a native of France, began his music career by playing rock in his youth. He studied Jazz in the late nineties, which propelled him into free improvisation. He also studied Arabic music and oud in Marrakech, Morocco in 2001. In Nancy, France, Alban became an active musician, playing both as a soloist and with other performers in Europe. Intrigued by gypsy and Balkan music, he traveled to Serbia in 2004 to study the traditional Eastern European style. Since making Philadelphia his home in 2005, Alban has experienced an abundance of opportunities for composing, performing, and collaborating with musicians from the East Coast and beyond. He embraces various genres of music with his guitar and accordion, and often collaborates with dancers. www.albanbailly.com
Mijail Rojas (choreographer/performer), artistic director of Pulso Comapañía de Danza, founded the company to realize his choreographic vision of depicting influential daily occurrences and physical surroundings. He has collaborated with Eun Jung Choi-Gonzalez and co-presented an evening-length work, Tras Lados at Danspace Project’s Global Exchange and Mexico Now Festival in New York City. He has been a recipient of fellowship from the National Foundation of Culture and Arts, Mexico (FONCA) in the performing arts for the year 2004-05 and 2007-08. In 2006, he won the first prize of el Premio Nacional de Danza INBA-UAM for best male dancer in Mexico. He has worked with major independent dance companies in Mexico including Alicia Sánchez and Company, and has participated in prestigious festivals both nationally and internationally including Festival de Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México, Festival Cervantino, Festival Mexichkécho Tance V Ceské Republice, Queens Theater in the Park, Tangente (Montreal) and Not Festival (New York), among many others. www.myspace.com/pulsociadedanza
Ashley Lippolis (Administrative Intern) is an avid dancer and dance writer at Franklin & Marshall College, where she is earning her BA in Dance and Psychology. Her focus is primarily on modern dance and flamenco. At F&M she has been privileged to work with numerous artists including Lynn Brooks, Pamela Vail, Elba Hevia y Vaca, Lori Belilove, Lorry May, and Jennifer Conley. Ashley would like to thank Eun Jung and Guillermo for being genuinely innovative dancers and wonderful people.
