Foundation for Contemporary Arts

David Neumann

Lives in Astoria, NY

Born 1965, Paris, France

Choreographer/Performer

As artistic director of Advanced Beginner Group, I create "multi-disciplinary" dances from scratch, bringing to gesture, word and proximity a delighted embrace of our contradictory lives. I utilize experimental dance-making approaches with a humorous outlook and an inclusive layering of disciplines to create complex, thought-provoking dance works that push the form. I challenge my assumptions on 'how to make a dance' giving each work a distinct geography so that viewers can examine their own assumptions. These approaches are born of the belief that there is always something more to think and feel, always another mind to engage in surprising ways, always a valuable effort in trying to bend the habitual gestures around new shapes.

In rehearsal, I try to see through the categories by which we're taught to define art. The question of whether to call my work "multi-disciplinary" or "dance theater" or "post-whatever-you-want-to-add" steps directly in the path of seeing what's in front of me. I use the human body as the locus of my work, the mind as something always to consider. Life and art are most challenging when caught in the realm between thought and behavior, between describing one's life and experiencing it. The performance is a place where we can begin to unpack our contemporary lives-see it, feel it, laugh at it, engage the larger questions and become alert.

1988 B.F.A., SUNY Purchase

Artistic Director, Advanced Beginner Group

Professor of Theater, Sarah Lawrence College

Guest Lecturer of Acting, Yale School of Drama

SELECTED WORKS

2010 BIG EATER, premiered at The Kitchen, New York, NY; also performed at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA

2010 tough, the tough (redux), premiered at Ringling International Arts Festival, Sarasota, FL; also performed at Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY; Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA

2007 FeedForward, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY; also performed at MASS MoCa, North Adams, MA; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN; Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI

2006 Hit the Deck (studies and accidents), premiered at Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY; also performed at Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI; Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA

2005 tough, the tough, premiered at Danspace Project, New York, NY; also performed at Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI

2003 Sentence, premiered at PS 122, New York, NY; also performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1998 It's Gonna Rain, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY

SELECTED GRANTS, HONORS AND AWARDS

2009 Creative Capital Grant

2007 Meet the Composer Grant (with Eve Beglarian)

2004 Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Grant

1991, 1998 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Awards

1993 Princess Grace Fellowship in Theater