BIOGRAPHIES
John Jasperse has been working as a dance artist in New York City for 37 years. He has created nineteen evening-length works with John Jasperse Projects and numerous commissions for other companies including Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Batsheva Dance Company, and Lyon Opera Ballet. John Jasperse Projects has been presented in 26 U.S. cities and 29 countries internationally. He is the recipient of a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award and two Bessie awards (2014 and 2001), among many other accolades. Jasperse is co-founder of CPR—Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, New York, and he is Director of Dance at Sarah Lawrence College.
Tim Bendernagel (performing collaborator) grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he continues to live and dance. He currently works with the choreographers Maya Lee Parritz, Chloe London Dance, and John Jasperse Projects. Tim graduated from The Ohio State University in 2017 where he earned a BFA in Dance. In addition to his dancing, Tim works as a landscape gardener in New York City.
Born in Singapore, Cynthia Koppe (performing collaborator) is a New York City based dancer and teacher. Her longest collaborations were with Liz Santoro and Pierre Godard of Le Principe d’Incertitude, and as a dancer with Shen Wei Dance Arts from 2009-2017. She has also appeared in work with Yve Laris Cohen, Heidi Howard and Liz Philips, Nicole Mannarino, Ryan McNamara, Sam Roeck, Stephen Thompson and Andrew Tay, Adam Weinert, Christopher Williams, Ellis Wood, and Bill Young amongst others, and was a “reperformer” for Marina Abramovic’s 2010 MoMA Retrospective. Cynthia teaches Yoga, Pilates and Somatic Movement, and currently studies Craniosacral Therapy with Etienne Peirsman. She also holds a certification in Female Ejaculation and the G-Spot, has trained in Holistic Pelvic Care TM with Tami Lynn Kent, and studies and teaches sex education with Isa Coffey of WiseBodies.
Doug LeCours (performing collaborator) has performed in the work of Julie Mayo, RoseAnne Spradlin, Tess Dworman, Catherine Galasso, Pavel Zuštiak, Keely Garfield, Ash R.T. Yergens, and in reconstructions—facilitated by Galasso—of dances by Andy de Groat. His choreographic work has been presented by venues including New York Live Arts and Danspace Project, and his writing on dance and film has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail. An alum of Middlebury College, he is an MFA candidate in prose at the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Doug would like to dedicate his performance tonight to the memory of friend and mentor Peter B. Schmitz, who lived with a fierce commitment to creative rigor he can only hope to match.
Stacey-Jo Marine (stage manager) has worked in over 35 countries and in all 50 states touring with dance and theater companies including Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Dance by Neil Greenberg, STOMP, New York Theatre Ballet, Dar A Luz, and Richard Move’s Martha @ series. Although best known as a refined production stage manager, she also loves teaching dance production and dance profession related courses and has done so at Purchase College, Joffrey Ballet School and Marymount Manhattan College. Ms. Marine served as the founding executive director of CorbinDances (Patrick Corbin, artistic director) from 2005 – 2011 and was the co-founder and producer of Cape Dance Festival 2013 – 2019.
Stan Pressner (lighting designer) has created the lighting for dance, theatre, opera and music events on five continents. His work has been in the repertoires of, among others: The New York City Ballet, Bayerische Staatsoper, The Lyon Opera Ballet, Geneva Opera Ballet, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, Ralph Lemon and Company, Bayerische Staadtsballet, The Atlanta Ballet, The Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Stephen Petronio and Dancers, Stockholm Staadsteatern, The Market Theatre of Johannesberg and The Netherlands Dance Theatre. He served on faculties at UCLA Dance and World Arts and Cultures, The Juilliard School and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He received a 1988 New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for cumulative achievement, 1997 Cable Ace Award for Inside the Actor’s Studio and 1988, 1991 and 1994 American Theatre Wing Design Award nominations.
Composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Hahn Rowe (composer, original music) has worked with Hugo Largo, David Byrne, Anohni, Glenn Branca, Swans, R.E.M., and Yoko Ono, among many others. A recipient of three New York Dance and Performance Awards (AKA the Bessie), Hahn Rowe has a long history scoring music for dance and theater, working with Meg Stuart, Benoît Lachambre, Louise Lecavalier, Bebe Miller, John Jasperse, Simone Aughterlony, and Antonija Livingstone.
He is active as a composer for film and television, creating scores for films such as Clean, Shaven by Lodge Kerrigan, Spring Forward and The Cold Land, by Tom Gilroy, Married in America by Michael Apted, and Sing Your Song by Susanne Rostock. Recently, he created the soundscore for Adam Pendleton’s video work, Toy Soldier (Notes of Robert E. Lee, Richmond, Virginia/Strobe), as part of his upcoming exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich. A new performance work, commissioned by the Columbia University Lenfest Center for the Arts, will premiere at the end of January 2023.