 |
About the Company The Company’s resident composer, Lee Perlman, creates original works of both live and taped music, working with a group of talented musicians to perform live for most performances. |
 |
About the Director
Deborah Abel has produced, choreographed, and danced in concerts of her own choreography since 1987. She was awarded the 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Choreography. She was a finalist in the 1988 Massachusetts Artist Foundation Fellowship Program in Choreography. Her piece, Night Song/Cool of the Day, was selected by a panel of judges to appear in the concert Boston Moves Downtown (1988) at the New England Life Hall. She choreographed and produced the concerts First Light (1988), Going Home (1989), and The Play of Consciousness (1990). In 1991, she produced an evening length work, The Perfect Relationship: A Dance Concert of Duets, in Boston and at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. With a grant from the M.I.T. Council for the Arts, she premiered an evening length work, The Beauty Road: A Dance of Community, with guest artist singer/songwriter Carla Sciaky, at Kresge Auditorium, M.I.T., in 1992. In 1993 she performed repertory at Connecticut College in A Tribute to Martha Myers. In 1994, the Deborah Abel Dance Company presented and performed in Common Heart: A Benefit Concert for Christine O’Shea with the help of friends and other performers including singer Carol Maillard of Sweet Honey in the Rock and choreographer/dancer Dianne McIntyre. In 1996, at M.I.T.’s Kresge Auditorium, Abel premiered Eye of the Heart, an evening-length work featuring dancers, singers, musicians, and a collaboration with visual artist Pamela Shanley.
After being ‘on leave’ for a few years to devote herself to being a parent (and running her school), she returned in 2007 to her choreography with her concert The World is Breathing, which was produced at Kresge Auditorium, M.I.T., with a grants from the M.I.T. Council for the Arts and the M.I.T. Experimental Study Group. In 2008 she presented The Perfect Relationship, danced with Jeffrey Polston. In 2009 she presented the re-choreographed concert The Beauty Road, with 7 dancers and 8 musicians at the Tsai Performance Center.
Abel and resident composer Lee Perlman have also created and presented the Unraveling to the Source movement workshops, which have been presented by Rowe Camp and Conference Center, Spring Hill of Ashby, and The Jubilee Center. The workshops include Lovedancing: A Couples Movement Workshop and Creative Dance as Divine Worship. Deborah Abel received a B.A. in Dance from Connecticut College and a Certificate of Dance from the Laban School in London, England. In the 1980’s she established a school of modern dance which continues to flourish.
DANCERS
Marissa Carr graduated from Skidmore College in 2006 with a double major in Dance and English. While in college, she did extensive work with the Isadora Duncan International Institute and was given the opportunity to travel throughout Greece performing the original works of Isadora Duncan. She also had the privilege of working with Robert Battle during his Skidmore residencies. In the greater Boston area she has performed with SOKOLOW NOW!, the archival performing company of the Sokolow Dance Foundation, in works choreographed by Kathryn Dunkel, and as a guest with Weber Dance. She is currently a member of Danny Swain Dance Company. Marissa is grateful for the opportunity to work with the lovely and talented dancers in The Beauty Road concert.
Camden Ierardi received his dance training at the Ballet Arts Center of Winchester under the direction of Debbie Boyle. He has previously performed with David Parker and the Bang Group, and Lorraine Chapman The Company. He is very excited to be working with Deborah and such a wonderful group of dancers.
Wendy Lawson was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her formative dance training included Hawaiian, Ballet, Modern (Graham and Limon techniques). She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in dance. Since moving to the Boston area in 1983, she has been dancing with a variety of Boston area teachers and choreographers while raising three beautiful daughters with her husband, Chuck. She is a member of the Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble, performing and working with Fr. Robert VerEecke, artistic director, since 1985, and taking on the role of Jr. Company manager in 1995 for the company’s annual production. Wendy first studied with Deborah Abel in 1988. Then, her daughters, Jessica, Kristen and Olivia had the fortune of studying at Deborah’s School of Modern Dance. In 2007, Wendy performed in The World Is Breathing concert, and is honored and grateful to be dancing in The Beauty Road.
She thanks her family for their immeasurable love.
Jeffrey Polston, a native of North Carolina, began his formal training at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC. Upon graduation, he joined the Boston-based Impulse Dance Company, Dir. Adrienne Hawkins. During his tenure with Impulse, he worked with noted choreographers such as Donald Byrd and Dwight Rhoden, and performed in works by Warren Spears, Rael Lamb, Clover Mathis, Consuelo Atlas (Soloist with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and founder of Impulse), and Fred Benjamin. During this time he also worked in Tokyo, Japan with F.E.N. Promotions Company, a nationally broadcast television show.
Jeffrey moved to Philadelphia after being invited to become a First Company member of Philadelphia Dance Company, affectionately known as "Philadanco", Dir. Joan Myers Brown. He worked with and performed in works by Milton Myers and Talley Beatty.
As an original member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet Company, Co-Dirs. Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, Jeffrey toured extensively throughout the world. Including most recently a two week engagement at the internationally known, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia and in Athens, Greece. He was a Soloist/Principle dancer, as well as Dance Captain with the New Royal Ballet of York, better known as, "The New Boys", an all male cast on pointe. They toured extensively throughout Japan three times to sold out audiences across the country. During this period, Jeffrey was invited to make two guest appearances performing for a nationally broadcast television show in Tokyo. He also performed for Pope John Paul 11, for World Youth Day, in Toronto, Canada, with the Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble for an audience of over 600,000.
Jeffrey continues to teach and choreograph at numerous colleges and dance studios throughout the country. He has most recently returned from Anchorage, Alaska where he taught and performed for the Alaska Dance Theatre, and has been invited back for a four-week teaching/choreography residency in the Spring of 2010. Additionally, he is invited for annual engagements in Phoenix, Arizona and Bristol, Virginia as a performing/teaching guest artist, to name a few.
Hadassah Segal earned a BA in Jewish History from Barnard College, Columbia University (1990) and an MFA in Dance from the Ohio State University (2000). While in New York, she trained in modern dance at the Jose Limon Dance Studio and the Paul Taylor School. Hadassah is a teacher of Limon based technique, improvisation/ composition, dance history, and mind/body movement forms such as yoga, Pilates, and GYROTONIC®.
Jeremy A. Towle (dancer) is very excited to be dancing again. His dance credits include performances with Danny Swain Dance Company, Chiaroscuro Dance Company, and 4 years touring with Boston's own Snappy Dance Theater. Other performance credits include The Wild Party (IRNE nom., Best Supporting Actor in a Musical) and Cabaret both at The New Repertory Theater. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Foothills Theater), The Bartered Bride (Opera Boston), Pirates! (Huntington Theatre Company), La Cage aux Folles (Reagle Players), and touring the country for over a year with kids favorite rockin' band The Doodlebops, LIVE! Thanks to JAD!
Contact Deborah Abel Dance Company:
(978) 369-4530
Photos by Richard Chase, Jaye R. Phillips Bio Photos by Meg Landers Web site by Jill Baker and Infinite Artworks
SGMKJ
