Company Profile

Company Overview

What is Notes in Motion?
Notes in Motion is a dance theatre company made up of Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, producing original dance theatre performances and Outreach Dance Theatre, presenting in-school and community arts-in-education programs.

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre
MISSION
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre engages audiences in original and dynamic dance theatre that raises questions, challenges social norms and values, and magnifies humanity through dance. Productions pivot around core themes and through an interplay between athletic and pedestrian motion, activate emotional expression, character, and narrative in a rich and abstract collage. Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre presents dance in an immediate, mature, and inclusive way that engages our audiences from start to finish and beckons a response of thought, feeling, and soul.

OVERVIEW
Founded in 2000, Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre presents an annual performance Season in June, tours to festivals, and offers residencies to colleges and universities. We include audiences in the creative process by offering open rehearsals, interactive performances of developing work, and access to videos, photos, and interactive tools on our website www.amandaselwyndance.org. We have presented over 25 productions at venues including Dance Theatre Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Danspace Project, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, John Jay College, and Dance New Amsterdam. Inside New York: “Amanda Selwyn is a master at illustrating the symbiosis of sound and movement, the romance of motion and emotion – she had me laughing, crying, cringing and gasping all in the short 55-minute production.” Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival’s Pillow Pages: “Choreographically, Amanda's point of departure is not an image or a gesture, but a theatrical imperative felt in her insistence on expression.” Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As an accomplished choreographer with a fresh and vibrant movement language, Selwyn is becoming a prominent voice within the New York dance community. Each year, the company gains more momentum as presenters, funders, critics, and audiences take greater interest in the work. In 2011-2012, we received first time funding from the Harkness Foundation and were presented at the Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Series for a second time. We were recently invited to join Pentacle's Gallery providing us with support and advocacy within the national touring market and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center has announced it will present the premiere of our 2014 Season.

Grants Awarded:
Harkness Foundation for Dance (2012)
Friars Foundation (2012)
Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation - Project Support (2010-2011 Season)
New York State Council Arts - Arts-in-Education Funding (2011-2012)
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs - Cultural Development Fund (2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013)
City Council Member Rosie Mendez - Discretionary Funding (2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013)
City Council Member Bill DeBlasio - Discretionary Funding (2008)
The Bronx Council on the Arts Arts-in-Education Grants (2008-2009, 2009-2010)
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Manhattan Community Arts Fund (2007)
JP Morgan Chase - Individual, Team, and Matching Grants (2006-present)
NRG, Inc. Program Support (2009-2010)
Washington Post and Company (2010-present)
Bank of America (2010-present)

Honors:
Presented in Westfest 2012
Presented at Dixon Place 2012
Presented in Pushing Progress Series 2012
Presented in Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival’s Inside/Out Performance Series (2009, 2011)
Presented in Dance Teacher Summit NYC (2011)
Led Workshops in NYC Arts-in-Education Roundtable’s Face to Face Conferences (2007, 2008, 2011)
Presented in the Earth Celebrations Festival (2010, 2011)
Presented in DUMBO Dance Festival (2009, 2010)
Presented in the Movement Research Open Performance Series at Dance Theater Workshop (2010)
Presented by Kumble Theatre for the Performing Arts, Long Island University Brooklyn Campus (2010)
Presented in COOL NY Dance Festival (2010)
Participated in the Choreographer’s Lab program at Jacob’s Pillow (2008)
Curated rental at Dance New Amsterdam (2008)
Presented in the NYU Women and Theater Conference (2003)

CREATIVE PROCESS
Selwyn’s creative process is distinctive from many other choreographers and makes each new project full of surprises. In rehearsal, she poses physical and dramatic paradigms for the dancers, and asks them to work out these challenges through movement. The dancers then, through improvisation and spontaneous choreographic studies, unearth raw material. Movements are passed through the company to discover new variations, individual interpretation, and nuance. The eventual choreographic vocabulary erupts from the discourse of exchange between dancers. The movement speaks a language of the community. As the work develops, it takes on its own life, telling Selwyn who it is, what it wishes to say, and where to go next.

As the company begins its thirteenth year, there is growing excitement and confidence in the creative process. With each new work, Selwyn ups the ante. This audaciousness plays out in innovative scenic, video, costume, and musical elements, an insistence on harvesting a surfeit of raw material, and a relentlessness for trial and error that coaxes the movement to find its own voice in the creative process. She seeks out organic discoveries, raw and uninterrupted, to let movement flow from momentum and physical sensation. She uplifts, exhilarates, inspires, and nurtures her own network of artists while actively engaging the community at large.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Green Afternoon (August 25, 2012) At the home of Marcia Previti and Peter Gumpel, East Hampton
Detour (June 21-23, 2012) New York Live Arts
Detour Preview (May 19-20, 2012) Pushing Progress Performance Series at Peridance
Detour Preview (April 17, 2012) Dixon Place Theater
White Night II: A Movable Performance Soiree (February 25, 2012) Space on White
Five Minutes (January 9 & 10, 2012) APAP at Peridance
Five Minutes (December 8 & 10, 2011) WestFest Dance Festival
Five Minutes (July 30, 2011) 2011 Dance Teacher Summit NYC
Inside/Out Performance Series (July 8, 2011) Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
Five Minutes (June 23-25, 2011) Dance Theater Workshop
Earth Celebrations (May 21, 2011) Rockefeller Park on the Hudson
White Night: A Movable Performance Soiree (February 26, 2011) Space on White
Yoga for the Arts (January 8, 2011) Laughing Lotus Yoga Center
DUMBO Dance Festival 2010 - excerpt from Passage (September 25-6, 2010) John Ryan Theater and Brooklyn Bridge Park
Passage (June 10-13, 2010) Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts
Earth Celebrations (May 22, 2010) Pier 40 on the Hudson River
Open Performance Series at Movement Research (April 14, 2010) Dance Theater Workshop
Transition (February 27, 2010) Speyer Hall at University Settlement
COOL NY Dance Festival - Drops and Bubbles excerpt (January 29, 31, February 7 2010) John Ryan Theater
APAP Conference - Drops and Bubbles excerpt (January 10, 2010) Dance New Amsterdam
DUMBO Dance Festval - excerpt from Hearsay (September 27, 2009) John Ryan Theater
Inside/Out Performance Series - excerpts from Undercurrent and Hearsay (August 26, 2009) Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
Undercurrent (June 11-14, 2009) Ailey Citigroup Theater
Precipitate (February 7, 2009) Speyer Hall at University Settlement
Hearsay (June 5-8, 2008) Dance New Amsterdam
Remnants (February 23, 2008) University Settlement
Interiors (June 14-17, 2007) Danspace Project
blueprints (February 24, 2007) University Settlement
Disturbance (June 15-17, 2006) The Ailey Citigroup Theater
Pre-Gala (April 29, 2006) Wien Hall Columbia University
Extract (March 18, 2006)The Philip Coltoff Center at Greenwich Village
Tilt (June 16 - 18, 2005) Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College
First Edition (February 5, 2005) Evolving Art Theater at Dance Space Center
Unframed (June 24-26, 2004) Bessie Schonberg Theater at Dance Theater Workshop
Works in Progress 2004 (February 28, 2004) Evolving Arts Theatre at Dance Space Center
SHIFT (June 4-8, 2003) University Settlement
Works-in-Progress 2003 (February 15, 2003) Evolving Arts Theatre at Dance Space Center
Threshold (July 10-14, 2002) The Culture Project's 45 Bleecker Theatre
Works-in-Progress (April 20, 2002) Evolving Arts Theatre at Dance Space Center
Siren (July 12-14, 2001) University Settlement

Outreach Dance Theatre
Mission
Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theatre offers a wide array of residency, professional development, interactive performance, and after-school programs that teach dance skills, choreography, improvisation, inter-disciplinary study, and arts appreciation. These programs are united by our singular approach to arts education, The Movement Exchange Method, in which students take on leadership roles in their own learning, have creative input in the design of the curriculum, participate in critical discussions of the work of their peers, and develop collaborative skills. Programs foster self-discovery, risk-taking, and making connections between different topics, themes, and areas of learning. We aim to provide access to the art form of dance to inspire the next generation of dance appreciators.

History
Since 2000, Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theatre has brought arts programs to 25 schools and over 8,000 students in New York City. We are a vendor of the NYC Department of Education and all our programs reflect the learning standards as outlined in their Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts. We create long-lasting arts partnerships with schools and inspire the greater community of that school with the beauty, magic, and vitality of dance. We do not offer any cookie-cutter programs. Each program is custom-tailored to the specific needs and population of each school partner. We work collaboratively with classroom teachers at every stage from program planning, implentation, performance/community sharing, assessment, and evaluation. Our Teaching Artists guide students through a unique creative process, creating connections with other academic subjects and fostering active learning -- students are creators, improvisors, and collaborators. We have an Education Ensemble of 18 experienced Teaching Artists with extensive performance and choreography backgrounds in several dance styles and techniques. Recent press includes a profile in Dance Teacher Magazine of Artistic Director Amanda Selwyn’s workshop at the NYC Arts-in-Education Roundtable’s 2011 Face to Face Conference and a profile in NYFA’s Current: A Magazine for Artists.

Program Goals
Dance Education – Provide high quality dance instruction that teaches creative movement fundamentals, promotes self-expression and self-esteem, and builds collaborative learning skills.
Collaboration – Design curriculum in conjunction with teachers and administrators that best fits the needs of each grade level and class group. Prepare teachers to be active residency participants.
Integration – Link residency curriculum to themes and topics in academic subjects. Share creative teaching tools, classroom rituals, and follow-up activities with classroom teachers.
Community Building – Create opportunities for parents, guardians, and community members to engage with student arts learning thereby activating the life of the school.

Student Learning Objectives by Grade Level
Develop Skills and Technique – Investigating fundamental dance concepts
K-2: levels, pathways, body shapes, rhythm
3-5: weight shifts, dynamics, body control, basic partnering
6-8: alignment, strength, flexibility, balance, dyamics, spatial orientations
9-12: musical phrasing, dynamic control, sequencing, understanding complex rhythms

Improvise – Inventing original movements
K-2: expressing feelings/abstract concepts, working alone, collaborating with peers
3-5: finding solutions to movement problems; improvising as a group
6-8: initiating ideas, turning gestures into movement, varying dynamics and speed
9-12: developing original improv structures, exploring group dynamics, partnering

Choreograph – Creating their own choreography
K-2: choosing a beginning, middle, end; recalling, repeating, practicing sequences
3-5: employing structures (AB, ABA); creating as a group
6-8: articulating a theme, showing leaderships skills, experimenting with space and time
9-12: rehearsing and evaluating independently, developing material from improvisation

Perform – Performing for peers, family, and the school community at the end of each semester
K-2: show expressiveness and joy; understand appropriate performer & audience behavior
3-5: dance with focus and intent; dance with self-awareness and awareness of the group
6-8: dance with rhythmic accuracy and musical feeling, perform improvisations
9-12: dance with unique personal style, exhibit a high level of awareness and achievement

Reflect – Employing dance vocabulary through writing, discussion, and video
K-2: name activities, parts of the body, choreographic ideas, and personal observations
3-5: use contrasting action & descriptive words, connect dance learning to academic areas
6-8: identify various choreographic devises (canon, retrograde), name muscles and bones
9-12: teach a dance to younger students, utilize refined observation and evaluation skills