March 15, 2016 - New York, NY JESSICA LANG DANCE CENTER TO OPEN IN LONG ISLAND CITY
New Home of Jessica Lang Dance
To Feature Professional Dance Studios, Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes
and
Classes for Children and Adults
Jessica Lang, Artistic Director Kanji Segawa, Director
Jessica Lang Dance Center, a new, permanent home for Jessica Lang Dance, will open in Long Island City, Queens, in September 2016, today announced choreographer and Artistic Director Jessica Lang. The new Center will feature professional dance studios and office space for the Company, and will offer classes and workshops for children and adults, reflecting Lang’s belief in the importance of education through dance. Jessica Lang Dance Center will be directed by Kanji Segawa.
The new Center will be an important addition to the cultural life of Queens, and engage and enrich the Borough of Queens as community center offering youth and adult classes to students beginning at 18 months to adults.
“The creation of the Jessica Lang Dance Center will provide a home to my work and company. It is an incredibly special moment in my career and I am touched by the support I have had to make this tremendous endeavor possible,” said Jessica Lang. “This Center will deepen my artistic experience while allowing me to connect to the community in which I live. My hope is that this Center will be a place for anyone to connect, imagine, move and be inspired.”
THE COMMUNITY
The 6,100-square-foot Center will be located in the heart of Long Island City, at 5-39 46th Avenue. Long Island City boasts a thriving arts community, with one of the highest concentrations of galleries and artist spaces of any area in the city, including MoMA PS1, an experimental and contemporary art venue run by the Museum of Modern Art, The Noguchi Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Chocolate Factory Theater, Flux Factory, Museum of the Moving Image and Thalia Spanish Theatre.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said, “Jessica Lang Dance has a demonstrated commitment to education and community engagement. The arrival of the Jessica Lang Dance Center in Long Island City is an important addition to the borough’s cultural landscape for the arts.”
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
The Center’s youth program will include classes in creative dance, ballet, dance fundamentals, Move with Me for toddlers and boys dance. Adult classes will include ballet, dance fundamentals, dance fitness and a variety of cultural and folk dance that reflects the diversity of the Queens community.
JLDC will also offer workshops and master classes for pre-professionals and teens, Summer and Winter Intensives, Choreographic and Production Workshops, LANGuage Workshops (LANGuage is a unique educational method developed by Lang that teaches individuals from all populations to cultivate the habit of creative thinking through exercise).
“I am extremely thrilled to open Jessica Lang Dance Center in Long Island City where life is thriving more than ever,” said Kanji Segawa. “The primary goal of my job is to provide happiness to the people in the community by offering accessible dance classes to all. After many years of my professional career as a dancer and a teacher, I feel privileged to pursue my responsibility to share, inspire and contribute to the people. I also would like to make this center as a bridge connecting people in the community to Jessica’s beautiful work and company.”
ABOUT JESSICA LANG DANCE
Founded in 2011, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) is dedicated to creating and performing the work of Jessica Lang. JLD enriches and inspires global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music. Since the company’s inception, marked by Lang’s receipt of a Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JLD has made rapid success performing at renowned venues and festivals throughout the country. The company’s performances have been named among the best dance events of the year by major publications in Dallas, Chicago and Boston.
JLD performed a rare two-week run of The Wanderer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2015, marking the company’s third Pillow season since its company debut at Festival 2012. In November 2015, JLD made its critically acclaimed Chicago debut with Tesseracts of Time, co-commissioned by the Harris Theater, the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Society for the Performing Arts, featuring a set by world- renowned architect Steven Holl. This spring 2016 season the company is touring eleven U.S. cities and will perform a week-long season at The Joyce Theater in June 2016.
JESSICA LANG: Artistic Director
Jessica Lang is a choreographer and the artistic director of Jessica Lang Dance. Hailed as “a master of visual composition” by Dance Magazine, Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language into artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary works. Since 1999, Lang has created more than 92 works for commissions on companies worldwide including Birmingham Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, among many others. American Ballet Theatre has presented her work at the Metropolitan Opera House. She has received commissions from the Dallas Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum for its Works and Process series. Lang received outstanding acclaim for her directorial debut and choreography of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the 2013 Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Lang was a New York City Center Fellow for 2015 and the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Bessie Award.
Lang’s work has also been performed by numerous educational institutions including The Juilliard School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, among others and for American Ballet Theatre, she was part of the founding faculty of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School where she taught until 2014 and is a teaching artist for the company’s Make A Ballet program since 2002.
In the 2016-17 season, Lang will create two world premieres for Birmingham Royal Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. In addition Ballet West, The National Ballet of Japan, Orlando Ballet, and Cincinnati Ballet will perform her work this spring season. www.jessicalangchoreographer.com
KANJI SEGAWA: Director
Kanji Segawa is a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater since 2011. Originally from Kanagawa, Japan, he came to the U.S. in 1997 to train at The Ailey School, and was a member of Ailey II from 2000-02 and Robert Battle’s Battleworks Dance Company from 2002-10. Segawa worked extensively with choreographer Mark Morris from 2004-11, repeatedly appearing in Mr. Morris’ various productions with Mark Morris Dance Group, including as a principal dancer in John Adams’ Nixon in China at The Metropolitan Opera.
Segawa has taught and choreographed for American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, NYC Summer Intensive and Make a Ballet Program, The Ailey School’s Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. Program, Ailey Camp, University of Richmond, Texas Christian University, Brown University, Long Island University, Metropolitan Ballet Academy, Booker T. Washington School of the Arts, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and COCA among others. Since 1999, Segawa has assisted Jessica Lang for her commissions from ballet companies and many different educational institutions as well as creations on Jessica Lang Dance. Segawa is a three times recipient of the Outstanding Choreography Award for Youth America Grand Prix in Philadelphia in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Jessica Lang and Kanji Segawa have been working together since 1999, married in 2007, and have lived in Long Island City since 2008.
Jessica Lang Dance Center will open in September, 2016, at 5-39 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens. For further information and updates, visit www.jessicalangdance.com
# # #
Jessica Lang Dance Center, a new, permanent home for Jessica Lang Dance, will open in Long Island City, Queens, in September 2016, today announced choreographer and Artistic Director Jessica Lang. The new Center will feature professional dance studios and office space for the Company, and will offer classes and workshops for children and adults, reflecting Lang’s belief in the importance of education through dance. Jessica Lang Dance Center will be directed by Kanji Segawa.
The new Center will be an important addition to the cultural life of Queens, and engage and enrich the Borough of Queens as community center offering youth and adult classes to students beginning at 18 months to adults.
“The creation of the Jessica Lang Dance Center will provide a home to my work and company. It is an incredibly special moment in my career and I am touched by the support I have had to make this tremendous endeavor possible,” said Jessica Lang. “This Center will deepen my artistic experience while allowing me to connect to the community in which I live. My hope is that this Center will be a place for anyone to connect, imagine, move and be inspired.”
THE COMMUNITY
The 6,100-square-foot Center will be located in the heart of Long Island City, at 5-39 46th Avenue. Long Island City boasts a thriving arts community, with one of the highest concentrations of galleries and artist spaces of any area in the city, including MoMA PS1, an experimental and contemporary art venue run by the Museum of Modern Art, The Noguchi Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Chocolate Factory Theater, Flux Factory, Museum of the Moving Image and Thalia Spanish Theatre.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said, “Jessica Lang Dance has a demonstrated commitment to education and community engagement. The arrival of the Jessica Lang Dance Center in Long Island City is an important addition to the borough’s cultural landscape for the arts.”
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
The Center’s youth program will include classes in creative dance, ballet, dance fundamentals, Move with Me for toddlers and boys dance. Adult classes will include ballet, dance fundamentals, dance fitness and a variety of cultural and folk dance that reflects the diversity of the Queens community.
JLDC will also offer workshops and master classes for pre-professionals and teens, Summer and Winter Intensives, Choreographic and Production Workshops, LANGuage Workshops (LANGuage is a unique educational method developed by Lang that teaches individuals from all populations to cultivate the habit of creative thinking through exercise).
“I am extremely thrilled to open Jessica Lang Dance Center in Long Island City where life is thriving more than ever,” said Kanji Segawa. “The primary goal of my job is to provide happiness to the people in the community by offering accessible dance classes to all. After many years of my professional career as a dancer and a teacher, I feel privileged to pursue my responsibility to share, inspire and contribute to the people. I also would like to make this center as a bridge connecting people in the community to Jessica’s beautiful work and company.”
ABOUT JESSICA LANG DANCE
Founded in 2011, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) is dedicated to creating and performing the work of Jessica Lang. JLD enriches and inspires global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music. Since the company’s inception, marked by Lang’s receipt of a Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JLD has made rapid success performing at renowned venues and festivals throughout the country. The company’s performances have been named among the best dance events of the year by major publications in Dallas, Chicago and Boston.
JLD performed a rare two-week run of The Wanderer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2015, marking the company’s third Pillow season since its company debut at Festival 2012. In November 2015, JLD made its critically acclaimed Chicago debut with Tesseracts of Time, co-commissioned by the Harris Theater, the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Society for the Performing Arts, featuring a set by world- renowned architect Steven Holl. This spring 2016 season the company is touring eleven U.S. cities and will perform a week-long season at The Joyce Theater in June 2016.
JESSICA LANG: Artistic Director
Jessica Lang is a choreographer and the artistic director of Jessica Lang Dance. Hailed as “a master of visual composition” by Dance Magazine, Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language into artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary works. Since 1999, Lang has created more than 92 works for commissions on companies worldwide including Birmingham Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, among many others. American Ballet Theatre has presented her work at the Metropolitan Opera House. She has received commissions from the Dallas Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum for its Works and Process series. Lang received outstanding acclaim for her directorial debut and choreography of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the 2013 Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Lang was a New York City Center Fellow for 2015 and the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Bessie Award.
Lang’s work has also been performed by numerous educational institutions including The Juilliard School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, among others and for American Ballet Theatre, she was part of the founding faculty of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School where she taught until 2014 and is a teaching artist for the company’s Make A Ballet program since 2002.
In the 2016-17 season, Lang will create two world premieres for Birmingham Royal Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. In addition Ballet West, The National Ballet of Japan, Orlando Ballet, and Cincinnati Ballet will perform her work this spring season. www.jessicalangchoreographer.com
KANJI SEGAWA: Director
Kanji Segawa is a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater since 2011. Originally from Kanagawa, Japan, he came to the U.S. in 1997 to train at The Ailey School, and was a member of Ailey II from 2000-02 and Robert Battle’s Battleworks Dance Company from 2002-10. Segawa worked extensively with choreographer Mark Morris from 2004-11, repeatedly appearing in Mr. Morris’ various productions with Mark Morris Dance Group, including as a principal dancer in John Adams’ Nixon in China at The Metropolitan Opera.
Segawa has taught and choreographed for American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, NYC Summer Intensive and Make a Ballet Program, The Ailey School’s Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. Program, Ailey Camp, University of Richmond, Texas Christian University, Brown University, Long Island University, Metropolitan Ballet Academy, Booker T. Washington School of the Arts, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and COCA among others. Since 1999, Segawa has assisted Jessica Lang for her commissions from ballet companies and many different educational institutions as well as creations on Jessica Lang Dance. Segawa is a three times recipient of the Outstanding Choreography Award for Youth America Grand Prix in Philadelphia in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Jessica Lang and Kanji Segawa have been working together since 1999, married in 2007, and have lived in Long Island City since 2008.
Jessica Lang Dance Center will open in September, 2016, at 5-39 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens. For further information and updates, visit www.jessicalangdance.com