company HISTORY
Esse Aficionado is a New York City based modern dance company. It is an all female collective working as one to bring intelligent and innovative dance to a world of audiences yearning for an engaging and expressive experience through movement. The company was born in 1999 from the talent, vision and perseverance of Purchase College Conservatory of Dance graduates, Veronica De La Rosa, Gina Graham and Maki Morinoue. It was incorporated in 2001 and 501(c)(3) status was obtained soon after. Esse Aficionado has now become a cutting-edge, next generation dance company that incorporates multi-media elements into its work. What was once the vision of three dancers has now grown to become a company that engages up to 50 dancers on stage, which regularly presents at least one season per year to the public and performs site-specific works.
The mission of Esse Aficionado is to encourage professional artists to collaborate their technical and aesthetic ideas for the purpose of creating works of thought-provoking art. By incorporating multi-media elements into its work Esse Aficionado creates a synthesis of organic dance with modern technology, which puts this company into a contemporary context to which audiences can easily relate and respond. Moreover, Esse Aficionado strives to evolve modern dance by fostering an intelligent appreciation of the dance as an art form not only through performances, but also lectures and demonstrations. Esse Aficionado has lectured at the New School University and held lecture demonstrations at the Apple Store SoHo in New York City.
Esse Aficionado is an emerging force in the dance community. The company has performed in such venues as the Judson Memorial Church, Joyce SoHo, Merce Cunningham Studio, University Settlement, The Ailey Studios and for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters convention at the City Center. The choreographers of Esse Aficionado have been presented by the Joyce SoHo presents, Chashama’s Oasis Dance Festival, and The Tank in New York City, as well as in the Next Choreographic Series presented by Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, WA. Since 2000, Esse Aficionado has performed both indoor and outdoors and has successfully self-produced over 10 dance seasons in New York City.
Artistic director
founding director
DANCERS PAST & PRESENT
Elizabeth Pardue -- (2001-2007)
Nicole Wegweiser - (2001-2007)
Cydnee Yamamoto - (2001-2007)
Lauren Thorpe - (2001-2004)
Sheeryn Asghari - (2001/2005)
Meghan McCoy - (2005)
Colleen Cintron - (2005)
Brooke Fries - (2003/2005)
Kristin Hatleberg - (2005)
Miho Morinoue - (2005)
Jessica Jolly - (2003)
Donnell Turner - (2003)
Anuschka von Oppen - (2003)
Georgia Teperikidou - (2003)
Dania Antinori - (2003)
Graceann Dorse - (2003)
Shauna Hoskin - (2003)
Rebekah J. Kennedy - (2003)
Sarah Vancaster - (2003)
Ivanna Wei - (2003)
Katiushka Melo - (2003)
Lucey Cummins - (2003)
Elizabeth Stackhouse - (2003)
Kathryn Duyn - (2003/2007)
Jenna Hunt - (2003)
Ariel Polonsky - (2003)
Kevin Bachman - (1999/2001)
Kyle Abraham - (1999)
Sarah White - (2001)
Aydan Turker - (1999/2001)
Breda Carroll - (2001)
Liv Isaacs-Nollet - (2001)
Mahdi Shah - (2001)
Michelle Jongeneel - (2006)
Catherine Acquaviva - (2006)
Ruri Saito - (2007)
Annette Herwander - (2007)
Allyson Woods - (2007)
Shawna Emerick - (2007)
Julia Kobceva - (2007)
CJ Holm - (2007)
Yuli Hsu - (2007)
Hallie Dalsimer - (2007)
Sego Marchand - (2007)
Tara Glazer - (2007)
Hanna Satterlee - (2007)
Meredith Mandel - (2007)
Kate Rast - (2007)
Lindy Schmedt - (2007)
Janelle Barry - (present)
collaborators
PAST & PRESENT
Maki Morinoue - founding member (2001-2011)
Andrea Stein - digital sound artist
Bill Racine - producer/sound engineer
Gene Park - composer
Scott Masoner - sound designer
Jasmine Gonzales - costume
Michael Schneider - interactive design
Kirsten Gilg - interactive design
Erin Gann - actor
Dave Miko - artist
Jesse Perez - actor
John Convertino - composer
William Haugh - composer/musician
Aaron Diskin - composer/musician
Nick Seligson-Ross - lighting design
Eric Liu - Stage Tech
"Once in a blue moon, the privilege to see a young dancer, with genius pulsing within, comes along at an early stage of a career. Gina Graham is one such dancer. And the performance of Esse Aficionado -- the company of Graham, De La Rosa and Morinoue -- was like invigorating heat on a cold winter's night."
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-Douglas Frank, Dance Insider
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March 2003
“Esse Aficionado is led by three Purchase College graduates who are certainly — as the name suggests — passionate devotees of dance.”
- Gia Kourlas, New York Times, December 2007
Esse Aficionado Dance Company | info@esseaficionado.org | Terms of Use | Copyright©2011 All rights reserved.
Photo credit: Chad Tenorio
Photo credit: Geoff Grauer
Photo credit: Steven Schreiber
Photo credit: Geoff Grauer
Photo credit: Geoff Grauer