ROUND II GRANTS

Skidmore College
(Saratoga Springs, New York)
A collaboration between U.S.
composer-choreographer-drummer Yacub Addy and Ghanaian artists Yeeye Annoh, Akweley Aryeetey and Odartey Lamptey. The two-year project, entitled "Chimo," will result in the commissioning of seven new pieces, each 10 to 15 minutes in length. These will be premiered as a set at Skidmore College and by World Music Institute in New York City.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

The Asia Society
(New York, New York)
A collaboration between U.S. choreographer Yin Mei and Indonesian composer Tony Prabowo that will culminate in a production of "Empty Tradition/City of Peonies." The new work, premiered at the Asia Society in the Fall of 1998, explores the conflicts that arise when strict adherence to tradition collides with contemporary 'transcultural' life.

Colden Center for the Performing Arts/Queens College
(Queens, New York)
U.S.-based choreographer Kristin Jackson collaborated with Japanese composer Keiko Fujiie on the creation of  an evening-length work, titled "In Their Shoes." The new work had its New York premiere in the Fall of 1998. Working with members of local Fillipino and Japanese communities, the collaborative team drew on stories that focus on the lesser known, yet immensely powerful human encounters of World War II.

Danspace Project
(New York, New York)
A collaboration that includes New York-based choreographer Yoshiko Chuma and Japanese composer Aska Kaneko. Together these artists will create a new work titled "Unfinished Symphony." The development phase, entitled "The Living Room Project," comprises a series of informal concerts in area homes.  The completed work will be premiered in the 1998/99 season.

San Jose Taiko
(San Jose, California)
A collaboration that will bring together for the first time a U.S. taiko group, Japanese composer Motofumi Yamaguchi (Artistic Director of the internationally renowned taiko group Kodo), and Japanese choreographer Shohei Kikuchi, of the eminent folk song and dance company Warabi-za.  The completed work will have its premiere at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts during the 1998/99 season, which marks San Jose Taiko’s 25th Anniversary.

Shapiro & Smith Dance
(Minneapolis, Minnesota)
A collaboration between choreographers Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith (Artistic Directors of the grantee company), Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky and writer Mark Weil, Artistic Director of the Ilkhom Theatre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, will develop a new work titled "Babel."  The project will explore communication in the context of challenges arising in the new Central Asia.  After premieres in Tashkent, Russia, Central Asia and the former Soviet bloc, the work will be the centerpiece of Shapiro & Smith Dance's 1999 New York and Minneapolis seasons.

Yara Arts Group
(New York, New York)
A collaboration between members of the New York-based theatre collective and members of the Buryat National Theatre in Ulan Ude (Buryat Republic, Mongolia). The new work that issues from the 18-month collaboration (tentatively titled "White Bird") was premiered at New York’s La MaMa Experimental Theatre in the Fall of 1998.  Among the artists involved in the collaboration were: composer Genji Ito (U.S.); writers Tom Lee, Wanda Phipps (U.S.) and Sayan Zhambalov (Buryatia); director Virlana Tkacz (U.S.); composer Erzhena Zhambalov (Buryatia).  The Yara Arts Group joined with the Kalmyk-Mongolian Center of New Jersey in producing community-based programs.

 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

DanceBrazil
(New York, New York)
A collaboration that includes U.S.-based choreographer Jelon Vieira (Artistic Director of DanceBrazil) and Brazilian composers Tote Gira and Caetano Veloso. The 18-month project will culminate in the premiere of two 30-minute pieces during the 1998/99 season, which marks DanceBrazil’s 20th Anniversary. The double-bill’s first work, titled "Camara," will be based on capoeira and will be set to a score by Tote Gira. 

The companion piece, "Serra Pelada" ("Bald Mountain") will have as its theme the exploitation of the land and the peoples in Brazil’s Amazon region.(The title refers to Serra Pelada, once a mountain, now reduced to a 600-foot deep crater dug by the hands of gold prospectors.) The score for this work will be composed by Caetano Veloso, an internationally acclaimed composer-singer whose songs over the years have had profound political influence in Brazil. (In the early 1970s Mr. Veloso’s commitment to human rights and the environment led to a three-year exile from Brazil.)

Reichhold Center for the Arts
(St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands)

A collaborative project between Pittsburgh-based choreographer Mark Taylor (Artistic Director of Dance Alloy) and Calypso artist Black Stalin (né Leroi Calliste). "Roots/Crossroutes," as this project is called, has as its themes the experiences of the new immigrant, dislocation and the meaning of ‘home.’ Working with local organizations, the Reichhold Center collected personal histories of island residents whose experiences were incorporated into the new work.