Since 2005, the Dance Omi International Dance Collective has brought together ten accomplished dance artists from around the world for three weeks of creative exchange each summer. Though the program culminates in informal showings on the Omi campus, the emphasis is not a performance product; rather, a gently facilitated process of experimentation and collaboration.

This exploration is enhanced by providing resources that dancers and choreographers often lack: space, time and other artists with whom to work. Under the direction of the Dance Omi Director and an alumni Guest Mentor, residents learn from each other's creative process and the freedom to play. The result is a model of creative process and community building that envisions consequences for the participants beyond the sphere of art making.

Professional Dancers/Choreographers of ALL styles (Modern, Ballet, Improvisation, Ethnic Dance forms, etc.) who have the desire to share ideas and process with dancers from around the world are encouraged to apply. It is recommended that applicants do not have specific projects in mind, but come open to working with others on jointly conceived projects. It is imperative that all applicants have a genuine openness to collaborating with artists of different dance backgrounds.

All awarded fellows commit to remaining for the entire residency and to participating in the concluding showings. Everyone accepted to Dance Omi receives full room and board during his or her stay at Omi (note that Omi is unable to provide travel funds).


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2016 Dance Omi Residents


Jennifer Edwards' (USA) choreographic work has been shown in venues including Joe's Pub, PS122, The Labyrinth Theater, The West End Theater, and Governors Island, as well as a variety of unlikely places like Martha Stewart's Whole Living website and the streets of Shanghai. She is currently a Visiting Artist at Point Park University, teaching dance history, improvisation, and entrepreneurship. Known for her work in both dance and spoken word, Edwards has earned titles including Sister Spit Slam Champion, a Fresh Fruit award for best short play, and her spoken word album "exposed" won an Indy Girl Music award and was nominated for Just Plain Folks and Outmusic awards. Her writing appears in the International Museum of Women, Dance Magazine, and the Huffington Post. Jennifer holds an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is the co-founder of Edwards and Skybetter | Change Agency, a firm focused on facilitation and strategy. 

Jasmyn Fyffe (Canada), Toronto based award winning choreographer/ dancer is described as "a young artist whose body of work is developing in a style all her own" (Sway magazine – Anya Wassenberg). Fyffe was the winner of the 2013 Frankie Award (in Montreal) for most outstanding choreography/ choreographer for her 50 min work "Pulse." She is the director of "Jasmyn Fyffe Dance," choreographing for the past seven years and creating a total of twelve works. She also works independently and has performed/choreographed in Toronto, Brooklyn NY, Montreal QC, North Bay ON and Sinop, Turkey. To name a few, commissions include: Dance Ontario, Iona Secondary School, Early Haig Secondary School, Ballet Jorgen, Wish Opera, K'aeja D'dance and Obsidian Theatre. Jasmyn has performed in the touring musical UMOJA and she has worked with: Nelly Furtado, Gadfly, Hanna Kiel, Julia Cratchley, Debra Brown, Julia Sasso, and many more. "Fyffe is an indisputably talented performer and dancemaker," says The Dance Current.

Rita Góbi (Hungary) was born in Novi Sad, Serbia. She studied at Regular Ballet School in Novi Sad and Hungarian Dance Academy for professional dancing, choreography and pedagogy. Góbi recieved a scholarship at Amsterdam Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. She started her career by working at Ballet Pécs, Yvette Bozsik Company, The Symptoms, Performance Sirkus (Finland), L1 Dance Lab, and Theatar Mimart (Serbia). She worked with choreographers like: Anna Réti, Klára Pataky, Robert Lingren, Aniko Zsalakovics, Éva Duda, and Krisztián Gergye. In 2006, she founded the Góbi Dance Company. They are continuously creating new, transdisciplinal performances. She also performed as an actress in theatre and film productions, especially with Miklós Jancsó. Her work was awarded several times: the Prize for best solo choreographer at Solo Dance Festival (Budapest). In 2015, she was awarded the Best Dance Performer Award in The Hungarian Contemporary Dance Category, 2nd prize in Krakow at 3....2....1....Dance Competition, and 1st prize in The Cologne Dance Festival.

Hye Young Ju (South Korea), graduated from The Korea National University of Art from the Department of Dance with a major in choreography in 2015. Hye Young is the co-president of a group called "Sangbang," where she is currently leading a contact improvisation workshop. Her choreographic works include, No.N48, Encounter me 1-solo, Encounter me 2-duet, Nice morning joint design (choreograpic work), Department of Education for Trio, The two of us, Make a space, On the water, and Dream of Lake. Hye Young has participated in the Seoul Improvisation Dance Festival for the past two years.

İdil Kemer (Turkey) graduated from Bosphorus University Department of English Literature in 2002. She began dancing during her MA studies in Middle East Technical University in Ankara. From 2005-2008, she was an active member of CATI, Contemporary Dance Artist's Association in Istanbul. In 2008, she received her first DanceWEB scholarship from Impulstanz Vienna. Upon her return, she decided to do yoga teacher training and support her living solely with movement and dance practices. From 2010-2012, she met and performed with Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods and fellow Turkish dancers in "Off Course" and was also part of "Atelier" process in 2011. She studied Skinner Releasing Technique in Istanbul during that time and the technique has become an important influential base in her relationship with dance/ performance. In 2014, she received a second scholarship from DanceWEB

Michael O'Connor (USA) (BFA/AMCh) is a choreographer, dancer, improviser, and teacher living in Vienna since 2007. He was a long time company member with Cie. Willi Dorner from 2003-2010 performing in a variety of stage works and setting the renowned piece Bodies in Urban Spaces in over 30 cities. He was listed in the 2008 BalletTanz Magazine as the 'dancer to watch' in Vienna and in 2009 became the branch facilitator for the Field organization at TanzQuartierWien. Michael has received residencies at ImpulsTanz and The Place in London. He has taught creative practice and contemporary technique at SNDO in Amsterdam and in Henny Jurriens Foundation, Tanzlabor 21, and Marameo. Additionally he was guest faculty at Arizona State University, SEAD, HfMDK in Frankfurt and festivals such as ImpulsTanz, DanceUmbrella, Philly Live Arts and Tanz im August. In 2014, his piece TERTIARY was nominated for the Prix d'Jardin. Travel funding for Michael O'Connor was generously provided by Bundeskanzleramt Österreich.

Sarah Beth Oppenheim (USA) hails from the Wild, Wild West, where she had trouble cutting on the dotted black line, so she read Steinbeck and became a modern dancer instead. She graduated from SUNY Purchase and founded her first company in Berlin. Ever since, she has created big movement for small spaces with a good view of a crescent moon. She's taught for nineteen years, self-produced site-specific choreography for ten years, and added up the importance of dance times infinity, but she hates math. She's also led tours at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, cleaned houses for a generously-tipping stripper, and performed for Baryshnikov with kale in her incisors. She is currently pursuing her MFA at University of Maryland while serving as Associate Director of Greater Washington Dance Center. Her company Heart Stück Bernie can often be found dancing in something like a stairwell, while pushing play on something like a boom box.


Farid Ayelem Rahmouni (France) works as a dancer for different companies that vary from contemporary, physical theatre, and circus. "I like to adapt, and find different ways to move according to the space where I evolve. As a choreographer I work with the idea that dancing is old and all of the body has a way for it. It's like a collective old memory common to the whole body." He is a dance writer in Benesh choreology.

Gerard Van Dyck (Australia) has a dance career that has spanned 20 years. His training and performance experience includes, contemporary dance, slapstick, acting, puppetry, and motion capture performance. Gerard currently performs, choreographs, teaches and critiques dance and is respected nationally for his work within the art form. As Creative Director of KAGE he has performed in and contributed choreography to most of KAGE's award winning works. In 2001, Gerard created his first solo work THE COLLAPSIBLE MAN and through touring regionally and nationally he clocked up 50+ performances. He has toured extensively with BalletLab and Polyglot Puppet Theatre, and worked with artists such as Nat Cursio, Danielle Micich, Eleventh Hour Theatre, Legs on the Wall, and desoxy Theatre. Gerard has choreographed and performed in music videos, directed circus and comedy, and provided dramaturgy for ballet. Gerard also teaches dance and movement across Melbourne and is a regular dance segment host on Triple R's Smart Arts program. He is a Marriage Celebrant and is a dance panel member of the Green Room Awards Association.


Ryuji Yamaguchi (Japan/Jordan) was born in Japan and spent much of his early life between Japan and the US. After graduating from Harvard University in 2003 with a degree in East Asian Studies, Ryuji moved to New York, where he presented his own work, performed with various artists and worked extensively with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks. In 2007, Ryuji was invited to Jordan as the dean of residential life and director of dance, to open a new coeducational boarding high school, King's Academy. In the last nine years, Ryuji has collaborated with numerous Jordanian and Palestinian artists, and has invited over 40 Japanese and American artists to Jordan. As assistant director and producer to Yoshiko Chuma, Ryuji has created six major productions in Jordan and Palestine. In 2013, Ryuji founded Jordan Youth Dance Exchange and has contributed to the growth of high school dancers in Jordan.


Stephanie Miracle (Guest Mentor, Dance Omi Alumna 2012) is an American born independent choreographer and performer currently based in Essen, Germany with her husband visual artist Jimmy Miracle. She earned her MFA in Dance at the University of Maryland and a BA in Dance from Belhaven University. She is a teacher of Klein Technique™ and holds the prestigious honor of being a 2014/15 German Fulbright Fellow in the Performing Arts. In 2015 she joined as a full-time dancer with the Folkwang Tanzstudio/FTS. She also works in collaboration with Henrietta Horn (DE), Carla Jordao (PT), Ana Farfan (MX), Paola Ponti, (IT) and Anna Shchkleina (RU). She is the director of Fakers Club, a site-specific performance experiment based on film and serial television. Stephanie's choreography has been described as "iconic and nuanced...with an irreverence that makes you smile unconsciously"(Rick Westerkamp, 2014). Miracle's works are crafted with a cinematic sensibility and follow subtle narrative threads. In addition to proscenium theaters her unique aesthetic finds special significance in common spaces (parking lots, bus stops, woman's prisons, hallways, staircases, and rooftops). Awards include the Smith Scholarship Grant to attend ImPulsTanz in 2012, DC Innovation grant in 2013, Bates Dance Festival Merit Scholarship 2013, Goldhaber Travel Scholarship 2014, and NextNOW new work grant 2014. Her collaborative piece Drafting Plan was awarded Best Duo at Barnes Crossing Festival 2015 in Cologne and at the 2016 SzoloDuo Festival in Budapest. She is honored to be a 2016/17 Artist in Residence at Spark and Echo Arts.

 

Omi International Arts Center is located two and a half hours north of New York City in the historic Hudson River Valley. Named for a neighboring village, Omi is close to the small town of Ghent, New York, as well as Albany and Hudson, which offer train connections only thirty minutes away.

The facilities, situated on three hundred acres of open land, include a large two-story barn with indoor studios; contemporary residence buildings designed with a vernacular reference to local barns, surrounded by abundant perennial beds, expansive lawns dotted with fruit trees, adjacent to The Fields Sculpture Park.

A Federal Period farm house serves as a gathering center, providing a full kitchen, television room and library; while the front porch overlooks rolling hills and the majestic outline of the Catskill Range. A swimming pool, bicycles, WiFi access and several state of the art computers are available on the premises.

Columbia County, and the nearby Berkshire Mountains, are popular destinations because of their historical, natural and cultural riches. From bird sanctuaries to modern dance, presidential mansions to farmer's markets, the environs offer a singular blend of rural quiet and cultural stimulation. Staff and friends in the neighborhood are often available for excursions of interest to residents. The local library has a modest collection, but is a member of the Mid-Hudson group, calling on the resources of libraries within much of eastern New York.

Christopher K. Morgan (Dance Omi Program Director) has directed Dance Omi since 2006. He is also the Artistic Director of contemporary dance company Christopher K. Morgan & Artists (CKM&A), and The Dance Artist in Residence in the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. His Native Hawaiian ancestry and a diverse, international modern dance career that moved him to Munich, Washington DC, New York, Dublin and London, all influence his choreography. Said to be "charming and poignant" by The New York Times, his work has been presented in 18 countries on 5 continents and has addressed issues including sexuality, gender identity, race, climate change, and water conservation. Christopher founded CKM&A in 2011; the same year Dance Magazine profiled him as one of six breakout choreographers in the United States. He has adjudicated for the American College Dance Festival and served on panels for the NEA, Maryland State Arts Council and McKnight Foundation among others. Recent awards include a 2013 Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Fellowship, 2014 NPN Creation Fund Award, a 2014 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for Solo Dance Performance, a 2014 National Dance Project (NDP) Production Grant from NEFA, being named one of the top 100 Creatives in the United States by Origin Magazine in April 2015, and the 2015 Montgomery County Executive's Award for Outstanding Artist. He resides in North Bethesda, Maryland with his husband, opera director Kyle Lang.

www.christopherkmorgan.com