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About the company...
Since our founding in 2002, we have rapidly emerged as a driving force in the renaissance of modern dance in New Orleans. We created Tsunami with the ambition of establishing a cutting-edge modern dance company for the city.
Our mutual goal was to raise the bar of modern dance locally and help to build a community that could support professional dance. We felt that a strong company could satisfy the needs of dancers and audiences alike by providing local dancers with professional opportunities and local audiences with a dance company they could embrace for its caliber of work.
In the spring of 2002, we premiered Undertow, a work by Kettye Voltz, at A Confederacy of Dances 4 at the Contemporary Arts Center. This four-minute piece marked our emergence onto the New Orleans arts scene.
In November of 2003, we premiered Fast Forward, our first company concert, to sold-out houses at Tulane University. This cutting-edge combination of dance and media arts was our first venture into artistic collaboration, which now lies at the heart of Tsunami¹s performances. Our next concert GO in 2004 at NOCCA/Riverfront won a Big Easy Award for Best Modern Dance Concert and earned a nomination for Best Original Choreography (for Mi Corazon by Kettye Voltz). In April of 2005, we presented match, an informal concert of duets at Venusian Gardens, a cavernous gallery of neon art and sculpture in the Marigny. Orpheus opened in June of 2006 at the Contemporary Arts Center to sold-out houses and received a positive review in the national publication Dance Magazine. This concert, a fusion of modern dance and media arts inspired by the tragic Greek myth, was our first "storyline" concert produced in collaboration with John Allen, professor of dance at Tulane University and received the 2007 Big Easy Classical Arts Award and earned a nomination for Best Original Choreography (for Ego-Tripping at the Gates of Hell by Kettye Voltz). Portraits in a Forgotten City a series of vignettes about the bonds of family, love, and relationships presented through a cutting edge fusion of modern dance and media arts in 2007 at NOCCA/Riverfront won a Big Easy Award for Best Modern Dance Concert and earned a nomination for Best Original Choreography (for Banco Ballante by Kettye Voltz). Fugitive followed in the Fall of 2007 at Contemporary Arts Center to sold-out houses. In the fall 2008 Tsunami premiered Street of Crocodiles, a modern dance and short film collaboration inspired by the 1934 novel by Bruno Schulz. Tsunami teamed with locally renowned artists Jeff Louviere and Vanessa Brown to create an innovative, edgy take on Schulz's imagery and philosophy and earned a Classical Arts Award for Best Original Choreography (for Bedclothes by Erin Healan). In November 2008 Tsunami teamed with local musicians Morella and the Wheels of If to create Green Garden which premiered at the first New Orleans Fringe Festival.
While evening-length concerts are the foundation of Tsunami Dance, our performances in local arts events play an equally significant role in helping us impact our community through dance. Through these performances, we are able to further our mission by providing professional dance employment to local dancers and reaching diverse audiences throughout the city and state. Past performances include Dramarama and Dancerama (featured artists, 2005), Happensdance (2003), Cangelosi Dance Project’s Professional Artists Showcase and Off Balance concert (2008-2009), Contemporary Dance South Conference (2007), A Confederacy of Dances (2002-2004), Louisiana Dance Festival (2005-2008), Femme Fest (2006), DUMBO Dance Festival, Wave Rising Series ( one of twelve companies selected nation-wide), and The Cool New York Dance Festival.
Over the past four years we have presented the choreography of Kettye Voltz, Erin Healan, John Allen, Scott Heron, Michaela Canon, Jeffery Gunshol, Anna Morris, Maritza Mercado-Narcisse and Nicole Boyd Buckels. Collaborators have included local visual and media artists Denny Juge, Jeff Louviere, Vanessa Brown, Ryan Dufrene, and Andrew Wade Smith. Our dancers come from diverse training and performance backgrounds that include classical ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, and physical theater.
Our 2009 company members are Kettye Voltz, Erin Healan, Jeffrey Gunshol, John Allen, Rebecca Delery, Cristine Barona, Alexa Erck, Maggie Lynch, Tierney St John, Michaela Cannon, and Gary Fernandez.
We are a young company and hope that these past few formative years have laid the groundwork for a rich and fulfilling future for modern dance in New Orleans. Despite setbacks from the 2005 hurricane season, we have managed to put our company back together again are moving full-speed ahead towards realizing our artistic vision. We are thrilled to be performing in New Orleans post-Katrina, and welcome your support in our efforts to shape our community through the arts.
— Co-founders Kettye Voltz & Erin Healan
Other artistic collaborators....
part 1 | part 2
Interested in working with the Board of Directors and playing a vital role in art and art making in your community?
Email us at info@tsunamidance.com to learn more about how you can get involved.
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