George Alley

As a choreographer George Alley has no reverence for the art of dance. All movement is ‘creative’ movement; the artistic endeavor is in providing the correct framing.

George Alley’s motivation is in the action of deconstruction, a disregarding of all standards of beauty and ugliness, (that’s the agenda of the viewer). He is a presenter of the whole, the fragmented, the dismantled and the reassembled.

Lies and miscommunications are valuable. Lies create mystery, and mystery in turn creates glamour. Alley believes “the mask is more interesting than the face”. Truth seeking is subjective and often leads to performances that are over-labored and saccharine.

Miscommunications create new ideas. To study the modernist concept of a universal language be it corporal or linguistic, is to be a historian.

We are not all equal. Equality is subjective. Language and intent are subjective. It is time to acknowledge that the modernist body is a corpse. George Alley is ready to embalm and perfume it; AlleyINK has designed the necropolis for which we may entomb it.

Julia A. Crawford graduated cum laude from Temple University with a BFA degree in Dance. In May 2005 she received the Bachelor of Fine Arts Outstanding Performance Award. She is currently the Dance Program Head at Westtown School in Westtown, PA. She began her dance training with Swarthmore Ballet Theatre where she studied Classical Ballet and Graham Techniques and was a company member of Lori Ardis Ballet Company. While at Temple she studied with Eva Gholson, Phillip Grosser, Kun-Yang Lin, Ann Vachon, Charles Anderson, Kariamu Welsh, Ruth Andrien (Paul Taylor Repertory), and Merian Soto. Her performance experience includes performing with several artists such as Ashley Lecille Suttlar (4thrightdance), George Alley (Alley Ink Dance, company member since 2005), Jumatatu Poe, Michael Velez and Winged Woman Dance Company (company member 2002). She has performed at various venues such as American College Dance Festival, the New Edge Mix, Philadelphia 5′5 and Under, the Philadelphia Art Museum Degas Exhibit, and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Since 1999 she has been teaching dance focused on the importance of personal artistry, performance ability, technique, and theory.

Carolyn Merritt holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Temple University and a B.A. in Modern Languages from Trinity College. She lived in Buenos Aires from 2005-7, where she conducted research for her dissertation, a study of the cultural politics of Argentine tango. Carolyn has a long background in classical ballet and modern dance, and she has been chasing the tango since 2002. She is currently developing Compas(s), a piece integrating modern dance, tango, live music and spoken word. She has an extremely good-looking cat.

** NEED CONTENT **

Abigail Zbikowski is an MFA candidate in Choreography at Ohio State University. She graduated from Temple University in May 2006 with a BFA in dance and psychology minor. Upon graduation she received an award for Choreographic Achievement from the Temple Dance Department. Zbikowski has shown her work in the past two Fringe festivals and American College Dance Festival Association/ACDFA. She has worked with Philadelphia choreographers Ashley Suttlar, George Alley, Megan Mazarick, and Charles O. Anderson/Dance Theatre X. Zbikowski will presents two works for the Mix, Local Workers Welcome a new group piece, and Acquaintance, a duet which was chosen to be performed at the National Conference held at The Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts in D.C. and was nominated for the Dance Magazine/ACDFA award for outstanding choreography.