About FREEFALL

FREEFALL(ltd) is a New York-based dance and performance group headed by Lynn Brown and Lynn Marie Ruse. We are committed to the creation of a dynamic, theatrical dance vocabulary with emotionally challenging themes. We have shown our dedication to expanding accepted definitions of concert and community dance by developing site-specific pieces.

We have presented work in Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks and Family Matters series, Dance Now, The Fringe of Toronto Theatre Festival, Toronto’s Fringe Festival of Independent Dance, The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, The Florida Dance Festival, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Miami’s Florida/Brazil Festival, Chicago’s Movable Beast Festival, The University of Rochester, The 92nd Street Y, Dancer’s Responding to Aids at Dancespace St. Marks, Up!On the Roof at John Jay College, Dixon Place and University Settlement. We originally conceived, coordinated and performed A Permanent Thought as a large-scale, site-specific community project in the East Village and have gone on to work with fifteen different populations and sites as diverse as audience members on a Manhattan baseball diamond to 300 school children in a Long Island gym.

Most recently, FREEFALL collaborated with jazz composer Elliot Sharp to create a site-specific piece for the Angel Oransanz Foundation—a decaying synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Artistic Co-Directors

Lynn Brown holds his MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has performed nationally and internationally with Keely Garfield, Pooh Kaye, Jody Oberfelder-Reihm, and Victoria Marks. His work has been presented extensively in the Chicago area and in New York at PS122, Mulberry Street Theater, and on various community groups throughout the city. He is a Teaching Artist in Dance for the Lincoln Center Institute and the Orchestra of St. Lukes.

"We've discovered there's a great opportunity for us to make work that puts art back into the community. I've got a lot of faith in that."
   -Interview by Darcy Cosper for New York’s Village Voice.

Lynn Marie Ruse holds a Professional Diploma from the Laban Centre in London and an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has performed with Henry Montes in London, The Moving Company in Florida (Site-Specific Theater), Clarinda Mac Low, Aiden Teker, Athena Molloy, and Rebecca Moore in NYC. Ruse choreographed Moving Company productions such as Mac Wellman’s Why the Y in Ybor? and her choreography has been presented by Dance Force (Hechscher State Park and the World Trade Center), The Florida Dance Festival, The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and Wave Hill. She is a Teaching Artist in Dance for Lincoln Center, an adjunct at SUNY Stony Brook, and occasional costume designer, and a vinyasa yoga instructor.

"Ruse is a stunning, smoldering performer."
   -Elizabeth Zimmer, New York’s Village Voice.

"She can make heavy statements with a subtle touch and handles serious issues without losing sight of their inherent humor."
   -Marty Clear, Tampa's Weekly Planet.

Performers

Anna Azrieli graduated with a BFA from NYU. As a member of Pennsylvania Dance Theatre she danced in works by Bill Young, Joanna Mendl Shaw, and Colin Connor. She has performed with Miguel Gutierrez, Erin Cornell, Maya Ciarocchi, Olase Freeman, Fred Darsow, and Wendy Perron.

Alison Armbruster-Russell holds an MFA in dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has performed throughout Europe with touring companies of West Side Story, Chicago and Cabaret; and throughout New York State with Lynn Marie Ruse and FREEFALL(ltd). Alison is an adjunct professor of dance at SUNY Stony Brook and Dowling College, and lives in Eastern Long Island with her husband, Frank, and daughter, Olivia. “Luminous Dancing…" -Michael Crabb, Canada’s National Post.

Rodger Belman has been living, teaching, performing, and choreographing in New York City since 1989. He was a long time member of Laura Dean dancers and Musicians until it disbanded in 1995. He has also performed in the companies of Twyla Tharp, Mark Taylor, Rachel Lampert, Joy Kellman, and Fred Darsow. He has taught and choreographed for George Mason University, East Carolina University, Mary Washington College, University of Georgia and the Dance Theater of Harlem. He currently teaches dance to children for the Board of Education in NYC and is working with choreographer Kristin Jackson.

Derek Clifford is a graduate of Northwestern University. He has danced with Dan Wagoner, Alan Good, Netta Pulvermacher, and Douglas Dunn. From 1991 to 2002 he danced with Mark Morris in The Hard Nut. He was a member of the NY Baroque Dance Company from 1993-2002. Derek currently lives and works in Portland, Maine.

Andrew Megginson received his BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. Since coming to NYC he has danced with Susan Braham, Yanira Castro, Ilaan Eggeland, Margarita Guergue, Kristen Smiarowski and collaborated with Rachael Wilde on a full-length work at the Cunningham Studio. Andrew is currently studying to become a physical therapist at Hunter College.

Mary Helene Spring received a BA in Dance and Spanish Literature from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to moving to New York, Mary danced with Ballet Concerto Company, Dale Andree's Mary Street Dance Theater, Geri Houlihan and dancers, and Dance Wave. In New York she has danced in the works of Dance KUMIKOKIMOTO, FREEFALL, Sara Rudner, Shri Louise, Patricia Hoffbauer, and Paz Tanqauquio. She is a founding member of FREEFALL(ltd). "Spring is always sensual and wonderfully alert to changes of atmosphere."-Deborah Jowitt, New York’s Village Voice.

Torque Dance, a NYC-based choreographers collective was founded by Amelia Derenzinski and Erin Reck in 1996. Repertory includes pieces created by single choreographers, such as Lynn Marie Ruse, as well as works that are physically and intellectually collaborative. Torque has been presented as part of the 1997 and 1998 Dance Now Festivals, The Toronto Fringe Festival, 550 Broadway Spring Festival, Raw Materials V, the Hudson Guild Theater and The Kitchen. www.TorqueDance.com

Amelia Derezinski earned her MA in Dance and Dance Education at NYU with a Graduate Assistant Scholarship, and her BFA from The Evergreen State College with concentrations in Performance Studies and Environmental Science. Amelia is Founding Director of Torque Dance, and she has worked with Sean Curran, Douglas Dunn, Jody Oberfelder, Lynn Neuman, and Lynn Marie Ruse. Her work has been produced by Joyce SoHo, Dance in the Square, and The Nutshell Festival, and presented as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival, Dance Now Festival,, ADG Festival, and Estrogenius at Manhattan Theater Source. Pirate Girl Productions was founded in 2001. www.torquedance.com/pirategirl.html

Erin Reck received a BA in Dance from the University of Washington in 1996. Longing for a greater knowledge of the world, art and chaos, she left Seattle for New York City. She has performed with Li-Chaio Ping, Jody Oberfelder Dance, and Lynn Neuman/Artichoke Dance Co. In 1998, Erin co-founded the Scheffal Hall Movement Salon in NYC. From 1999-2001, she created a series of site-specific aerial pieces for the roof of John Jay University.

Composers

Eric Lyons is a composer of experimental electronic and computer music, with an emphasis in automation, digital signal processing and extreme sample manipulation. He also composes works for performers of acoustic instruments as opportunities arise and time permits. Many of these works are presented at the annual BONK Festival in Tampa which I have helped organize since its inception in 1992. More recentrly, I have been playing Kyma system in the Psychedelic Bumpo band. Since he has taught in the Music Department and Electro-Acoustic Graduate Projram at Dartmouth College. Before Dartmouth I taught for three years at IAMAS, a new multimedia academy in central Japan. Before coming to IAMAS, I worked at Keio Universtiy, where I created a page to computer music primarily. arcana.dartmouth.edu/~eric/

Edward Ratliff has received numerous commissions for dance and theater scores. He has performed at international festivals including the JVC Jazz Festival New York, SommerSzene Salzburg and Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, as well as throughout New York City including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce Soho, Performance Space 122, Danspace at St. Mark’s Church, Improvisation Festival/NY and Dancing in the Street’s Dances at Wave Hill. His music for dance has been heard at festivals across Europe and in Canada, and he has performed as an improvising musician with dancers internationally. His latest project, Barcelona in 48 Hours, a dance/film/music collaboration with choreographer David Zambrano and photographer Anja Hitzenberger, will premiere at Dance Theater Workshop in 2004. Info and CDs are available at www.strudel.net.

Elliot Sharp, composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer, leads the groups Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane. His compositions have been performed by the Radio Symphony of Frankfurt, the Ensemble Modern, Continuum, the Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, and Zeitkratzer. His collaborators have included qawaali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, cello innovator Frances-Marie Uitti, sci-fi writers Jack Womack and Lucius Shepard; blues legend Hubert Sumlin; turntablists DJ Soulslinger and Christian Marclay; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians of Jahjoukah.

Sharp's 1986 Virtual Stance project pioneered real-time computer-based improvisation, work which morphed in 1993 into the Powerbook-based Tectonics project. His most recent installations are "Chromatine" (2001), an interactive string/computer installation premiered at the gallery of the School of the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts and Fluvia (2002) at the Engine 27 Gallery in NYC.

Sharp composed music and sound design for computer artist Perry Hoberman's virtual 3d installation Timetable which won the Grand Prize at the 1999 NTT ICC Bienalle in Tokyo.

Sharp's latest CD releases include "Radiolaria" with Orchestra Carbon on zOaR, Terraplane:"Music For Yellowman" also on zOaR, and "Suspension of Disbelief," a collection of film and video scores on Tzadik.

Sharp's orchestra piece "Calling" opened the 2002 Ferienkurse Fur Neue Musik Darmstadt, performed by the RSO Frankfurt. His interactive string/computer installation, Chromatine, premiered at the gallery of the School of the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts. January 2000. Sharp has composed film, video, and dance scores for Byakko-Sha, Ilppo Pohjola,Ton Simons, Jane Gang, Paul Garrin, and Janene Higgins.
website: http://www.elliottsharp.com

Sidney Sidner (text for it would still be true) spent a number of years having the good fortune to direct and teach at venues that include Manhattan Class Co., Northwestern, Columbia, Lincoln Center Theater, The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, The Spoleto Festival, The National Theatre of London and The Williamstown Theatre Festival. She is currently finishing a feature length screenplay, which began as her thesis at Columbia film school, where she taught undergraduate screenwriting last year.

Designers

Illya Azaroff, Installation Designer, is an award-winning artist and architect who has been successful in dance, design and architecture. As Director of design and co-founder of the Design Collective Studio, an architecture and design studio based in lower Manhattan, he regularly collaborates with artists, choreographers and architects on a wide variety of projects. Some of Mr. Azaroff’s earlier New York installations include collaborations with visual artist Piotr Uklanski at MoMA, Patricia Nanon, John Evans, Guta Hedewig, Mark Jarecke, Heather Harrington and most recently with Edward Ratlif and Anja Hitzenberg. Before coming to New York in 1995, Mr. Azaroff worked with Wilke und Partner and Manfred Pechtold BDA in Germany, Karen Stephanie Danse in Holland and Studio Carlo Bellini in Italy, to name a few. Mr. Azaroff also serves as a technical advisor and guest critic for various institutions, including Pratt Institute and is currently teaching at NYIT- New York institute of Technology Spring 2004.

Mr. Azaroff’s work has been written about on several occasions including; New York Times, The Village Voice, Dance Fax Magazine. His work is part of the book Living Large in Small Spaces, published by Harry N. Abrams and his installations have most recently been featured in the September 2003 issue of Arhitext magazine.
LIGHT FORMS 98.

Frank DenDanto (lighting design) Frank’s work has been seen in a myriad of theaters in and out of New York City. Credits include the PBS presentation of Cirque Engenieux, HBO’s Reel Sex 24; Annie Sprinkle’s Herstory of porn. Off-Broadway credits include Blind Alley at the Puertorican Travelling Theater, Only You at the Jewish American Theater, Adjoining Trances at the Samuel Beckett Theater and Song Bird at Aaron Davis Hall. His work can be seen regularly at PS122 where he has designed for such artists as Spalding Grey, Jonathan Aimes, The Universes and Holly Hushes. Frank was the recipient of the first runner up at LIGHT FORMS 98. In March 2002, he co-founded Mother’s Milk Inc, a not-for-profit company. They are focused on nurturing emerging forms of expression by giving artists a forum to create, enhance and display their work in an environment that is open-minded and cultivates experimental artistic endeavors. www.mothers-milk.org

Traci Klainer (lighting design) Ms. Klainer most recently designed Always…Patsy Cline in Las Vegas, NV starring Sally Struthers. NY credits include: The Minstrel Show, directed by Rob Urbinatti; Dark Love, at The Kitchen; Early One Morning, at the Lamb’s Theatre; Betty Buckley in Concert at Maxim’s; The Flatted Fifth, directed by Jo Bonney and produced by The New Group; Aliens in America at Second Stage; New Latino Voices at Intar, directed by Eduardo Machado, Paulo Nunes-Ueno, and Michael Garces; Hunting Humans directed by Michael Wills; and Kate Clinton’s Out Is In at the Perry Street Theatre. Ms. Klainer is the co-resident designer for FREEFALL (ltd.).

John Toth is an intermedia artist, and uses a computer as his primary medium to explore the layering of sculpture, painting, music, sound, dance, computer, video, film, slides and written text. In A Circle is a sculptural fabric installation that I designed for the Art and Technology Circus. The installation of fabric is a structure for activity and performance. Within this performance structure I have asked choreographers such as FREEFALL, composers, visual artists, technicians, cyber artists, dancers, musicians, singers, poets, actors and performance artists to collaborate. www.johntoth.net

Videographers

BBQ Productions, an independent film and video production company in New York City founded in 1992 by Terri Marlowe and Curtis Cates, developed from a vehicle to produce Peace Through Understanding: The 1964/65 New York World’s Fair. In the course of researching and producing this in-depth documentary, Ms. Marlowe and Mr. Cates established relationships with such clients as Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, New York Hall of Science, Jonas Studios and various corporations. BBQ Productions was responsible for the video and audio installations at the “Something for Everyone” 1964-65 World’s Fair presentation at Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, Queens, which was viewed by more than 250,000 people.

In addition to exhibition and corporate work, BBQ Productions is active in the musical realm. Ms. Marlowe and Mr. Cates edited an hour-long behind-the-scenes look at the Ramones, Ramones Around The World, released by Warner/Rhino, and produced and edited music videos for artists including Valentine 6 (aired on European MTV), Lonnie Youngblood, and the Bill Jacobs Ensemble. Their productions range from industrial video and documentary films to music videos and AVID editing. Other clients include: ABC-News, A&E, B-team, Berkshire Museum, Rich Brown, CBS Sunday Morning, Joe Corrao, DampCellar, Freefall Ltd., Richard Hell, Housecalls, iBEAM, Insignia, Howard Krupa, Kelly E. Lamb, Landor & Associates, Loews Cineplex, MTV, Genesis P-Orridge, PCP Records, RAI-Italian Television, Rossellini & Associates, Mark Scott (Trixter), Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Sour Jazz, Ventures In Education, VH1. www.bbqproductions.com

William Horn, producer, director and editor of WH Media. In 2000-01, Bill collaborated with FREEFALL on a year-long documentary project following the creation of a site-specific piece, it would still be true, for the Angel Orenzanz Arts Foundation (a decaying synagogue on NYC’s Lower East Side). The token mid-westerner at WH Media, Bill brings a strong background in international issues and fines arts. Schooling—SVA, NYU, UW-Madison. www.wh-media.com

Technical Support

TOPAZ ARTS (Since 2000), has established itself as the premiere dance rehearsal space in Queens dedicated solely to supporting the creative process. Founded by Todd Richmond and Paz Tanjuaquio, their committment to collaboration has built a supportive environment for contemporary dance and provides a much-needed space for the community. Transforming a raw warehouse space into a contemplative and inspiring arts center, TOPAZ ARTS supports the creative process by providing affordable space and technical assistance. In 2003, Topaz Arts awarded FREEFALL a space grant. Homage was made possible, in part, by this space Grant through Topaz Arts Dance Residency with support from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Queens Council on the Arts. www.topazarts.org/about.html

Fred Krughoff is our web, and computer consultant. www.romdog.com