The Kent Dance Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Gregory King, welcomes interdisciplinary artist Stefanie Batten Bland to Kent State as a guest artist Feb. 24 – 28, 2022. During her residency, Batten Bland will collaborate with the members of the Kent Dance Ensemble on a work that will appear in the April 2022 Kent Dance Ensemble concert.
Jerome Robbins Awardee Stefanie Batten Bland is an interdisciplinary artist who situates her work at the intersection of dance-theatre, film, and installation, with a focus on the interrogation of contemporary and historical culture. She is a 2022 commissioned artist with Duke Performances in partnership with The Yard and Baryshnikov Arts Center, a 2021 Lincoln Center RESTART artist, a 2021 Toulmin Creator Fellow for the Center for Ballet Arts at NYU, and choreographer for American Ballet Theatre’s inaugural Women’s Movement Initiative.
Known for her unique visual and movement aesthetic, Batten Bland served as movement director for Eve’s Song at the Public Theater (Forbes 2018 Best Theatre), European Union at the United Nations, and is currently casting and movement director for Emursive Productions (producers of Sleep No More). She has created for fashion and lifestyle partners Louis Vuitton, VanCleef & Arpels, Hermés, and Guerlain. Her choreography is currently in active repertory at American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey II, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Transitions Dance Company in Greenwich, UK, and Frontier Danceland in Singapore. Her work has been seen internationally at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, Danse à Lille in France, and Tanztendenzen in Germany.
Company SBB’s 2021 dance film Kolonial, produced by Baryshnikov Arts Center, has won eight awards internationally and was nominated for three Bessie Awards, including outstanding production, visual design, and costumes. Batten Bland has created 14 other dance cinema films that have been shown in international festivals in such places as South Africa, Buenos Aires, Greece, and Germany.
Batten Bland has been featured in The New York Times, T Magazine, Dance Europe, Marie Claire, The Brooklyn Rail, TV 5 Monde, and Dance Teacher Magazine.
A global artist, Batten Bland established her own company, Company SBB, in France in 2008 while head choreographer at the Paris Opéra Comique. Upon returning to New York City in 2011, she received the support of Mikhail Baryshnikov as a part of the esteemed residency program at Baryshnikov Arts Center, where she has continued to present work.
Batten Bland received her MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College - concentration performance creation, is Assistant Professor at Montclair State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, and lives in SoHo with her family.
For more information about the Kent Dance Ensemble's annual concert, visit https://www.kent.edu/theatredance/kent-dance-ensemble-no-permission-nee…
Photo by JC Dhien.