Tere's Bio

Tere O’Connor has been making dances since 1982 and has created over 35 works for his company. The company has performed throughout the US, and in Europe, South America, and Canada. O’Connor has created numerous commissioned works for dance companies around the world, among these have been works for Lyon Opera Ballet, White Oak Dance Project, de Rotterdamse Dansgroep, Dance Alloy, and Zenon. In addition to his 1996 work Greta in a Ditch for White Oak, he also created a solo work for Mikhail Baryshnikov. He is currently creating a solo for Jean Butler, which will premiere in May 2010 at the Dublin Dance Festival.
  
 

Tere O’Connor is a 2009 United States Artist Rockefeller Fellow. He is a recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art Award, Arts International’s DNA Project Award, and a Creative Capital Award. He has received three New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards - One for Heaven Up North in 1988, another in 1999 for Sustained Achievement, and most recently for his work Frozen Mommy (2005). O’Connor is a recipient of a 1993 Guggenheim Fellowship. He is also a recipient of repeated grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NEFA/National Dance Project, the New York Foundation for the Arts, The MAP Fund, Jerome Foundation, Altria Group, Inc., Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and Mid Atlantic US Artists International.

A much sought after teacher, O’Connor has taught at the Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, Colorado Dance Festival, Ohio State University, University of Minnesota, Arizona State University, at the School for New Dance Development (The Netherlands), and Tanzwochen (Austria), among others. He is currently a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  


 
Company Bios

Hilary Clark grew up in Connecticut, lived in Philadelphia, and moved to New York in 1998. Clark was honored with 2008 New York Dance and Performance Award (a Bessie) for her body of work as a performer with Tere O'Connor, Fiona Marcotty, and Luciana Achugar. She has danced with choreographers Tere O'Connor since 2004, and with Luciana Achugar since 2006. Her work has been shown at Dixon Place, Arts Space (Hartford, CT), The Painted Bride (Philadelphia, PA), The Kitchen, and Dance Theater Workshop, where she was a Fresh Tracks recipient with Larissa Velez. Clark's interpretation of dance has been influenced and inspired by many experiences and people. Tere continues to inspire her.

Daniel Clifton is from Niceville, FL, where he spent many years writing and playing music in punk and jazz bands. His dances have been presented at Henry Street Settlement, Dancenow/NYC, DNA, Dance Off, Hollins University, Florida State University, The Kitchen, FAUT BRULER POUR BRILLER/YOU GOT TO BURN TO SHINE, The A.W.A.R.D. Show!, ADF, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dancespace, North Carolina School of the Arts, and WAX. Clifton has taught at DNA, Lehman College, Hollins University, Sarah Lawrence College, North Carolina School of the Arts, the American Dance Festival and the Korean Dance Festival. While in New York City he has also worked Martha Clarke, Nicholas Leichter Dance, Bill Young and Colleen Thomas, Julia Ritter Performance Group, photographer Tony Jones, visual artist Tunga, comedian Pam Ann, and the New York Historical Society. Clifton earned his MFA in Dance from Hollins University/ADF and his BFA in Dance from Florida State University.

Erin Gerken has performed in works by Tere O'Connor since 2001, including Winterbelly, Lawn, Frozen Mommy, and Baby. She holds a BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, and was the sole recipient of the university-wide Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship. She is delighted to be performing with Tere once again after a brief hiatus, and is honored to be part of a process directed by someone she deeply trusts. Erin teaches yoga in Brooklyn.

Heather Olson has had the pleasure of working with Tere O’Connor since 1997. She is originally from Chicago and holds a BFA in dance from North Carolina School of the Arts. In addition to her work with Tere, Olson has danced with Jennifer Allen, Ivy Baldwin, Yanira Castro, Levi Gonzales, and Donna Uchizono among others. Her own choreographic work has been presented at Aunts, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Danspace Project, Catch!, La Mama, Movement Research at Judson Church, Solonova Arts Festival at P.S. 122, and 100 Grand (LIT and Gorillafest). She has been commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop (spring 2008) and was a 2008/2009 Sugar Salon Artist.

Matthew Rogers received his BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003. In New York he has had the privilege to dance in the choreographic works of Ivy Baldwin, Zoltan Negy, Johannes Wieland, Sarah Pearson and Patrik Widrig, Heather Olson, and Amber Sloan. He has been dancing with Tere O'Connor since 2004. At Dixon Place in 2006 he showed his own work in collaboration with Jack Ferver. He will participate in the re-performance of a work by Marina Abramovic at MoMa in 2010.

Christopher Williams is a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer, based in New York City. He is a graduate of both Sarah Lawrence College and the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He has since danced with Tere O’Connor Dance, Douglas Dunn & Dancers, John Kelly, Risa Jaroslow & Dancers, Yoshiko Chuma's School of Hard Knocks, Wendy Rogers, the Eliza Miller Dance Company, and Rebecca Lazier’s TERRAIN, among others. He has also performed in the award-winning puppet works of Basil Twist and Dan Hurlin. His own works have been presented both locally in many New York City venues and internationally. In 2005 he won a New York Dance & Performance “Bessie” Award for his work Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins.
  

 

© Tere O'Connor Dance 2010 / site: bartokweb.com
Photographs by Paula Court, Paula Court, Tere O'Connor