ASZURE BARTON

ASZURE BARTON is a prolific creator whose dance work has been equated to “watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche” by the US National Endowment for the Arts. She started tap dancing at the age of three and has been creating for as long as she can remember. Her works have been performed on stages throughout the world, including the Palais Garnier, Mariinsky Theater, The Kennedy Center, Studio 54, Lincoln Center, and Sadler’s Wells, as well as in museums and exhibits, such as the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. She has choreographed for theater, film, and opera, including Broadway, notably for the production of The Threepenny Opera. Early in her career, she founded her own project, Aszure Barton & Artists, in order to create an autonomous, interdisciplinary, and collaborative platform for process-centered creation. Aszure has worked with celebrated artists and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jessica Chastaine, Misty Copeland, Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Nederlands Dans Theater, Teatro alla Scala, American Ballet Theatre, Sydney Dance Company, English National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company, and Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. Last year, she premiered a new work (Mere Mortals) at San Francisco Ballet in collaboration with British electronic music producer/DJ Floating Points and mixed media artists Hamill Industries — the first evening-length work created by a woman in SFB’s history, curated by Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. Aszure is also delighted to be the current Resident Artist at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Her latest artistic venture is a collaboration with acclaimed trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire; the two premiered their first work titled B E N D at Kampnagel’s International Summer Festival and plan to tour it internationally over the next few years with the partnership of Pomegranate Arts. Tanz Magazine's Falk Schraiber described its "refusal of categorization" and called it "a collaborative work that also draws its appeal from the fact that two artists who are completely secure in their field playfully unsettle each other.” They also created a full-evening collaboration, Slow Burn, at Hamburg Ballett and will premiere a new collaboration (Join) with the Limón Dance Company later this month. Aszure Barton continues to be an innovator of form, having contributed to an evolution of highly specialized dance and theater companies worldwide. Over the years, she has received a myriad of accolades including a Bessie Award for her work Busk. She was the first Martha Duffy Resident Artist at Baryshnikov Arts and is a recipient of the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, joining the likes of Oscar Peterson, Karen Kain, and Margaret Atwood. She is also an official ambassador of contemporary choreography in Canada. As an educator, Aszure is creative partner with Boston Conservatory at Berklee College and has built a longtime working relationship with The Juilliard School.

CHANEL DaSILVA

A native of Brooklyn, NY, CHANEL DaSILVA is a multifaceted artist whose work reflects her deep connection to the transformative power of the arts. As an entrepreneur, choreographer, director, and ARTivist she uses dance as a vehicle for social change and evolution towards a more diverse, just, and inclusive dance industry and society. Chanel is the Co-Founder & CEO of Strategy & New Initiatives for MOVE|NYC| - an arts and social justice organization with the mission of creating greater equity and diversity in the dance profession and beyond. She is also a Choreographer & Director creating new, provocative works that reflect the complexities of what it means to be human. Chanel is also the Founder & CEO of the women’s leadership and empowerment platform, CATAPULT.

After being named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and graduating with her BFA from The Juilliard School, Chanel became a member of the highly celebrated Trey McIntyre Project, based in Boise, Idaho, where she was a muse for the creation of many of Mr. McIntyre’s works. She danced lead roles in his masterpieces Ma Maison - in collaboration with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Sun Road - in collaboration with PBS's "Faces of America" series, Gravity Heroes, and Mercury Half-Life. Chanel was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine with TMP in 2011 and was a part of Brooklyn Academy of Music's "Dance Motion USA", touring throughout Asia with TMP as a cultural ambassador to the United States of America. Upon returning to New York City, Chanel became a member of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and performed iconic Lubovitch works such as Coltrane's Favorites, Transparent Things, and The Black Rose. Throughout her career, Chanel has been blessed to dance and tour internationally across Europe, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States; living the life and career she dreamed of as a young girl. #DanceDidThat

In 2016, Chanel began her career as a choreographer and has since created choreographic works for institutions such as Gibney Company, The Joffrey Ballet, American Repertory Theater, The Juilliard School, Parsons Dance Company, Ballet Memphis, Dallas Black Dance Theater, The Washington Ballet, among others. Most recently, Chanel made her international choreographic debut with the premiere of a new work created for Ballet Black. Over the years Chanel has received recognition from numerous institutions including The Joffrey Ballet Winning Works Choreographic Competition, the Martha Hill Dance Fund Mid-Career Award, a 2011 and 2023 Princess Grace Award, and the 2008 Martha Hill Prize awarded by The Juilliard School. She is a National YoungArts Winner, was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and was featured on the 2004 PBS Documentary “American Talent”. In 2019, Chanel received an IRNE nomination for Best Choreography for "The Black Clown" which premiered at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA.

Chanel attributes her success and longevity in the dance field to the tribe of artists, educators and mentors that opened the doors to the dance industry for her at an early age, including the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center, Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn, LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, The Ailey School, Springboard Danse Montreal and The Juilliard School.

BOB FOSSE AND GWEN VERDON

BOB FOSSE is one of the most internationally recognized figures in the history of the performing arts for his groundbreaking, genre-defining work as a director, choreographer, performer, and writer across various mediums on both stage and screen. In 1973, he became the first director in history to win the Oscar, Tony, and Emmy awards in a single year for his spectacular triumphs with Cabaret on film, Pippin on Broadway, and “Liza with a Z” on television. Though he got his start as a performer, Mr. Fosse’s career as a creative force on Broadway began in 1954 when he served as choreographer for the Original Broadway production of The Pajama Game, earning him the first of his nine Tony Awards. He went on to choreograph Damn Yankees, Bells Are Ringing, New Girl In Town, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and direct and choreograph Redhead, Little Me, Sweet Charity (which he also conceived), Pippin, Liza, Chicago (for which he also co-wrote the book), Dancin’, Big Deal (for which he also wrote the book), and the 1986 revival of Sweet Charity. On film, he served as director and choreographer for Sweet Charity, Cabaret, All That Jazz (also co-screenwriter), and Star 80 (also co-screenwriter), earning him an Academy Award and two additional nominations for Best Director, as well as a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. All That Jazz also won the Palme d’Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. His additional film credits include choreography for The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, and The Little Prince. Born in Chicago, Mr. Fosse began dancing at age nine and made his first professional appearance at thirteen with his childhood friend Charles Grass under the name “The Riff Brothers.” After serving with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Islands during World War II, he reignited his career as a dancer, performing alongside Mary Ann Niles in Call Me Mister, Make Mine Manhattan, and Dance Me a Song. He also appeared in the MGM films Give a Girl a Break; The Affairs of Dobie Gillis; and Kiss Me, Kate. His last performing engagements were with New York City Center, dancing the title role in their revival of Pal Joey and dancing the role of The Serpent in The Little Prince on screen. Bob Fosse passed away in 1987, on the Opening Night of the National Tour of Sweet Charity. Mr. Fosse’s work constantly finds new life in productions like the long running Broadway revival of Chicago (1996), Fosse (1999), and the Broadway revival of Dancin’ (2023), as well as in the Emmy Award-winning FX series “Fosse/Verdon” (2019), and the trio of dances Sweet Gwen Suite (2021). The Verdon Fosse Legacy®, founded by his daughter, Nicole Fosse, ensures Mr. Fosse’s enduring legacy will continue to help shape the entertainment landscape for years to come. 

GWEN VERDON is “widely regarded as the best dancer ever to brighten the Broadway Stage” (The New York Times). Her early career was marked by her close working relationship with Jack Cole, for whom she worked as both a performer and assistant choreographer. Her most enduring professional partnership, however, was with the man she would marry, Bob Fosse. Together, Ms. Verdon and Mr. Fosse ran up a string of iconic theatrical successes not rivaled by a director/choreographer and star before or since. After she earned her first of four Tony Awards in her breakout role as Claudine in Can-Can, her collaboration with Mr. Fosse began. She starred in Damn Yankees (Tony Award), New Girl in Town (Tony Award), Redhead (Tony Award), Sweet Charity (Tony nomination) and Chicago (Tony nomination). Her work in feature films includes roles in On the Riviera, David & Bathsheba, Mississippi Gambler, Damn Yankees, Cocoon, Cocoon: The Return, The Cotton Club, Nadine, Marvin’s Room, Alice, Bruno, and Walking Across Egypt. Early in her career, she helped stage Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend” in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She served as Artistic Advisor for Steam Heat, the Emmy Award-winning documentary about Mr. Fosse. She also appeared on the television programs “Mash,” “Fame,” “Trapper John,” “M.D.,” “Webster,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “The Equalizer,” “Dream On,” “Dear John,” “Homicide,” and “Legs.” Her work in the concert dance world spanned decades and continents, including Chicago’s Hubbard Street Dance, the Beijing Ballet School in China, the Houston Ballet Company, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Counted among the hundreds of partners with whom she danced throughout the course of her career were Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolph Nureyev. Among her many accolades, Ms. Verdon won a Grammy Award for Redhead and received a National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities Award.