Freedom Park Performance

Freedom Park Association
presents
Ellen Sinopoli
Artistic Director and Choreographer

The Company

Laura Teeter, Assistant to the Artistic Director
Erin Dooley
Emily Gunter
Andrè Robles
Sara Senecal – on leave

ESDC’s 2021 Summer Performances Series is sponsored by 
Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation, Stewart’s Shops/Dake Family and Nancy Rosenblum        

THE PROGRAM

The Space In Between (premiere)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli
Dancer: Andrè Robles
Music: Thelonious Monk

The genius of Thelonious Monk permeates and maneuvers rhythms, patterns, phrasing, undercurrents and shadings throughout “Blues Monk”. His thoughts about “the space in between” are a constant within this solo dance.

Ghostly Interlace (premiere)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli
Dancers: Emily Gunter & Laura Teeter
Music: Osvaldo Golijov

A poignant closeness coupled with a definitive separateness shepherds the dancers as they respond to Golijov’s astonishing musical combining of cello and marimba.

Music Rights by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. publisher and copyright owner.

Tiamat (2001)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopol
Dancer: Erin Dooley
Music: Toby Marks
Costume: Kim Vanyo

Strength, power, resilience and animal-like presence empower and surround
the dancer

Blue(s) excerpt (2011)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli
Dancers: Emily Gunter & Andrè Robles
Music: K.D. Lang
Costumes: Kim Vanyo

K.D. Lang’s love ballad, “Wash Me Clean”, provides the perfect backdrop to the dancers’ tender intertwinings.

Umbrellaphant (2019)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli & ESDC dancers
Dancers: Erin Dooley, Emily Gunter & Laura Teeter
Music: Caleb Burhans, Gideon Freudmann, Michael Nyman
Costumes: Kim Vanyo
Narrator: Sara Senecal
Based on the poems by Jack Prelutsky from “Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant”

The clever juxtaposition of animal and object is the landscape for the dancers’ shenanigans

The music for “Clocktopus” and “Tweasels” written and performed by Gideon Freudmann. Licensed by Arrangement with CelloBop Music.

Fade (2021)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli
Dancers: Erin Dooley, Emily Gunter & Laura Teeter
Music: Henryk Gorecki
Costumes: Kim Vanyo

Created to the haunting music of Henryk Górecki’s “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”, the dance evokes the isolation and loss experienced by so many in troubled times.

Music Rights by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. publisher and copyright owner.

Slipping Through (2020)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli
Dancers: Erin Dooley & Laura Teeter
Music: Don Byron
Costumes: Kim Vanyo
 
Slipping Through celebrates the many movement nuances on display in response to the rhythmic fluency and genius of Don Byron’s music. 

Contrapuntal Fling (2008)

Choreography: Ellen Sinopoli
Dancers: Erin Dooley, Emily Gunter, Andrè Robles, Laura Teeter
Music: Leonard Bernstein
Costumes: Kim Vanyo

Music Rights by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. publisher and copyright owner.

ABOUT THE ELLEN SINOPOLI DANCE COMPANY  

ELLEN SINOPOLI DANCE COMPANY (ESDC) is a 31 year old not-for-profit arts organization located in NYS’s Capital Region. ESDC’s commitment to CREATE, COLLABORATE, EDUCATE and PARTNER remains in the forefront as it shares its work with diverse audiences through concerts, showcases, residencies, workshops, educational and community outreach. Artistic Director Ellen Sinopoli has created over 100 dances since forming the company and ESDC’s collaborations and artistic projects serve as a conduit to bring together talented artists (both regional and national) from varied genres that include visual artists, sculptors, architects, composers and musicians, poets and storytellers, videographers, photographers and physicists. Past commissions include new work for The Egg, Olana Partnership, Saratoga County Arts Council, Schenectady Symphony Orchestra, Schenectady Museum and St Cecelia Orchestra.  

As the resident company of The Egg Center for the Performing Arts in Albany for 30 years, ESDC is part of its highly successful dance season that presents many NY based, national and international dance companies. ESDC’s performances at professional, regional, and college theatres as well as community centers, art galleries, public playgrounds, public schools, libraries, museums, historic sites and storefronts include venues in MA, NYC and throughout 17 NYS counties. Within the Capital Region, ESDC has performed at Albany’s The Egg, NYS Museum, WAMC’s the Linda, the Opalka Gallery and Albany Institute of History and Art. ESDC was featured on WMHT’s AHA!: A House for Arts program in the Spring of 2020. Additional locations include: Troy’s historic Gasholder Building, Arts Center of the Capital Region and Troy Savings Bank Music Hall; Schenectady’s Proctors and Schenectady Museum; Cambridge’s Hubbard Hall. ESDC has performed at many of the area’s institutes of higher education including UAlbany, FMCC, HVCC, Rensselaer, Russell Sage, Skidmore, SUNY Cobleskill, and Union. ESDC has been invited to perform at gubernatorial inaugurations, art center and gallery openings, senior centers, fundraising events for area school districts and other not-for-profit organizations, First Night celebrations for Albany, Saratoga, and Chatham, Albany’s First Friday and Tulip Festival and Troy’s Troy Night Out events. NYC performances include Lincoln Center, Mulberry Street Theater, St. Mark’s Church and Ryan Theater for the DUMBO Festival and Riverside Theater. In MA, ESDC has appeared at the Chesterwood Museum, Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out.

Committed to bringing dance to underserved communities and populations through Arts-In-Education, ESDC offers performances and workshops in and around NYS’s Capital Region. Residencies, workshops and/or performances bring the excitement of exploring the creative process to children and young adults in both urban and rural schools.  Our educational programs introduce and explore modern dance in a pure performing sense and utilize dance to teach curricula and enhance understanding in the connectedness of art and everyday life. By making these early connections with an art form, we create a respect for and understanding of the arts and its performing artists. This carries over into adult years and is passed down to future generations. Specially designed educational programming includes: Science In Motion, If Books Could Dance!, Celtic Footprints, Choreophysics, Dance by Chance, Undercover Playground and From the mind of a single long vine, one hundred opening lives.    

ESDC’s outreach programming continues to expand as we bring our work to community centers, day care centers, public playgrounds, libraries, art galleries and centers for special populations. ESDC’s outreach partnerships include the Center for Disability Services for which ESDC teaches creative movement workshops at the Smith Center (adults population) and Langan School (ages pre-school – 21) as part of the “Creative MOVEment” program, a one-of-a-kind collaborative community partnership with MOVE–Mobility Opportunities Via Experience. Our creative movement workshops for these populations are designed to introduce the joy of dance, movement for self expression and creativity into their everyday lives.  

ESDC has received funding from NYS Council on the Arts for multi-year general operating support, individual artist projects, long term Arts-in-Education residencies and three long-term residencies at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. It has received support from Bender Family Foundation, Capital Region Living Magazine/Saratoga Living Magazine, Charles R. Wood Foundation, Charles and Cornelia Hume Charitable Trust, CDPHP, Community Foundation for the Capital Region’s Robert C. Reilly Salary Fund, Howard and Bush Foundation, the Mary Jane Dike Family, Meet the Composer, the Opalka Family, Troy Redevelopment Fund, NYS DanceForce, NYS Music Fund for the commission of an original composition for “Spill Out!,” Partners in Dance, Poets & Writers, PriceChopper’s Golub Foundation, Stewert’s Shops/Dake Family, Ed Swyer/Stuyvesant Plaza, Inc., Troy Redevelopment Fund and the Troy Savings Bank Charitable Foundation. 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

ELLEN SINOPOLI founded the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company (ESDC) in 1991, after settling in the Capital Region from Boston and NYC. Her many artistic collaborations and projects serve as a conduit to bring together talented artists (both regional and national) from varied genres that include visual artists, sculptors, architects, composers and musicians, poets and storytellers, videographers, photographers and physicists. ESDC dancers serve as a muse for Sinopoli’s creative process. Applauded for their consistent excellence and artistry, their movement imaginings, unique artistry, and deep professionalism add to the choreographic process.

Beyond her role as Artistic Director and choreographer, Ellen is also noted for her talents as a master teacher and for her efforts to educate young people about dance. She was Coordinator of Dance Programming at Russell Sage College until her retirement in 2020. She has taught at Siena College, Skidmore College, Union College, Albany Berkshire Ballet, Saratoga City Ballet and Guilderland Ballet, among others.

Ellen and ESDC were featured in the March 2019 issue of HERLIFE Magazine. In 2016, She was one of thirteen women featured in the Time Union’s Women@Work magazine highlighting women in the arts. Ellen has appeared on “Schenectady Today”, WAMC’s Roundtable and WMHT’s Local Artist interviews for PBS’ Fall Arts Festival and WMHT’s “Our Town Troy”. In 2002, she received the “Educator of Excellence” award from WTEN, an affiliate of ABC. She was one of the 100 “Women of Excellence” honored by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce in 2000 and was a recipient of the 2000 Arts Awards from the Albany/ Schenectady League of Arts in the Capital Region of NYS.

THE COMPANY

LAURA TEETER, Assistant to the Artistic Director, hails from Minneapolis, where she began her early training. She graduated magna cum laude from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Dance Performance, where she performed in works by José Limón and Seán Curran. While in Boston she co-produced a concert of her choreography and performed as a guest artist with Zoé Dance. Since joining the company in 2004, she has choreographed for ESDC, and collaborated with fellow ESDC dancers on Obsequi, a multi-media art event held in Albany’s historic St. Joseph’s Church, and as part of Trashion at Revolution Hall in Troy. She has presented work at Choreography on the Edge in Woodstock, NY, the Emerging Choreographers Project in Albany, the Chapel and Cultural Center at RPI, the Albany Center Gallery, the Dragon’s Egg in Mystic, CT and the Arts Center in Troy as part of Troy Night Out. She serves as the Assistant to the Artistic Director of ESDC and is also on the faculty of Siena College.

ERIN DOOLEY began her early dance training at Saratoga City Ballet in Saratoga Springs, NY, as well as local summer programs such as Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive (SSDI) and New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA). After completing the Trainee Program at Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of the Joffrey Ballet, she went to SUNY Purchase to major in dance. She graduated summa cum laude in January 2019. During her time at Purchase, Erin studied abroad at Codarts in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She also traveled to Guatemala with non-profit organization, JUNTOS, to teach and perform dance for underprivileged communities. Erin joined the company in 2018 and serves as an Arts in Education Coordinator.

EMILY GUNTER graduated magna cum laude from Skidmore College in 2019 with a BA in Dance and Classics. She has performed works by Paul Taylor, Martha Graham, Stephen Petronio, Doug Varone, and Ronald K. Brown, as well as Skidmore faculty Denise Warner Limoli, Mary Harney, Debra J. Fernandez, and Erika Pujič. In 2019, she presented original choreography inspired by Ovid’s myth of Pygmalion at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum alongside a curated selection of sculptures from the Tang’s permanent collections. Originally from Hartford, CT, she is an avid tap dancer. Emily joined the company in 2020.

ANDRÈ ROBLES is a graduate of the Joffrey Ballet School NYC. While a student at JBS he had the opportunity to perform with the Joffrey Ballet in works by noted choreographers Gerald Arpino, Peter Pucci, and Margo Sappington. Prior to his time at JBS he studied at the Ailey School where he danced in works by Dwight Rhoden, Nacho Duato, Troy Powell, Pedro Ruiz, and Judith Jamison. He also studied at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina where he danced in works by George Balanchine and Marius Petipa. He hails from Brooklyn, New York. He has presented his own choreography at The Arts Center of the Capital Region as part of Troy Night Out. André joined the company in 2009.

SARA SENECAL, on leave, holds an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University and a BA in Dance and minor in Education from the University at Buffalo.  Along with dancing for ESDC Sara has presented her own choreography at many locations across NYS such as The Poet’s Den in Harlem, Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, The Carrier Theater in Syracuse, and The Egg PAC as the choreographer for ESDC’s Egg Kids Project. In 2018, she was the winner of Nacre’s “So You Think You Can Choreograph” Showcase in Saratoga Springs. Sara joined Russell Sage College as adjunct faculty in 2018.  She is originally from Schenectady, NY where she studied at Merritt Dance Center under Mara and Marlene Merritt. Sara has been with the ESDC since 2010 and is an Arts in Education Coordinator for the company.

ESDC Board of Directors

Nancy Rosenblum, President
Teresa Johnson, Vice-President
Monique Sofen, Treasurer
Holly Dorman
Gail Goodman-Snitkoff
Elizabeth Timoney
Ellen Sinopoli

Administrative Staff

Artistic Director/Executive Director
Ellen Sinopoli

Education Coordinators
Erin Dooley, Emily Gunter, Sara Senecal

Special Marketing Projects
Corey Aldrich
2440 Design Studio

The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, Inc. is a not-for-profit tax-exempt corporation founded to support and present the choreography of Artistic Director Ellen Sinopoli.  The corporation strives to cultivate and develop among its audiences an appreciation for and love of modern dance. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. If you would like to support the efforts of ESDC. as a contributor, volunteer or member of the Board of Directors, please contact us at [email protected] or visit www.sinopolidances.org

Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company

PO Box 775, Troy, NY 12181
Phone: (518) 408-1341   Mobile: (518) 527-7008

Special Thanks

The Egg, Gary Gold Photography, Andrea Didio / Art in Motion, Tara Haswell / Turning Pointe Dance Center, Eleanor Leonardi / Eleanor’s School of Dance 

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES & EVENTS

Friday, August 27, 2021 at 5, 6, 7, & 8 pm 
Troy Night Out, Troy NY
Pop-up Performances
Lucas Confectionery Back Patio
12 Second Street
Maria Zemantauski, guest guitarist

Friday, September 24, 2021 at 5, 6, 7 & 8 pm
Troy Night Out, Troy NY
Pop-up Performances
Brownstone Stoops 
#25,27,29 & 31 Second Street
Devesh Chandra, guest percussionist

Saturday, October 9, 2021
Concert
Sand Lake Center for the Arts
Averill Park, NY
slca-ctp.org  (518) 674-2007

Saturday & Sunday, November 13, 2021 at 7 pm & 14, at 2 pm
Guest Company for Faculty/Student Concert
Russell Sage College Meader Little Theater, Troy 
(518) 244-2248

Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 10 am
ChoreoPhysics performance
UAlbany PAC, Albany
albany.edu/pac/index.shtml   (518) 442-5738

Sunday, March 27, 2022
Ulster Ballet Festival of Dance
UPAC, Kingston
ulsterballet.org/festival.html   (845) 339-6088

Friday, May 14, 2022 at 8 pm
Concert
The Egg, Albany
Featuring:
cellist Ashley Bathgate, percussionist Brian Melick, guitarist Maria Zemantauski
www.theegg.org    (518) 473-1845