“Neuman is loaded with talent. She presents a powerful and original movement style loaded with substance and impact.”
 
Philadelphia City Paper
MEET THE COMPANY
Toby Billowitz hails from Virginia. He has been in NYC for 14 years, currently working with Freefall and Jordan Fuchs, in addition to Artichoke Dance Company. His other passions are playing ultimate Frisbee and jumping on trampolines. Toby joined Artichoke Dance in 2006. He teaches in the Performing Partners After School Program and in Senior Arts in Action.  Malinda Crump is a Missouri native and a graduate of Webster University, where she received her BFA in Dance and a BA in Psychology.  Since moving to New York, she has continued her training and danced with Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, the Treehouse Shakers and a number of independent choreographers. In her other life, Malinda works for Early Stages, introducing New York City’s high schoolers to theater, dance and music. She first appeared with Artichoke Dance in the Human Mapping Project in 2010.  Chelsey Dunkel is from Punxsatowney, PA and currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. In 2007, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in dance performance from The Ohio State University.  Here, she feels privileged to have worked with Bebe Miller, Susan Hadley, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Adriana Durant, Patrick Mueller and others. In Columbus, she was a founding member of Aaron Kint's Backspace, and a member of Shawn Hove's Shove Gently.  She has worked with High Frequency Wave Lengths and joined Artichoke in 2008.  Aidan Feldman was raised in Chicago, IL and recently graduating from University of Michigan with degrees in Dance and Computer Science. A web developer by day and dancer by night, Aidan has quickly gotten involved in multiple performance projects, including Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre and Chavasse Dance & Performance (Amy Chavasse) in addition to Artichoke Dance. For more information about his projects, visit his homepage. George Hirsch graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, receiving an Honors Degree in Dance. He has since had the privilege of dancing for Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange, Dance Tactics, Eva Dean Dance, Regina Nejman and Company, David Capps/Dances, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance, and GoCo. He has performed at City Center in the Fall For Dance Program, the Joyce Theatre, Dance Theatre Workshop, The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, and on tour in Tobago. George joined Artichoke Dance in 2008. Lynn Neuman is Artistic Director and a co-founder of Artichoke Dance Company. Her work pushes the possibilities of partnering from subtle to the extreme with a movement style reflecting a background in gymnastics with eclectic dance training including contact improvisation, modern, ballet, balinese dance and tango. Lynn’s choreography has been presented under the auspices of Artichoke Dance Company since its inception in 1995. Her video/dance works have been presented by the National Association of Artists’ Organization and shown at the American Dance Festival and the Virginia Film Festival. She has been commissioned to choreograph a handful of operas and several site-specific installations combining movement and real time video feed, and by Dixon Place, Joffrey Ballet School and numerous colleges to create dance works for the stage. Lynn believes in the power of the arts to effect positive change in people’s lives and within communities. To this end, she works with a variety of populations promoting cultural literacy and engaging people in dance experiences. Maxx Passion is a native Vermonter who now happily resides in NY, NY.  She is a graduate of the University of the Arts where she received her BFA in Modern Dance Performance, with Honors.  In addition to working with the Artichoke Dance Company, she dances with Edisa Weeks/DELERIOUS Dances and has also danced for the Treehouse Shakers and other NYC choreographers.  Maxx has performed in theaters and film outlets around the city and appeared in Marie Claire magazine in 2008 and 2010. She is very excited to begin improv comedy training this year at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Maxx is happy (and lucky!) to have had Artichoke Dance find her when she attended OMI Dance International's residency program where Lynn Neuman was the program's guest mentor.  She has been performing with the company since 2008. Sandra Passirani is from France and has trained at some of the most exclusive and acclaimed dance studios in the world including the renowned Choreia Le Centre des Arts Vivants in Paris, where she received her DE (French equivalence of a BFA in dance). She continued her training in the United States at the Alvin Ailey School in New York City. Growing through diversity and new challenges, she has gained knowledge and technical skills in many different styles and expressions from modern, jazz, contemporary, African dance, and performing arts. Internationally, she performed in Parisian theatre, Bobino theatre and Espace Kiron. In New York, she was honored to perform for the New York Times annual gala, for the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil and her own work at the National Museum of Natural History. In addition to Artichoke Dance, she has performed with High Frequency Wave Lengths and Nzassa, a West African dance company and has taught at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway, and for Manhattan Youth Ballet at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. MEET OUR COLLABORATORS Olek was born Agata Oleksiak in Poland. After graduating from university, she moved to New York and rediscovered her ability to crochet, thus starting her journey/madness. Olek's works have been exhibited in galleries from Chelsea to Istanbul. This spring, the Brooklyn Museum commissioned her daylong community-based action project “Bring Your Clothes”. Achievements include The R. Mellon Award for Sculpture, residencies at Sculpture Space (NY), Instituto Sacatar (Brazil), and 2010 AAI LES. She is a winner of apexart's commercial competition aired on PBS. Her infamous crocheted bike can be found on the Lower East Side, along with other objects that will bring you to Olek’s solo show at Christopher Henry Gallery this September. Olek’s work changes from place to place. It took her away from Silesia, Poland, seeking to bring color and life, energy and surprise to the living space. Inspired by New York City’s various neighborhoods, Olek endeavors to create feedback to the economic and social reality of this community. Leanne Darling creates a powerful new voice for the viola. Building on a foundation in classical, the award-winning composer/performer has transformed her music into a form of modern, world jazz mixing funk, hip hop and middle eastern rhythms with blues and jazz harmonies. Her solo debut album, Spiral, is a testament to the range of her creativity and singularity as a writer, performer and arranger. She created the music for Recession Dances, and so can you! and was supported by a Meet the Composer Creative Connections award for her work with Artichoke Dance. Former Assistant Principal Violist with the Florida West Coast Symphony, Leanne has performed as a rock/jazz/world musician with Slow Six, the Near East Ensemble, the Sultana Ensemble, with Jewish ritual theater group Storahtelling, and has also collaborated with choreographers Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Jodie Gates, Ann Robideaux, and playwright/director Richard Calibahn. She creates unique solo viola compositions using a sampling/looping device, generating layers of sound from lyrical melodies to driving rhythms and textures, simulating a room full of musicians. Her articles on Arabic String playing have appeared in American String Teacher and Strings magazine. Janusz Jaworski makes things. His paintings, sculptures and photographs have appeared in exhibitions and private collections scattered around the world. His performance work has been supported by the unsung heroes at Movement Research, The Field, chashama, DTW, Dixon Place, The Joyce SoHo, New Dance Alliance, Williamsburg Arts neXus, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His films are steadily increasing in number and have made appearances at more festivals than he's been able to attend. He enjoys collaboration and improvisation. His handmade books hold the thoughts and to-do lists of many creative people. Janusz created three films/videos for Recession Dances, and so can you! Bob Lukomski is a composer of electronic and acoustic music, living in Brooklyn, NY.  He has written music for various chamber and choral ensembles, as well as electronic works for dance. His work has been performed by the Jim Sande Ensemble and the choirs of St. Paul’s Episcopal Churches in Albany, NY and Winston-Salem, NC. International work includes Ensemble Decadanse’s performance of Miniature Set in Lunel, France and Score for "Mouthful", performed with Clyde Forth Visual Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Lukomski has been awarded grants by the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Arts Council, and received a Meet the Composer’s Creative Connections grant for his large-scale electronic work, Look at Me (when i talk to you), a collaboration with choreographer Lynn Neuman. He also composed music Artichoke’s I Am Nothing (without you) and UR Here. Mr. Lukomski also is an active songwriter and recording artist with The Clyde, Home, People, and the Port Industrial Quartet. He currently performs as part of the free improvisational trio Lukomski/Majer/Lail, whose music was incorporated into an installation at the Galéria Jána Koniarka in Slovakia in the summer of 2006. Their debut CD was released by Homestijl Composition in February 2007. He is also a founding member of the improvisational group Frogwell. Outreach.htmlOutreach.htmlhttp://www.aidanfeldman.comhttp://agataolek.com/home.htmlhttp://www.leannedarling.comhttp://www.j-3.orghttp://www.boblukomski.netRepertory.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7