(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Caleb Teicher & Company brings its mix of tap, lindy hop, and vernacular jazz dance to PS21 on Friday-Saturday, August 11 and 12, at 8pm, as part of the Chatham Dance Festival. The PS21 program will include Variations, in which three tap dancers make Bach’s Goldberg Variations leap from the page; Small & Tall, in which “small” Macy Sullivan and “tall” Lindsey Jones pair up for a funny and heartwarming duet; and Meet Ella, in which Teicher collaborates with swing legend Nathan Bugh to riff to the music of Ella Fitzgerald.
In addition to the evening weekend performances, Teicher will present a weekday program for kids and a series of contemporary tap dance workshops. The day and evening performances will take place under the Tent at PS21, 2980 Route 66 in the town of Chatham.
Inspired by concert dance, musical theater, and social dance, Teicher’s work addresses questions of how and why we dance. “We use traditional American dance forms to talk about modern American ideas,” explained Teicher. “While tap, swing, and jazz dance can often be used to remind us of earlier generations, we use these styles to reflect current ideas and emotions.”
Caleb Teicher, known for “mixing super-charged energy with tossed-off charm” (New Yorker), is an acclaimed choreographer, performer, and teacher based in New York City. Caleb Teicher began his dance career as a founding member of Michelle Dorrance’s celebrated company, DorranceDance, in 2011. He was awarded a 2011 Bessie Award for Outstanding Individual Performance for Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards’ A Shared Evening at Danspace Project. He continues to perform a variety of dance forms by dancing with The Chase Brock Experience, Syncopated City Dance Company, The Bang Group, Sally Silvers & Dancers, iLuminate, West Side Story (Int’l Tour and London), and Irma La Douce (City Center Encores).
Currently an artist-in-residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation, Teicher makes concert dance work under the banner of Caleb Teicher & Company utilizing various American dance traditions to reflection upon modern American culture. CT&Co has been presented by Works & Process at Guggenheim Bilbao, The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Inside/Out Series, Queens College, LaMaMa E.T.C.,, Jersey Tap Festival, The 92nd Street Y, Gibney Dance, Paris Jazz Roots Dance Festival, and many others. The company will make its Joyce debut in January 2018.
Teicher also works as a choreographer and collaborator for interdisciplinary work. Favorite collaborative credits include directing A Very Brief History of the United States at the Kennedy’s Center Millennium Stage, and choreographing Ga(y)ze as part of NYU’s Site-Specific Festival. Commissions include The Most Wonderful Time for Chicago Tap Theater, House Points for the Peridance Certificate Program, Posin’ for the Tap City Youth Ensemble, and Senior Thesis solos at Pace University and Barnard College. Caleb has also worked as Associate Director or Associate Choreographer to Chase Brock, Bill T. Jones, Al Blackstone, and Joe Salvatore on dance and theater projects.
Teicher has been a guest faculty member at Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center and continues to teach workshops and guest classes at various schools and festivals throughout the US. He is a proud alum of the YoungArts Foundation and The School at Jacob’s Pillow.
Teicher was named one of Dance Magazine’s 2012 “25 to Watch” and the winner of Dance Magazine’s “Best Emerging Choreographer” in the 2016 Readers’ Choice Awards. He has been featured in Vogue, Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, and many other publications.
“At the age of 17, Caleb Teicher began his career as a founding member of DorranceDance. He has since performed with Syncopated City Dance Company, The Bang Group, The Chase Brock Experience, and others,” said PS21 founder Judy Grunberg. “We saw Caleb and his company perform at the Hudson Valley Dance Festival last fall and fell in love with his work which is highly inventive, accessible, and engaging.”
Caleb Teicher and Company will perform at The Tent at PS21 Friday and Saturday, August 11 and 12, at 8:00pm. Tickets are $35 general admission, $30 members, and $18 students (school ID required for college students). To order tickets, visit PS21 or call 1-800-838-3006. For more information, visit PS21 or call 518.392.6121.
Contemporary Tap Dance Workshops
Caleb Teicher & Company dancers will offer high energy, modern tap classes for kids age 12 -18 Thursday through Saturday, August 10-12 from 10:00-11:30 am. The classes will be held on the PS21 stage under the Tent at 2980 Route 66 in the Town of Chatham. The fee to attend for three sessions is $30. One session is $15.
Just for Fun: Caleb Teicher & Company
On Friday afternoons in the summer, PS21 presents a series of free afternoon performances especially for kids and their families. Friday, August 11, from 1:00-1:45 pm, tap dancer Caleb Teicher and his company will show off and share their awesome tap skills in this special performance for kids.
PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century is a not-for-profit organization in Chatham, N.Y., dedicated to the performing arts and to serving a diverse community with concerts, programs and residencies by professional artists and ensembles, youth and children’s programming and cultural education opportunities for all ages.