Trillium Arts is delighted to announce the recipients of its third annual ACE (Asheville/Chicago Exchange) Fellowship in Dance. Fellowships are being awarded in 2022 to Julia Rae Antonick & Jonathan Meyer, Alejandro Cerrudo and Jessica Deahr. These outstanding artists were selected by invitation.

“The 2022 ACE Fellows were selected based on their artistic merit and the quality of the exciting projects they will further while here at Trillium,” states Phil Reynolds, Trillium Arts President. Trillium is delighted to support their important work and can’t wait to see what grows out of these ACE Fellowships this season!

MEET THE ARTISTS

Photo of Julia Rae Antonick and Jonathan Meyer by William Frederking

JULIA RAE ANTONICK & JONATHAN MEYER
www.khecari.org
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Julia Rae Antonick and Jonathan Meyer have been working together since 2007. Through the years, Antonick and Meyer have developed a specific approach to the dance experience through creating absorbing environments, striking imagery, emotionally potent and kinetically vibrant work. Antonick and Meyer have been awarded The Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Grant, have received choreographic residencies at Djerassi, Ragdale, Hambidge, Centrum, Abigail, Links Hall, and The Chicago Cultural Center, were chosen for New England Foundation for the Arts’s Regional Dance Development Initiative, Links Hall’s Midwest Touring Nexus project, Mordine&Co.’s Emerging Artist Program, Korespondance’s Fillimit, nominated for the USArtists and 3Arts awards and were presented in the 40th anniversary season at The Dance Center of Columbia College.

They have received grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Illinois Arts Council, The Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance, Driehaus, Donnelly, Cheney, Farley, Morrison-Shearer and Logan foundations, and have been listed as one of The Chicago Tribune, Windy City Times, and NewCity’s best choreographers and top 50 players. They have acted as mentor/outside eyes for Links Hall’s Co-Mission and LinkUp Residencies, taught Pro Modern Dance at Hubbard Street’s Lou Conte Dance Studios, and are artists in residence at Indian Boundary Park in Chicago.

FELLOWSHIP PLANS

Jonathan, Julia and two dancers from their company, Khecari, will be in residence August 15-23, rebuilding the intensive duet Marginalia in preparation for touring the work to Dance Place in Washington, D.C. Premiered in 2019 at Links Hall in Chicago, the piece is highly kinetic, rigorous and nuanced, with challenging costume negotiations and exacting timing. The artists are excited to undertake this taxing process in the beautiful and restorative environment of Trillium.

Photo of Alejandro Cerrudo by THE GINGERB3ARDMEN

ALEJANDRO CERRUDO
https://www.alejandrocerrudo.com

Alejandro Cerrudo was born in Madrid, Spain. His professional career includes work with Victor Ullate Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 2 and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC). Cerrudo became HSDC’s first-ever resident choreographer in 2008 and held that position until 2018.

Cerrudo’s body of work has been performed by over 20 professional dance companies around the world. Honors include an award from the Boomerang Fund for Artists (2011) and the Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work from the Prince Charitable Trusts (2012) for his acclaimed, first evening-length work, One Thousand Pieces. In 2014 he was awarded the USA Donnelley Fellowship by United States Artists. Also, Cerrudo was one of four choreographers invited by New York City Ballet’s Wendy Whelan to create and perform original duets for Restless Creatures. In 2017 Cerrudo was invited by Daniil Simkin to choreograph a site-specific performance for the Guggenheim Rotunda, a Works & Process Rotunda Project commission, featuring Daniil Simkin and original costumes by Dior. Cerrudo’s Sleeping Beauty, created with Ballet Theater Basel in 2016, was nominated as “Production of the Year” in Switzerland in the “Tanz, Jahrbuch 2016” by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

In 2020 Cerrudo was appointed Pacific Northwest Ballet’s resident choreographer, with that, he became the first artist in the company’s history to have the honor of holding that title. Independently, he directed and choreographed his show, “It Starts Now,” which premiered in 2020 at The Joyce Theater in New York. In the Spring of 2022, Cerrudo was appointed artistic director of Charlotte Ballet.

Photo of Ana Lopez and Seia Rassenti by Rosalie O'Connor

FELLOWSHIP PLANS

“It Starts Now” is a capsule of moments of a life that all of us can relate to – the feeling of time stretching in the suspended moment before a kiss, the discomfort of a moment lasting longer than one wants, the rapid acceleration of time that comes from the jarring nature of change or from being completely absorbed in something pleasant. It is a collection of nows. The piece is an invitation to be fully engaged with what you are watching or feeling, for that is the only way to experience true presence.

The ACE residency program will facilitate the preparation of this production to be presented to the Chicago audiences at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago on September 8th 2022. This is the first self-produced work independent project by Alejandro Cerrudo, returning to the Harris for the first time since his choreographic residency with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2018. Alejandro and his cast of dancers will be in residence at Trillium Arts July 8-16.

Meet the Team of “It Starts Now”

JESSICA DEAHR
https://chicagodancecrash.com/
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Jessica Deahr, Artistic Director of Chicago Dance Crash, is a dancer-turned-director whose international performance career has quickly developed into an eclectic choreography catalogue. Ms. Deahr has toured Europe, the Mediterranean, Canary Islands, Mexico, Eastern and Western Caribbean, Canada, the U.S. and South Korea as a dancer and aerial artist. A first-generation student of James Morrow’s concert hip hop “fusion” technique, Jess has held company positions for both Morrow as well as the Joel Hall Dancers. Creatively, Ms. Deahr’s choreography and direction has been seen across the country in museums, public installations, fashion shows, films, and for peer theatre/dance companies such as C5, Visceral Dance Chicago's Solus, and Chicago Tap Theatre as well as throughout Crash’s primary Season of premier works.

Recognition for Jessica's direction and choreography in evening length works includes The Final Stage (Chicago Tribune Top 10 dance 2021), Lil Pine Nut (Chicago Tribune Best in Dance 2019), Bricklayers of Oz (Dance Magazine Most Inventive New Work 2017 and Chicago Tribune Best in Dance 2017), and Gotham City (Chicago Tribune Best in Dance 2012). Her repertoire works have been featured in Dance For Life, Chicago Summer Dance, Millennium Park Theatre Series, Spring to Dance, Stomping Grounds, and national tours while her commercial direction credits range from Uniqlo to Cheerios.

Founded in 2002, Crash has emerged as a critical staple of the local and national scene, engaging audiences and broadening the exposure of contemporary dance. The Crash aesthetic is most notably recognized by its combination of acrobatics, concert and hip hop techniques in works ranging from full length productions to repertory pieces and freestyles. Lead by Artistic Director Jessica Deahr with an emphasis on a unique mission of accessibility and athleticism, Crash has grown to receive critical acclaim throughout its 20 years of groundbreaking dance.

Photo of Chicago Dance Crash by Ashley Deran.

FELLOWSHIP PLANS

In residence September 19-27, Crash looks forward to collaborating, workshopping and pushing boundaries during its time at Trillium with a collection of dancers whose specialties include house, breaking, partnering, and athletic contemporary. While disconnecting from their typical creation process and connecting with each other in new ways, the artists look forward to generating a fresh repertoire piece that reflects what happens when allowed the time and space to create and jam. Jessica will be joined by company dancers KC Bevis, Diamond Burdine, Logan Howell, Kelsey Reiter and Ibrahim Sabbi.