Tiffany Mills Dance Company

Director’s Note
In January 2020, I told the company we were starting a new piece inspired by home. Then the pandemic hit and we found ourselves rehearsing virtually from home. Two years later, as we premiere “Homing,” I realize the restriction of living and working out of our living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens provided an opportunity – we were forced to deeply reflect. There was no escape. We looked back. We stayed present. We looked forward. What results is our journey as we excavate home. Together we ask: What happens when memories, desires, family stories, and media fantasies collide?

Biographies

Tiffany Mills(choreographer and artistic director) founded the New York City-based Tiffany Mills Company in 2000. She has created over 25 works performed with a “fearless sense of freedom and exhilaration” (Washington Post). Notable NYC seasons include: The Flea Theater as a Resident Artist (2018, 2019); La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival (2016, 2021, 2022); BAM/Kennedy Center’s Professional Development Program, which culminated in a NYC season at BAM Fisher (2013). The company’s work has been presented at: PICA’s TBA Festival (OR), Wexner Center (OH), Contemporary Dance Theater (OH), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Residency (MA), Dance Place (Washington D.C.), Austin Dance Festival (TX), Guggenheim Museum Works & Process Series, Duke on 42nd Street, Symphony Space Dance Sampler, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Dance Now at Joe’s Pub, Dancing in the Streets, Joyce SoHo, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Danspace Project’s City/Dans Series, Dance Theater Workshop Fresh Tracks, PS 122 Avant Garde Arama, Movement Research at Judson Church, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, HERE Art Center, and in Russia, Italy, Mexico, and Canada. The company holds an annual winter and summer intensive (2006–present). Mills’ guest teaching includes: Trisha Brown Studios, Dance New Amsterdam, Gibney Dance Center, Peridance, The Playground, Earthdance (MA), Velocity (WA), Conduit (OR), ACDA, universities and festivals nationally and internationally. Mills has received awards and residencies from: NYU’s Tisch Summer Dance Festival (2015, 2020), National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron working with Dancing Wheels and AXIS (2019), CUNY Dance Initiative, (2014–15, 2017), BAM/DVIAM PDP (2012–13), the Joyce Theater’s Mellon Anchor Tenant Program (2011–16), Baryshnikov Arts Center (2010), LMCC Swing Space (2008–09, 2012), HERE Art Center (2002–03), as well as University of Oregon Alumni Award; Boekhelheide Creativity Award (2005 and 2006), Bogliasco/Jerome Robbins Foundation Fellowship, Italy (2007), and Bates Dance Festival’s Emerging Choreographer Award (1998). Mills has received funding fromthe Asian Cultural Council, Mertz Gilmore (via La MaMa), Doris Duke Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, NET/TEN, Evelyn Sharp Foundation, Harkness Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Bossak/Heilbron Foundation, Sorin Charitable Trust, Puffin, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, O’Donnell Green Foundation, New Music USA, Dance/NYC Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund, Cultural Solidarity Fund, amongst others. Mills received a BA in dance from the University of Oregon and an MFA in choreography from Ohio State University. tiffanymillscompany.org

Jordan Morley is a skinny man with a wide imagination. He works in the field of the body, creating performance through dance, video, text and puppetry. His work has been shown around the world. Highlights include REDCAT (Los Angeles, CA), Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York, NY), STUFFED at Judson Church/Bailout Theater (New York, NY), Triskelion Arts (Brooklyn, NY), The Museum of Moving Image (Queens, NY), The Detroit Institute of the Arts (Detroit, MI), and Uferstudios (Berlin, DE). As a dancer he was a member of the original cast of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More (London, UK/Boston, MA/New York, NY), and has worked with Kyle Abraham/Abraham In Motion, Keely Garfield, Christopher Williams Dance, Ron De Jesus Dance, Wanda Gala, Mira Kingsley, Alexandria Yalj, Jessica Mitrani, Phantom Limb Puppet Company, and Danielle Desnoyers (Montreal, QC). Currently he is working with Amber Sloan, Tiffany Mills Company, and Tere O'Connor.jordanmorley.com

Nik Owens began his movement experience as a competitive gymnast for 15 years and began his dance training in his senior year of high school and continued at Wesleyan University, where he received a BA in Dance and a certificate in Environmental Studies. He has worked with Nicholas Leichter, Tania Isaac, and Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion and has performed works by The Dance Exchange, Raja Kelly/The Feath3r Theory, Bryn Cohn and Artists, Helen Simoneau Danse, The Bang Group, Kayla Farrish-Decent Structures Arts, Dual Rivet, 10 Hairy Legs, and others. He has worked on several duet projects and has been commissioned to create works at Rivertown Dance Academy in New York and The Wooden Floor (under David Dorfman Dance) in California. He currently collaborates and performs with Tiffany Mills Company, Kyle Marshall Choreography, and David Dorfman Dance. In 2021 he began working on a solo of his own creation called The Right Kind and plans to continue that project's choreographic journey.

Emily Pope (she/they) is a dancer, performer, instructor, choreographer, and video artist. She was recently awarded a Bessie Honoree for Outstanding Performer 2020. She is an alumnus of the North Carolina School of the Arts (1986-1991). She received her BFA in Dance Performance/Choreography from The Ohio State University (1997, Summa Cum Laude) and her MFA in Dance/Choreography from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts (2007). She has worked with choreographers: Malcolm Low, johannes wieland, Gerald Casel, Bridget Moore, Yin Yue, Molly Maxner, Balinda Craig-Quijada, Hannah Barnard, Jules Bakshi, and Sari Nordman. She has performed as a member of BalletMet Ohio, Charleston Ballet Theatre, Hilary Easton + Company, and White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company. She currently works with Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks, Douglas Dunn + Dancers, Tamar Rogoff Performance Projects, and the Tiffany Mills Company, where she is also the Rehearsal Assistant. She created HoverBound Productions in 2006, and her choreography and video work has been presented at the John Jay Theater, St. Mark’s Church, Chen Dance Center, Chez Bushwick, 3rd Ward, Rio Grande Studio, and The TANK. She has been at the Chinatown YMCA as a dance/yoga teacher for 15 years. She is a Certified Integral Yoga Instructor (2001), Somatic Body Therapist (2000), Certified Reiki Therapist (2018).

Mei Yamanaka is a dancer and choreographer from Japan. She moved to New York in 2008 and has worked and collaborated with artists including: Tiffany Mills Company, Catherine Galasso, Christine Bonansea, Dendy Donovan Projects, Jennifer Archibald, Orange Grove Dance, Katy Pyle, Patricia Noworol Dance Theater, Jody Oberfelder, Dai Jian, Palissimo, Oui Danse, among others. Her work has been seen at Fresh Tracks at New York Live Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, Mix Festival at HERE, and more. She was a “Fresh Tracks” residency artist at Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts) in 2010-2011. She was also a residency artist at Chez Bushwick in 2014. She joined Tiffany Mills Company in 2013. Right now, she is dancing and living in Japan. She is so happy to be a part of Tiffany Mills Company and this piece "Homing" from Japan. meiyamanaka.com

Collaborator Biographies

Theo Cote (Videographer and Editor) is a videographer and photographer working between Upstate New York and New York City. His work has been included in various publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian (UK), The Huffington Post, VICE, Salon, 032c, The Village Voice, and The Armory Show.

Kay Cummings (Company Dramaturge and Editing Advisor) has played leading roles off-Broadway, in national tours, stock, repertory theater, television soaps, series and commercials and has appeared in major motion pictures. She has created and directed works performed at venues such as The Joseph Papp Public Theater, P.S. 122, Lincoln Center’s Serious Fun, LaMaMa, E.T.C., Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theatre, Dance Theatre Workshop, Minneapolis’ Southern Theatre, and L.A.s Cast Theater. She is the recipient of grants from the N.E.A., N.Y.S.C.A. and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Consortium. She was the dance curator for Symphony Space for 10 years. Ms. Cummings served from 1992 through 2002 as the Chair of the Department of Dance of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, founding the Tisch Dance Summer Residency Festival, and continued to teach choreography and acting there as well as being the Associate Chair until she retired in 2016. Since retiring, she has been busy directing and acting in Delaware.

Max Giteck Duykers (Composer) is a Brooklyn-based composer whose work is dedicated to unusual beauty, unique forms, and collaborative projects. He frequently incorporates technology in performance in a manner which gives the performers room for individual expression. A veteran of multidisciplinary performance, Duykers is also interested in reworking developmental processes for artists to find their collective "sweet spot" and produce work which is personal, confronting, and starkly beautiful. An album of his music featuring his group, Ensemble Ipse, was released on New World Records in May 2019, with producer Judith Sherman. Other recent projects include the experimental chamber opera "Both Eyes Open" about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, featuring a libretto by acclaimed playwright and filmmaker, Philip Kan Gotanda. The piece will be premiered across the U.S. by the Paul Dresher Ensemble in 2022-23, with support from the National Parks Service, California Humanities, the JA Community Foundation, the Brooklyn Arts Council, New Music USA, and the Jerome Fund for New Music. Other commissions and premieres include Third Angle New Music, the Beo String Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, Avian Orchestra, The Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, the Oakland Youth Orchestra, The Seattle Chamber Players, and The Glass Farm Ensemble. His music has been featured at music festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad, and he recently completed his Ph.D. at Stony Brook University where he studied with Sheila Silver. jealousgods.com

Chris Hudacs (Lighting Designer) has been collaborating with TMC for nearly all of the Company’s 20 years. Chris has also designed lights for Pilobolus Dance Theater, Raphael Xavier, The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New England Conservatory, Boston Lyric Opera, The A.R.T./MXAT Institute at Harvard, Sylvain Emard’s “Le Grand Continental” (Celebrity Series of Boston), Gallim Dance (NYC), the York Theatre (NYC), Nancy Meehan Dance (NYC), Rites & Reason Theatre (Brown University) and many others. Chris has toured as a Production Manager/Technical Director with Pilobolus, Shen Wei Dance Arts, David Dorfman Dance, Doug Varone and Dancers, and Stephen Petronio Dance Company. WhodaxLD.com

Naoko Nagata (Costumer Designer) started her career as a biochemist in Japan. Her evolution into costume making is a long story. With literally no formal training, she has been creating for a diverse group of choreographers and dancers non-stop since 1998. She has collaborated with David Thomson, Ralph Lemon, Reggie Wilson, Vicky Shick, Kyle Abraham for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bebe Miller, David Dorfman, David Neumann, Doug Elkins, Gina Gibney, Jimena Paz, Liz Lerman, Nora Chipaumire, Urban Bush Women, Zvi Gotheiner, Raja Feather Kelly and many, many others. Working closely with collaborators, Naoko helps bring to life what she herself calls, “the creation of a shared dream.”

Thank you, Tiffany, for this third collaborative opportunity. 
 

Tickets and Information 

*UCCS students receive $5 tickets.
Contact the Box Office at 719-255-8181 with your student ID number handy to reserve your ticket.