Welcome to the 17th annual National Choreographers Initiative! We are jumping for joy to be back this year and excited to be collaborating and creating new works. Thank you all for your continued support and involvement with NCI!
When I first dreamt of this initiative, I wanted to create a laboratory that would foster the development of new works without the strict deadlines and expectations of a premiere. This project was made possible through the vision and commitment of the NCI Advisory Committee. The partnership with Irvine Barclay Theatre has been central to the success of NCI, as they act as our fiscal agent and present the Discovery showing. We are also grateful to UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts Dance Department, which provides the studio space for our rehearsals. I extend my sincerest thanks to all of the individuals who contribute to this project!
NCI’s Discovery showing features new work from four innovative choreographers — Sean Carmon, Mari Meade, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, and Eva Stone — created during a three-week intensive process with twelve professional dancers from Smuin Ballet and Sacramento Ballet. I hope you will engage in the creative process and join our discussion at the conclusion of the showing.
Since 2004, NCI has hosted 61 choreographers (24 women), 139 dancers from 47 different companies, and showcased 64 new works — 29 of which have been produced by companies throughout the United States. As the national scope of NCI continues to expand, I look forward to many more artistic achievements in the years to come!
Thank you for joining us and for supporting dance!
Sean Aaron Carmon is a dancer and choreographer, originally from Beaumont, Texas. He has performed professionally as a soloist with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and on Broadway in the 2010 Tony Award- winning revival La Cage aux Folles and also in The Phantom of the Opera. His choreography has been performed all across the country and internationally and has been lauded as "everything and then some..." and "powerful" and "seriously flawless" by major national print and online publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, DanceSpirit, and Dance Magazine. He was awarded Joffrey Ballet's 2017 Winning Works Choreography Award and New York City's Dance Gallery Festival Audience Choice Award. His choreography has been presented at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, and he has created multiple original works for the University of Richmond Department of Theatre and Dance. In addition, he has created several works for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for multiple Ailey Dancers’ Resource Fund benefit performances. He teaches master classes and choreographs for studios, dance conventions, high schools, colleges, and universities across the U.S. and internationally. 
Mari Meade is currently based in Dordogne, France, renovating an 1800s watermill into a creative, sustainable arts residency called Moulin/Belle. Meade is a choreographer, educator, and leader previously based in New York City, born in California, and raised outside New Orleans. In 2009, she started her New York City-based contemporary dance company, Mari Meade Dance Collective/MMDC, after receiving the Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center Education. Meade was awarded fellowships at New York Choreographic Institute (an affiliate of New York City Ballet), University of North Carolina School of the Arts Choreographic Institute, Doug Varone’s DEVICES, and was an Artist-in-Residence at Chez Bushwick, Triskelion Arts, CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), and Lake Studios Berlin (Germany). She has been supported by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Queen's Council on the Arts (New Work and Su Casa grant), Dance/NYC, The Actor's Fund, and Semans Arts Fund. She has shown work nationally and internationally, including the Clark Theatre at Lincoln Center, Danspace/St. Mark’s Church, Judson Memorial Church, Battery Dance Festival, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival, ChopShop: Bodies of Work, Baltimore Dance Invitational, Katlehong Arts Center (South Africa), and Lake Studios Berlin (Germany). She is a board member of The Kenan Institute for the Arts and the Associate Director of UNC School of the Arts Choreographic Institute. She has spoken at Women in Dance Leadership Conference, Dance/NYC’s Symposium, and was a mentor for Ann and Weston Hick's Choreography Fellows Program at Jacob’s Pillow. She is a teaching artist for New York City Ballet, Dancing Classrooms, and the Kupferberg Center. She received her B.F.A. from UNC School of the Arts. @moulinbelleperigord @mmdcbrooklyn @marimeade 
Katarzyna Skarpetowska is a native of Warsaw, Poland. She is an alumna of New York City High School of Performing Arts and received a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School in 1999 under Artistic Director Benjamin Harkarvy. Katarzyna was a member of Parsons Dance from 1999 until 2006, where she performed lead roles in the company’s repertory, including the iconic Caught. From 2007 until 2014, she danced for the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, performing at many reputable venues, including New York City Center and The Joyce Theater, Washington D.C.’s The Kennedy Center, and Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. Her Broadway credits include Metro (Minskoff Theatre, 1992). For her choreographic achievements, Katarzyna was named Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2016 and was nominated for a New York Dance and Performance Award, The Bessie, in 2017. She has been commissioned by Richmond Ballet, BalletX, Parsons Dance, Buglisi Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater II, Bruce Wood Dance, and The Juilliard School, among others. In 2018, Kate choreographed an Opera Theatre of Saint Louis production of Orfeo and Eurydice, in collaboration with Director Ron Daniels and maestro Pierre Vallet. She resides in New York City. 
Eva Stone is a choreographer, teaching artist, and founder/producer/curator of CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work, an annual contemporary dance festival held in Bellevue, Washington. She received a B.F.A. in Performance and Choreography from Arizona State University, and later earned an M.A. in Choreography and Choreological Studies from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in the U.K. Ms. Stone is also the Artistic Director of The Stone Dance Collective, which she originated in London, England. She’s created commissioned work for Spectrum Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet/Seattle Art Museum’s Sculptured Dance, Seattle International Dance Festival, Seattle Dance Project, and for regional ballet companies throughout the U.S. Her work has been presented in New York, Los Angeles, London, Geneva, Montreal, and St. Petersburg. In September 2018, she launched a nationally recognized choreography program, New Voices: Choreography and Process, for Young Women in Dance at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Most recently, Ms. Stone was commissioned to create a main stage work for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2019/20 season, which received high critical acclaim and local and national attention. This summer, her work will be presented at the prestigious Sun Valley Dance Festival where she will also be a part of the teaching faculty.