Jamie Cunningham
Jamie Cunningham, a native of Toronto with honors degrees (BA and MA) in English Literature and Drama from the University of Toronto, has studied and performed as both an actor and dancer. He studied acting, voice (under Iris Warren), dance and directing at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts, as well as yoga, tai chi and dance in New York. His choreography credits include Twelfth Night and Don Giovanni at the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival, Lorca’s Yerma for Canadian television, and over two dozen of his own works. He has created pieces for performance spaces ranging from proscenium theatres to swimming pools to the mall in Washington DC to the steps of the US Treasury Building on Wall Street. Introducing elements of acting, singing and music, as well as dance, several of these pieces have been designed for performance by a company with up to 150 volunteers, dancers and non-dancers alike. In 1980, Mr. Cunningham directed and choreographed the Opera St. Louis production of Brecht-Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, featuring his own company members. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Creative Artists Public Service Program, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the American Dance Festival. He has been a member of the faculty of the Pratt Institute for the past 19 years and is currently on the Faculty of the Professional Theatre Training Program of the University of Delaware where he teaches acting, directing, voice and movement to graduate and undergraduate theatre students. During the 1980’s he directed productions of As You Like It, Private Lives, The 3 Penny Opera and What the Butler Saw, as well as the North American preview of the award-winning English play The Harlot’s Curse.
Tina Croll
Tina Croll came to New York City after graduating from Bennington College and was a founding member of Dance Theater Workshop. She studied with Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Nina Fonaroff and composition with Louis Horst and Anna Sokolow. She performed in the companies of Judith Dunn, James Cunningham, Jeff Duncan, and Jack Moore, among others. She established Tina Croll + Company and performed at the Judson Church, DTW, Theatre of the Riverside Church, and other New York venues and toured extensively throughout the United States. After a period spent exploring the spiritual aspect of dance, a quest that took her to India and Europe, she moved to the West Coast where, in 1982, she formed a new company. In 1993, Ms. Croll returned to her roots in New York City and has been performing her work at The Kitchen, DTW, P.S. 122, Danspace Project, the Kaye Playhouse, the Duke on 42nd Street, and other locations. Recent evening-length productions at Danspace Project include Ancient Springs with a cast of 20 dancers; and Balkan Dreams, a collaboration with Zlatne Uste, a twelve piece Balkan Brass Band. Other collaborations include an improvisation group, “The Gang of Four,” with Wendy Perron, Douglas Dunn, and Kenneth King. Ms. Croll and Jamie Cunningham continue to perform their ongoing project From the Horse’s Mouth, produced for the past 12 years around the US and Canada in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto and Honolulu, as well as Jacob’s Pillow and the American Dance Festival. Ms. Croll is the recipient of grants from the NEA, NYSCA, Harkness Foundation, DTW, Bennington College, other organizations. www.tinacroll.org