Made possible by the Eleo Pomare–Glenn Connor Dance Endowment
The Choreographic Residency program at KSU invites two nationally-emerging or mid-career
choreographers to the Department of Dance each summer for a four-week residency to
create two world premieres on the KSU Dance Company. Invited choreographers will audition
and select dancers, preferably for ten students, for which they will create an original
choreographic 30-minute group work. The residency culminates in two fully produced
pieces, presented as a double bill in our state-of-the-art KSU Dance Theater. A panel
of industry and university professionals will review and select choreographers. The
department will announce the recipients of this residency in the spring.
The residency is designed to support the creative process of emerging or mid-career
artists with an emphasis on innovation and movement invention. The goal of the residency
is to increase students' access to the professional practice of dance while further
enhancing and enriching their dance education at KSU. The resident choreographers
receive a $5,000 honorarium. Housing, travel, and per diem are included in the honorarium.
The Dance Department will provide additional travel funds of up to $1,000 to return
to KSU at the beginning of the fall term for rehearsals and performances.
This program is made possible by the Eleo Pomare–Glenn Conner Dance Endowment, which
is funded by a generous gift from Jay and Debra Yunek. The Eleo Pomare-Glenn Conner
Dance Endowment honors their late uncle, Glenn Conner, and his partner, Eleo Pomare.
Eleo Pomare was known for his artistic range and his innovative approach to choreography.
He was a prolific choreographer whose work often focused on instances of social inequality
and injustice.
A CV outlining choreographic history A description of the proposed work Two complete works (not excerpts). One sample must be a group work. Three references
Tsai Hsi Hung graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts 2011. In 2009,
she traveled to Australia as an exchange student for the Dance at Queensland Technology
University Dance Department. She has worked with the Australian Dance Theater, Tasdance,
Expressions Dance Company, and Chunky Move Dance Company Dancers.
In 2020, Hung received a Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the
Arts. Shortly after, Hung's work was selected by the Joffrey Academy of Dance for
their Spring 2020 Winning Works performance in Chicago.Hung was invited to Taipei
National Dance Theater to perform New work this July 2020. Hung's most recent work
will be featured in Ballet X's 2020-2021 season. In 2021, Hung won Western Michigan
University's National Choreography Competition and will premiere a new work in 2022.
For Ballet X's 2022 Season, Hung will create a new work for their dancers through
the Ballet X Choreographer Fellowship. Battery Dance of New York will also premiere
an original work in the summer of 2022, inspired by the paintings of Hans Hofmann.Hung
will be in residence at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, in the summer of 2022
to create new work for the students of their dance department.
Hung teaches the open class at the Peridance Capezio Dance Center and NYU Tisch Dance
and /MOVE|NYC|, and is the director of the Queens Ballet Center/QBC Company in New
York.
Chuck Wilt (Summer 2022)
Chuck WiltChuck Wilt is the Artistic Director of UNA Productions. Chuck has been a choreographic fellow of the Ailey Foundation NDCL, a recipient
of the Rainin Opportunity Fund, and an Artist in Residence at The Launchpad, 92nd
St. Y, CUNY Dance Initiative/Brooklyn College, Fusion International:Japan, Berkeley
Ballet Theater and RoundAntennae.
UNA's work has been presented by the Chutzpah! Festival in Vancouver, Sointula and
Alert Bay, the 92nd St. Y, Fusion International, Dance Initiative, Movement Research,
Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out and co-presented by ODC Theater, among others.
Most recently, UNA has been co-commissioned by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
for the premiere of Grass is Green in 2022 and received support from US Artists International to tour new work to Jerusalem.
Wilt has taught, created and set repertory internationally for universities, training
programs, summer programs, professional companies, youth companies, high schools,
and professional dancers. Chuck graduated from NYU Tisch.
Previous Choreographers
Annalee Traylor (Summer 2021)
Annalee Traylor is a NYC-based freelance creator/choreographer and educator. She is
a high school graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and received her BFA
with honors from Point Park University. Her live work has been presented at numerous
venues in cities nationally and abroad including Los Angeles, NYC, Pittsburgh, Atlanta,
Huntsville, Texas, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, and her films have been shown in Seattle,
Temecula, Brooklyn, Rome, Minnesota, and at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina.
She has been commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance, Texture Contemporary Ballet,
REED Dance, Infra Dance Company of Carnegie Mellon, Point Park University's International
Summer Dance, DanceCanvas, and Voices Carry Inc., and she has been awarded residencies
through Terra Nova, Periapsis Music and Dance, Highways Performance Space, and the
Dance Gallery Festival. Most recently, she was named Outstanding Choreographer at
the 2020 Youth America Grand Prix regionals.
Annalee feels a personal responsibility and finds joy in sharing her passion and knowledge
with younger generations. She has taught master classes throughout the United States
and been on faculty at schools on the east and west coasts. Guest teaching credits
include: Carnegie Mellon University, Sam Houston State University, Point Park University,
Slippery Rock University, Dekalb School of the Arts, and The Creative and Performing
Arts High School in Pittsburgh among others.
Omar Román De Jesús (Summer 2021)
Omar Román De Jesús (he/him), originally from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, is a recipient
of the 2020 Jacob's Pillow Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship. He has been
commissioned twice by Instituto de Cultura de Puerto Rico to create work for the International
Dance Festival of Puerto Rico, where he was awarded the Ambassador of Dance medal.
Omar has won choreographic competitions including the Joffrey Academy of Dance's Winning
Works Choreographic Competition and Whim W’Him’s Choreographic Shindig, and received
awards including the Audience Award at The Dance Gallery Festival, 1st place prize
at the Reverb Dance Festival, and the Parsons Dance GenerationNOW Commission for their
2017 Joyce Season. He has also created work for Jacob Jonas The Company and educational
institutions such as The Ailey School, James Madison University, and Booker T. Washington
High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
His work was presented at the 2020 CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work Contemporary Dance Festival
and will be presented, online and live, at the upcoming PRISMA International Dance
Festival in Panama, the Jerusalem International Choreographic Competition, and the
Palm Desert Choreography Festival. Omar will be creating a new work on Bruce Wood
Dance this upcoming March.
Annalee Traylor is a NYC-based freelance creator/choreographer and educator. She is
a high school graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and received her BFA
with honors from Point Park University. Her live work has been presented at numerous
venues in cities nationally and abroad including Los Angeles, NYC, Pittsburgh, Atlanta,
Huntsville, Texas, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, and her films have been shown in Seattle,
Temecula, Brooklyn, Rome, Minnesota, and at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina.
Omar Román De Jesús (he/him), originally from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, is a recipient
of the 2020 Jacob's Pillow Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship. He has been
commissioned twice by Instituto de Cultura de Puerto Rico to create work for the International
Dance Festival of Puerto Rico, where he was awarded the Ambassador of Dance medal.
