About:
RDC's Choreography Project is an intense, four day residency experience for high school dancers, culminating in an exciting performance opportunity. Working with RDC Season Choreographer Xi Zhao, participants will hone their technical, artistic, and performance skills in rehearsals for an original modern dance work. This experience provides a glimpse into professional life and reflects RESILIENCE's creative processes. Each day will include technique class followed by two rehearsal blocks, culminating in a performance during the first ever St. Louis Contemporary Dance Festival, hosted by RESILIENCE Dance Company.
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Photo: "Traverse" choreographed by Xi Zhao and Suzanne Beahrs, "Entry Points" 2023.
Auditions and Registration Process
All students interested in participating in the Choreography Project must complete an audition and application. There are two options to audition for RESILIENCE Dance Company's Choreography Project:
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1. Submit a Virtual Audition
Guidelines for our virtual audition are below:
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Please submit the following in one edited video -
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Learn and perform two combinations taught by RDC. These combinations incorporate modern, contemporary, ballet and floorwork techniques and have options for modifications. Click the links below to view and learn the combos, then record yourself performing them as part of your audition video. Music links are included in the video descriptions.
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Combo 1: Modern Floorwork
Combo 2: Contemporary Adagio
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(Optional) 1 - 2min of choreography or improvisational work. This can include performance or rehearsal clips of completed or in-progress choreography, solo or group context improvisation, or the dancer's own choreography. Show us your artistry, creativity, and performance presence!
Videos DO NOT need to be professional quality. Feel free to take quick videos on your phone. RDC is interested in dancers who work with functional technique, who have experience in ballet, modern, contemporary, and floorwork at the intermediate/advanced level, and who are strengthening their artistry and performance quality. ​
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2. Attend the Regional Summer Intensive Audition (RSIA) hosted by COCA on Saturday, January 13th.
This is an excellent choice for those interested in taking sample classes from a wide variety of dance companies, honing their in-person audition skills, networking, or looking at participating in multiple summer dance programs. There is a $95 participation fee. More info here. Dancers should attend during their age group's time.
Click the button above to complete the application and virtual audition. If you are electing to audition in-person, complete the same application and select "in-person" audition on the form. You can expect to hear back from RDC two weeks following your submission. If accepted, RDC will follow up with registration information.
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Email info@resiliencedancecompany.com with any questions!
Xi Zhao - Choreographer
XI ZHAO received her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and her MA at the School of Dance, Minzu University of China, where she stayed as a tenured lecturer after graduation and worked for 12 years. Xi’s choreographic works including Chinese Dance, modern dance, and Chinese Opera have won many major prizes in China and have been presented internationally. She is the founder and artistic director of Beijing New Dance Festival, one of the most influential international contemporary dance festivals in China. From 2015 to 2000, the festival invited over 100 international artists from more than 25 countries to perform and to teach in Beijing, introducing various contemporary dance artists and companies from central and Eastern Europe to China for the first time. In view of Xi Zhao's contributions to the international contemporary dance exchanges, the Dance Fest Skopje in North Macedonia honored her the "Award MENADA for Extraordinary Achievement in the Field of Contemporary Dance" in 2019. Xi moved to St. Louis as a Visiting Guest Artist in the Dance Department at Webster University where she currently serves in the faculty team and has been the Artistic Director of Webster University Dance Ensemble since 2021.
