"I'm hoping the students will hear their own voices actually, so it's not that they're looking for things they already know, they're looking to discover things they don't know. I would characterize it as the vitality of thought, the versatility of thinking."

-Jill Johnson, MIP Founding Collaborator


The MOVEMENT INVENTION PROJECT (MIP) 2014 starts in just 5 days!  This year, we are proud to celebrate six years of innovation and creativity in dance, and are excited to welcome our new and returning collaborators. Dancers from all over the country will attend the program, held at Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City from June 30-July 18.

MIP is a unique summer dance intensive in New York City for advanced dancers, 17 to 22 years old. Dancers work with an extraordinary faculty of teachers, choreographers, and mentors in a project that encourages risk-taking, creativity, and the development of improvisational skills, in a supportive environment that prepares the dancer to work in collaboration with today’s choreographers.

MIP DIRECTORS
Alexandra Wells (Concept & Artistic Director)
Nancy Turano (New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble, Artistic Director)

MIP 2014 COLLABORATORS
RETURNING MIP COLLABORATORS
Sidra Bell & Alexandra Johnson (Sidra Bell Dance New York, Artistic Director and MIP Founding Collaborator)
Gabriel Forestieri (ProjectLIMB)
Shannon Gillen (Shannon Gillen + Guests, Artistic Director and Staatstheater Kassel/Johannes Wieland)

NEW MIP COLLABORATORS

Jermaine Spivey (Kidd Pivot) graduated from the Juilliard School, and has danced professionally in Europe with Cullberg Ballet, The Forsythe Company and Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot company, among others. He is a Princess Grace Awardee as well as a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts 1st Level Awardee. Photo by Allison Schultz.

Video by Genna Baroni

Artistic Director Nancy Turano has named Lisa Rumbauskas, NJDTE alumna and faculty member, as the first Director of the Young Dancers Program.

This new position is the latest chapter in Rumbauskas’ lifelong affiliation with NJDTE, who began studying with the Ensemble at age 7. She received a BFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied with and performed works by Mark Morris, Ann Reinking, Sean Curran, Gus Solomons Jr. and Ronald K. Brown, among others. She has also toured around the country with various Broadway productions, including Swing!.

Last year, NJDTE offered Rumbauskas a scholarship to study the American Ballet Theater curriculum and become an ABT® Certified Teacher.

We look forward to a strong future for our Young Dancers Program under Rumbauskas' leadership.

To read more about YDP and Lisa Rumbauskas, see the link below.