Yoshiko Chuma

Photo: Jonathan Slaff

Yoshiko Chuma is a native of Japan who came to the US in 1976 and has created more than 50 full-length performance works for theatres and site-specific venues with her company throughout the world. Chuma is the recipient of fellowships and awards for choreography and career work from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for Artists, Japan Foundation, Meet the Composer Choreographer/Composer Commissions, and Philip Morris New Works. She received a 1984 Bessie award for choreography, and four more Bessies were awarded to her company productions and artists between 1987 to 1998.  She was Artistic Director of the Daghdha Dance Company in Limerick, Ireland from 2000-2003.

The School of Hard Knocks is a New York-based collective of performing, visual artists and designers working under the Artistic Direction of Yoshiko Chuma. Since the its premiere at the 1980 Venice Biennale, this award-winning company has created and performed original works in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The School of Hard Knocks takes its name from the American idiom meaning to learn things the hard way, on the proverbial "street", and was first used as the title of a performance at the 1980 Venice Bienale. More than 1,000 people have performed to wide critical acclaim under Chuma's direction in theatrical dance concerts, street performances, grand parades, large-scale spectacles and intimate living rooms. www.yoshikochuma.org

Tina Croll

A pioneer in the New York dance community, Tina Croll is a founding member of Dance Theater Workshop. Croll studied with Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins and Nina Fonoroff and performed in the companies of Jose Limon, Jeff Duncan, Jack Moore, Arthur Bauman, James Cunningham, and Judith Dunn among others. She established Tina Croll + Company in New York City and performed with her company at Judson Church, Dance Theater Workshop, the Theatre of the Riverside Church, Clark Center, and other theaters in the city. The company also 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, Tina Croll moved to the west coast. Here she formed a new company.

In 1993, Croll returned to her roots in New York City and has been performing her work at Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, P.S. 122, The Kitchen, Movement Research at Judson Church and other locations in the city. Ms. Croll joined with Wendy Perron, Douglas Dunn and Kenneth King to form an improvisation group The Gang of Four. They performed at P.S.122 and were featured in the 1995 Improvisation Festival at Judson Church. Recent productions include Ancient Springs an evening-length work commissioned by Danspace Project and Balkan Dreams, a collaboration with Zlatne Uste, a twelve piece Balkan Brass Band, where 8 modern dancers and 12 folk dancers joined with 18 musicians. Croll and Jamie Cunningham continue to work together on their ongoing project, From the Horse’s Mouth, which has been produced for the past eight years around the United States. Ms. Croll is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Harkness Foundation, Dance Theater Workshop, Bennington College, the Gutman Foundation and other organizations. www.tinacroll.org