Guest Artists
Sydney Skybetter
Sydney Skybetter is a choreographer. Hailed by Dance Magazine as “One of the most influential people in dance today,” his work has been performed around the country at such venues as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Boston Center for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow and The Joyce Theater.
A sought-after speaker, Sydney lectures on everything from dance history to cultural futurism, most recently at Harvard University, South by Southwest Interactive, TEDx, Saatchi and Saatchi, MIT, and Oculus Research. He has consulted for Sotheby’s, The National Ballet of Canada, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Hasbro, New York University and The University of Southern California, among others, and is a Public Humanities Fellow and Lecturer at Brown University where he researches the choreographics of human computer interfaces and mixed reality systems.
Sydney is the founder of the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces (CRCI), which convenes ethnographers, anthropologists, speculative designers and performing artists to discuss the choreography of the Internet of Things. He produces shows at Joe’s Pub, SteelStacks and OBERON with DanceNOW[NYC], has served as a Grant Panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts, is a Curatorial Advisor for Fractured Atlas’ Exponential Creativity Fund, and is the winner of a RISCA Fellowship in Choreography from the State of Rhode Island. He received his MFA in Choreography from New York University.
Bill Evans
Bill Evans first danced professionally in 1966, with the Briansky Ballet, based in New York City and Binghamtom, NY and as a guest with the Washington (D.C.) Ballet and the Atlanta Ballet. After dancing with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and touring nationally with Ruth Page's Chicago Ballet, he returned to Utah, where he joined the Repertory Dance Theatre in the spring of 1967. He remained with the company working full-time as a dancer, choreographer and one of three artistic coordinators through the spring of 1974. He has served on RDT's advisory board for many years and has returned often to choreograph new works, re-stage older works and/or teach company classes. He created a new work for RDT's 50th anniversary in August, 2015.
In 1970, he founded the Bill Evans Solo Dance Repertory. He has continued to perform solo concerts throughout the years, and his work as a solo artist has taken him to 22 different countries. He performed solo concerts to celebrate his 75th birthday in Winnipeg, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque in the spring, summer and fall of 2015.
In 1974, Bill Evans left Utah Repertory Dance Theatre to form his own professional ensemble, the Bill Evans Dance Company (BEDCO). In 1976, he moved BEDCO to Seattle, Washington. He also became artistic director of Dance Theatre Seattle/Bill Evans Dance Company School, at the time the largest school of modern dance in the Pacific Northwest. For several years, the Evans Company was among the most-booked dance groups in the United States, under the auspices of the Dance Touring and Artist in the Schools Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts.
As a solo artist and/or with the Bill Evans Dance Company, Mr. Evans has performed in all 50 U.S. states and many other countries. He has taught, performed and choreographed at the American Dance Festival and at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. His company performed at the Spoleto Festival USA and in many festivals in Mexico and Europe.
He has choreographed more than 250 works. Some of his best-known pieces are: For Betty, Quartet for Jamie, Octet for Jacquie, Requiem for Janet, For Tim, The Legacy, Impressions of Willow Bay, Colony, Bach Dances, Tres Tangos, Jukebox, When Summoned, Tin-Tal, Five Songs in August, Yes Indeed, Los Ritmos Calientes, Velorio, Saintly Passion, Barefoot Boy With Marbles in His Toes, Climbing to the Moon, Albuquerque Love Song, Dreamweaver, Together Through Time, Rhythms of the Earth, Within Bounds, Hard Times, Craps, Naturescape Unfolding, Diverse Concerto, Multiple Margaret, Alternating Current, Prairie Fever, Doin' M' Best, Keep On Tryin', Remembering, Cuttin' A Rug, Field of Blue Children, Mixin' It Up, Double Bill Echoes of Autumn and Suite Benny. He has frequently collaborated with jazz musicians, including Bill Evans the famous jazz pianist—with whom he created Double Bill and Mixin It Up, in 1978 and 1979. Other famous collaborators have included ballerinas Cynthia Gregory and Christine Sarry.