Artistic Director
Robin Stiehm, founder (1994) and Director
of DPC, started dancing in 1969 and has been dancing professionally
since 1975. She began choreographing in 1989, while still
dancing at New Dance Ensemble in Minneapolis. Fifteen years
of professional performance experience provided a formidable
foundation for her transition into the realm of choreography.
Robin was the 2000 recipient of the Bush Foundation’s Artist Fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards in the
Midwest region. She has received funding from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. In both 1999 and 2001 she received Minneapolis’
City Pages “Best Choreographer” award.
Audiences applaud her dances for their evocative landscapes that engage the emotion and the intellect. The Minneapolis
Star Tribune said: “Stiehm’s choreography
shows an ever-developing intelligence, rigor and artistic
maturity…”
Robin
Stiehm
Professional Résumé
July 2010
Choreography Experience (partial listing)
Created for Dancing People Company, 2007-2010
Vapor Shape, Day In The Sun, Leg of Wasp,
Obstacles to Perfection,
Easier Than Reality, Shining Night Sky, Common Couples Dances
It Was Just a Dream Some Of
Us Had, 8 dancers, commissioned by U of MN Dance Dept. 3/07
Solo, 6 dancers,
commissioned by Link Vostok, premiered Mountain Ave. Theater, Ashland, OR 6/06.
Out of Reach/In My Hand solo, premiered at Craterian Theater, Medford, OR,
October 2004.
Numbers Game, 3 dancers,
premiered at Southern Theater in Mpls, MN, 10/03, revised Feb. 2005.
Chance Makes Luck, 5 dancers,
premiered at Southern Theater, April 2003 and October 2003.
Screaming Core, 7 dancers,
commissioned by Zenon Dance Company, 2002.
Everything, All the Time, 5
dancers, premiered in Vitebsk, Belarus, November 2001.
In a Room, Gambling, 8
dancers, premiered at the Southern Theater, Mpls., MN March 2001.
Speak Slow, Abandon Caution, 4
dancers, collaboration with composers Annie Gosfield and Roger Kleier,
premiered in Yaroslavl, Russia, August
2000, performed at the Southern
Theater, March 2001.
City, 5
dancers, full evening work presented by the Southern Theater, collaboration
with set designer
Joe Stanley, February 2000. Restaged in June 2001.
Up,
duet, collaboration with choreographer Eric Boone, premiered in St. Petersburg,
Russia March 1999.
Leaving, duet, made for 3rd Japan Modern Dance
Competition, 1999.
Circus Subterfugium, 5
dancers, created for tour to Yaroslavl, Russia, Sept. 1998.
Somewhere In the Middle, 7
dancers, commissioned by Ballet Pacifica, Irvine CA July 1998.
Give/Get/Take,
3 dancers, created for tour to Lublin, Poland, Nov. 1997.
Limbic Variations,
12 dancers, commissioned by Ballet Arts Minnesota, 1997.
Fermions in Flatland,
3 dancers, for Int’l. Festival of Contemporary Dance in Bytom, Poland, 1996.
Orbits,
3 dancers, made for 2nd Japan Modern Dance Competition, 1996.
These Three People,
3 dancers, collaboration with composer John Devine, 1995.
Just Looking, 5
dancers, commissioned by Zenon Dance Company, 1994.
Between Heaven and Earth, 5
dancers, part of self-produced concert, Studio 6A, Mpls., MN, 1994.
Diva Deviant,
10 dancers, commissioned by Ballet Arts Minnesota, 1994.
Help is Where You Find It, 6
dancers, presented by Minnesota Dance Alliance, 1993.
Asylum,
16 dancers, commissioned by Ballet Arts Minnesota, 1992. Re-staged for MDA
series 1993.
In Road, 8
dancers, Minnesota Dance Alliance’s “Short Order” series 1990.
Set Theory,
6 dancers, 1990. Re-staged for five dancers and presented by MDA, 1992.
By Mutual Consent,
4 dancers, 1989 collab. with composers Robert Rumbolz and Michelle Kinney
Awards,
Honors, and Fellowships (partial Listing)
National Dance Project,
Regional Dance Development Initiative. Portland, OR May 2006.
Oregon Arts Commission Artist
Fellowship 2005.
McKnight Choreographer
Fellowship 1999 & 2001. Administered by the Minnesota Dance
Alliance.
The Fund for U.S. Artists at
International Festivals 2001. Administered by Arts International.
Bush Artist Fellowship 2000. Bush
Foundation.
Jerome Foundation 1994, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003. Support grants to create new work.
Minnesota State Arts Board
1990, 1994 & 1998 Artist Assistance Fellowships
McKnight Choreographer
Fellowships 1996 & 1997. Administered by Mn Dance Alliance.
Jerome Foundation Dancer Pool
Grant 1996. Administered by Mn Dance Alliance.
McKnight Choreographer
Fellowships 1994 &1995. Administered by Mn Dance Alliance.
Carlisle Project 1994 &
1995. Two one-week choreographic labs.
New Dance Performance Lab
Commission 1991 & 1992. New Dance Ensemble.
Jerome Foundation Dancer Pool
Grant 1991 & 1992. Administered by Mn Dance Alliance.
McKnight Choreographer
Fellowships 1989 & 1990. Administered by Mn Dance Alliance.
Performing
Experience
Dancing People Company,
1994-present, Founder, Director(Co-Director 2005 on) and Choreographer
Minnesota Dance Exchange,
1996. Performed work of Jacek Luminski in Mn. and Poland
New Dance Performance Lab,
1991-1994 (under direction of Linda Shapiro)
Worked experimentally with
artists such as Alito Alessi, Douglas
Dunn, Doug Elkins, Keely Garfield, Dan Hurlin, Barbara Mahler, Bebe Miller,
Rachel Rosenthal, Donna Uchizono and Bill Young among others.
New Dance Ensemble,
1988-1991 (under direction of Linda Shapiro and Leigh Dillard)
Performed works of Merce
Cunningham, David Dorfman, Douglas Dunn, Doug Elkins, Viola Farber, Bill T.
Jones, Ralph Lemon, Linda Shapiro, Donna Uchizono, Dan Wagoner among others.
Bonnie Mathis,
1988, 1989, principal dancer
Wil Swanson,
1987, dancer
Martine van Hamel,
1986, dancer
Minnesota Dance Theatre,
1981-1985 Corps, 1985-1987 Soloist
Performed lead roles in the
following works: Concerto Barocco, Carmina Burana, Swan Lake Act II, Rite of
Spring, Les Sylphides, Mythical Hunters, Tristan and Isolde, Knoxville: Summer
of 1915, La Bayadere, Beauty and the Beast, Lone Poems, Nutcracker Fantasy
Contemporary Concert Dancers,
1978-1980, Dancer (under direction of Geol Weirs)
Minnesota Dance Theatre,
1976-1978, Apprentice (under direction of Loyce Houlton)
Teaching
Experience
Dancing People Company
school, 2004- present. Improvisation, adv. ballet & modern technique.
University of Oregon, Eugene 2008, 2009,
2010 guest teacher
University of Minnesota,
Cowles Chair Guest Artist, Feb-March 2007
Artist in the Schools, Arts Council of
Southern Oregon, 2004-2008
Master classes, International
festivals in Poland, Russia and Belarus, 1996-2003, modern
technique.
University of Minnesota,
1997-98, adjunct faculty, modern dance.
Ballet Arts Minnesota,
1995-1998 faculty, ballet for professional dancers.
Gustavus Adolphus College,
guest teacher in modern, 1996.
Zenon Dance Company and
School, 1994 faculty.
Guthrie Theatre, A
Christmas Carol, 1985 and 1987, rehearsal assistant to Loyce Houlton.
Minnesota Dance Theatre,
1979-1983. Taught contemporary and ballet at all levels.
Training
and Education (partial listing)
SUMAC Choreography
workshop with Susan Marshall and Company, June 2010
Bonnie Mathis,
1982-2002, Ballet
Atlantic Center for the Arts
1998. 3-week chor. residency with Ralph Lemon Yamaguchi, Japan.
Barbara Mahler,
Workshops in Minneapolis, 1992, 93, 95, 98 & in Ashland, 2009-10. Klein
Technique
Bates Dance Festival,
Bebe Miller and Andrew Harwood, summer of 1991
Cunningham School, Paul
Taylor School, summer of 1990
Maggie Black,
summers of 1986 and 1989
Minnesota Dance Theatre,
1969-1978 and 1981-1987
Ballet: Frank Borman, Lise
Houlton, Erica Jayne, Valentina Pereyslavic, Keith Rossin, Denise Warner, among
others. Modern: Loyce Houlton, Nancy
Duncan, David Voss, Ethel Winter, among others.
PO Box 459 Jacksonville, OR 97530
541/941-6282 robin@dancingpeople.com
