SELECTED QUOTES
"MARK DeGARMO made oddly interesting things happen in the works that he and his dancers presented. . . He was particularly inventive in 'Drive with 8's,' a solo for himself in which he ran and leaped, punching the air and acting like a tough guy. Suddenly, he grew ill at ease. And this was not the nervousness of a fleeing thug, for he looked vulnerable. However, once he let down his guard, he was carefree. As both performer and choreographer, Mr. DeGarmo made these changes fascinating."
—Jack Anderson, The New York Times
"Mark DeGarmo & Dancers move with a supple measure of freewheeling energy."
—Dulcie Leimbach, The New York Times
"Mark's performance. . .was charming and hilarious and a hit with the opening night audience at Audart."
—Audrey Regan, Audart Gallery, New York
"One could not ask more from a dance performance. This is a choreographer who doesn't pretend, who says he dances and he really does!"
—Lichi Garland, Dance Critic, El Comercio, Lima, Peru
"This is as good as it gets."
—Srimati Lal, Painter and Art Critic, Calcutta Times of India
"He's doing 'nothing' and he's doing 'everything.'"
—Gerardo Delgado, Director, En Dos Partes, Mexico City
"You were gorgeous! You were gorgeous! You were almost edible!"
—Helen Caldicott, Physician and Environmental Activist, Abiquiu, NM
"Mark DeGarmo was a truly outstanding cultural specialist."
—Susan R. Crystal, Cultural Affairs Officer, US Embassy, Quito Ecuador
"Mark danced right off the charts!"
—Rev. Dr. Paul Smith, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn
REPRESENTATIVE REVIEWS AND ARTICLES
October 13, 2009
By Linda Weintraub, Curator, AHOY! Where Lies Henry Hudson?
UNDER THE RADAR: Choreography and Artistic Direction by Mark DeGarmo
Sculpture: "Hudson Museum on the Ecliptic" by Evan Stoller
Combine the words 'radio detection and ranging' and you get the familiar word 'radar'.
Mark DeGarmo enlisted the term 'under the radar' as the title for an ambitious, hour-long performance that first mesmerized, then enchanted, and ultimately brought the audience to its feet to join the six dancers and six musicians in a celebration of arrival and fulfillment.
In the 1950s, the term referred to military aircraft flying beneath the radar to avoid detection by enemy forces. DeGarmo and his dancers flew 'under the radar' by merging seamlessly into the very special setting that served as the work's inspiration. Physically, the event took place on the grounds of Byrdcliffe, a historic arts and crafts colony in Woodstock, NY where twelve outdoor installations had been created as part of the quadricentennial commemoration of Henry Hudson's arrival at the mouth of the river that now bears his name. DeGarmo and his performers chose as their performance platform a sloping lawn that led to curved, tiered stone walls within which sat a magnificent, elevated, 40' diameter ring elegantly crafted out of wood and aluminum. This was Evan Stoller's contribution to the exhibition entitled "AHOY! Where Lies Henry Hudson?".
The dancers were as inherent to the setting as the topography, clouds, wind, late afternoon light, autumn blossoms, and long-rooted pines. While they formed a harmonious visual ensemble by wearing black pants and colored jackets, the visual experience was enriched by the diversity of the dancers ages, races, and body-types. Coherence and multiplicity also characterized the flowing choreography and the hauntingly beautiful score composed by Judith Sainte Croix. Together, Saint Croix and DeGarmo constructed a strict 'mandala' structure that reflected the mathematical integrity of the circular sculpture the served as the work's visual and thematic focus. At the same time, they assured variety by allowing both dancers and musicians to improvise within this exacting format.
The merging of unity and complexity also prevailed in the thematic basis of the ten-part work. The explorations of Henry Hudson served as the unifying motive, but it travelled such diverser traceries as MesoAmerican mythology, ship structure, the two-way flow of the Hudson River, and 16th century musical traditions of the Europeans and the Algonquins.
Twelve community members were enlisted to serve as intermediaries between the performers and the audience. They guided, greeted, and assured that the viewers gradually abandoned their passive stances and made graceful transitions to a performing mode. Through their interventions we all delighted in a joyful culmination of a five-month long exhibition.
DANCE INSIDER online by N.E. Kenning, January 29, 2002
The evening "A Panorama of Dance, Dance/Theatre, Music, and Film" presented at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center January 11-14, offered the work of two choreographers(...). The pieces both dealt with establishing a sense of place and struggle, the one internal and self imposed, the other in the very real world of El Salvador. (...)
Mark DeGarmo's "Bitter Grounds" was quite the opposite. Here the choreographer evoked the milieu of the lives of the women involved in the work of coffee growing. He did so with delicacy, restraint, and obvious respect for his sources of inspiration, the movement and rhythms of these women.
In a series of sections, each of which used a different set of props, Mr. DeGarmo delineated different aspects of life for the women. The first, La Diosa, (The Goddess), opened the piece with a mesmerizing walk downstage by two masked dancers that created a spell with slow, carving movements. The two excellent dancers, Marie Baker-Lee and Regina Nejman were compelling to watch. They continued the piece with abstractions of everyday movements. A section followed, (Market), with the dancers wearing enormous flat baskets on their heads. While these constrained the movement of their heads, the lower bodies became very lively, as if to show the spirit despite the burdens. Similarly, the next section, (Coffee Market) used pedestrian movement imbued with a quality of weariness. The marvelous Marie Baker-Lee then followed with a dance completely encased in a straw mat, animating that humble and ubiquitous item. The last section, (River), very affecting due to the clarity of the performances, ended with an image of one woman coiled in a basket, as though their very lives were reduced to this commodity, coffee. The dancers wore plain white masks throughout the piece, to underscore the anonymity of the workers, this device served also to focus the audience of the quality of action. An intimate piece of dance/theater, it was of a scale that fit nicely into the modest performance space. Mr. DeGarmo has crafted a simple, yet effective piece, his work is well served by the excellence of the performers.
ECUADOR NEWS: National Edition published every 15 days: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Houston, Toronto, Miami
ECUADOR NEWS: January 16-31, 2001.
DANCE: SPEAKING OF DANCE, by Patricia Aulestia
[English translation of article originally published in Spanish]
"Relative Tranquility," an Ecuadorian Choreodrama, Premieres in New York
"In Ecuadorian dance I find many voices and breaths. I feel encouraged by these propositions. And since I'm an educator, I don't only direct a rehearsal, but I delight in the talent of the group and I collect from it new sequences to teach them in different ways," says U.S. choreographer Mark DeGarmo on his last visit to Ecuador, when he did assessments of dance in Quito and Guayaquil for a period of six weeks, thanks to an important grant offered him by the U.S. Department of State.
The professor also managed to express what he had felt during that enriching experience of teaching-learning: "If I breathe in so many Ecuadorian sensations, I ought to exhale choreography." Fulfilling what he expressed at that time, he presented at Tribeca Performing Arts Center the New York premiere of "Relative Tranquility, a work created for the National Dance Company of Ecuador (the CND) in the summer of 2000.
The new performance, now interpreted by ten dancers from his company, confirmed the reports which appeared in the Quito newspaper El Comercio during the choreographic process: DeGarmo sought to divest the dancers of every extraneous element of their identity, stripping them of whatever characteristic was not completely authentic. From that perspective he created "Relative Tranquillity," a work that has as its core the simplicity and the personal search of each dancer, translated into movement. But "Relative Tranquility" is not lacking in thematic elements. The work revolves around two ideas – the image of "relative tranquility" in which the city of Quito existed during the orange alert caused by the Guagua Pichincha volcano in 1999, and the general crisis of the country in the preceding months. For the work, the instructor reviewed the recent history of the country, its friendship with Peru, its corruption, the banking debacle, emigration. All those themes he converted into ex-centric spiral movements, in vertiginous displacements that brake abruptly, in arms that agitate furiously, and then slow down. Maria Luisa Gonzalez, director of the National Dance Company, spoke likewise about the meaning of the work: "The risk is more evident, the energy of a collective of dancers that constantly maintains an edge of emotional and muscular tension, and why not say it, of the social tension which is what allows the viewer to have open readings of the work, what allows us to admit the necessity of finding new collective, or social, or group strengths, to serve us in life."
Steeped in these preceding experiences, Mark DeGarmo & Dancers accomplished an effective recreation of the work for its New York premiere. On the stage, excellently lit, they contrasted the two choreographic parts, which favored the creation of a dramatic atmosphere. In the first part: four dancers in silence lift one arm upwards along the body towards the neck, provoking, without altering any other element, a symbolic discourse. They look towards the sky, seeming to want to touch heaven with their hands, as if they were trying to bring down the stars. The movements arise from deep inside each dancer, and the performers formally give themselves over to the execution of rigorous technical skills. After a blackout, in the second part, the crescendo of a mute violence empowers the ten sensitive bodies: solo and in pairs, they run, turn, jump, fall, circle, and group together, falling over and over again into circles, centrifugal spirals and in spatial ruptures which express their desperation to free themselves. DeGarmo molded the Ecuadorian choreographic production into a homogeneous and committed group of performers that transformed what was, in effect, a local event, into a universal one.
The audience, impressed, applauded vigorously the originality of the choreographic proposition and the rending, tearing life force of the artists.
In "Relative Tranquility,' choreography by DeGarmo, music by Inkalesh, and lighting by Suzanne Lavander [sic, Lavender], the dancers were Yonati Joni Amar, Marie Baker-Lee, Olga Barrios, Tina Chang, Jill Emerson, Jill Spiewak Eng, Corinna Hiller, Jill Locke, Tresa Randall, and Dana Scarano.
The program, titled, "Mark DeGarmo Eyes the World," also included the world premier of "Dear Children:" Awake and Rise," and ":Bitter Grounds: A Portrait of El Salvador." The season of Mark DeGarmo & Dancers, a part of the Tribeca Dance Series, also counted on the collaboration of PAMAR – Pan American Musical Art Research Inc.
Viva la Danza!
Mark DeGarmo, dancer, choreographer, founder and artistic director of Dynamic Forms, Inc., a non-profit organization, is also a teacher, panelist, writer, lecturer, ex co-president of the negotiating team of the Union of Teaching Artists, and a national and international defender of dance in the cultural life of the state of New York and of the United States.
He began his dance studies in 1977, impressed by a performance of dance/theater in Massachusetts. He studied art at the University of Ohio. In New York, he studied at the Juilliard School, where he obtained his BFA. In 1982 he founded his own company, Mark DeGarmo & Dancers, with which he has made more than 15 world tours in recent years, presenting 75 works by himself in Ecuador, El Salvador, England, France, Mexico, Peru, and Slovenia. He has taught at the Jose Limon Institute in New York and at the Institute of Aesthetic Education at Lincoln Center in New York. He has received many awards: An American Cultural Specialist Award 2000 from the Department of State of the United States; the Cultural Challenge Award of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of New York; the Annenberg Challenge Award from the New York Center for Arts Education; the Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship to Peru; and recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, among many others.
LIST OF PERU PRESS FROM FULBRIGHT FELLOWSHIP
Television and Radio
• Radio: Sol y Harmonía: Noticiero Meridiano with Carlos Fernandez, Lima, November 4, 12:00 noon: interview with Mark Degarmo and Gina Nateri (sic)
• America Radio/ 94.3 FM: "A las seis en la radio"; Friday, June 4, 1999; 6:20 PM; Live Interview with Mark DeGarmo and Ursula Lu
• Channel 7 Television; Tuesday, June 8, 1999; 12 noon; Interview with Mark DeGarmo and company dancing taped for broadcast
• Cable Mágico Television/ Channel 14: "Agenda Cultural"; Interview with Mark DeGarmo and company dancing taped on June 10, 1999 at 10:00 AM for broadcast 8 times: Friday and Monday June 11 and 14 at 8:00PM, and Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13 at 9:30 AM, 6:30PM, and 11:00PM
• Channel 13 Television; Tuesday, June 15; 11:40PM; Live broadcast from ICPNA/Miraflores: interview with Mark DeGarmo and three dancers (Mónica de Osma, Ursula Lu, and Lili Zeni) dancing
• Channel 7 Television; Wednesday, June 16; 7:15PM; Taped interview with Mark DeGarmo before the show at ICPNA/Miraflores
Print
• El Comercio; Lima, viernes, 23 de octubre de 1998: "Coreógrafo norteamericano en Lima: Mark de Garmo vino a aprender": interview.
• La Industria, Trujillo, miercoles, 9 de diciembre: "Ballet Municipal recibe a coreógrafo americano": article
• Nuevo Norte, Trujillo, miercoles 9 de diciembre: "Ballet Municipal recibe a coreógrafo americano": article
• El Comercio, Lima, viernes 11 de diciembre: "Excavaciones: Un aliento para le danza local": review by Lichi Garland
• La Industria, Trujillo, sábado 12 de diciembre: "Mark DeGarmo en Trujillo: Prestigioso coreógrafo neoyorquino intercambia experiencias con elenco de Ballet Municipal": interview
• Gestión; Lima; April 4, 1999; "Mark DeGarmo en Lima"; announcement of aesthetic education course
• El Comercio: Luces: Agenda Hoy; Lima; Monday, May 17; "Educación Estética"; annoucement
• Caretas: Ellos & Ellas; Lima; Thursday, June 3; "Danza con Huella"; Article & photo
• El Comercio: Luces; Thursday, June 3; "Danza Moderna: De las excavaciones a las huellas: El coreógrafo Norteamericano Mark DeGarmo presenta del 16 al 18 de este mes, en el ICPNA de Miraflores: 'Excavaciones' y 'Huellas en el Camino', en Noche de Estreno"; Article with photos by Patricia Castro Obando
• El Comercio: Visto y Bueno: Semana del 4 al 17 de Junio: "Huellas en el Camino: Por Lima Con DeGarmo: Nuevo montaje de un extraordinario coreógrafo"; Cover Story/ Interview of Mark DeGarmo written by Sergio Burstein with photos by Guillermo Figueroa
• Gestión; Friday, June 4; "El otro sueño americano: Mark DeGarmo regresa al Perú para estrenar coreografía, realizar proyectos de intercambio y anunciar la próxima inauguración de una escuela de danza modern en Lima"; Article/photos
• El Comercio; Sunday, June 6; "¡Ah, la esperanza!"; Article by Lichi Garland with mention of Mark DeGarmo
• Prensa Nikkei: Por los Caminos del Arte; Lima; Friday, June 11; "Iniciativa 2000"; Announcement/ photos by Felipe Tapia
• El Sol; Lima; Friday, June 11; "Camino al bailar"; Announcement/photo
• El Comercio; Monday, June 14; "Invitado de honor: Mark DeGarmo en el Festival Internacional de Danza de Trujillo que se inicia hoy"; Photo/announcement
• El Sol; Tuesday, June 15; "Huellas sobre Lima"; Article/ photo
• Expreso; Lima; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, June 16, 17, & 18; 3 advertisements with photo
• La República; Perú; Wednesday, June 16; "Danza moderna en el
ICPNA"; Article/photo
• El Peruano; Lima; Wednesday, June 16; "Coreografía de Mark DeGarmo: 'Huellas en el Camino'. Una Obra de movimientos ágiles y bien coordinados"; Article/ photo
• Expreso; Wednesday, June 16; "Coreografía de Mark DeGarmo en Lima: Para ver el Perú: 'Huellas en el Camino'"; Article/ photos
• El Comercio; Thursday, June 17; "Danza moderna: Coreografía urbana: El Camino de Mark DeGarmo"; Interview/article written by José Gabriel Chueca; Photo by César Hartmann
• El Comercio: SOMOS (magazine): Number 654; Saturday, June 19; "Danza: Frank DeGarmo (sic): Huellas y Contrastes: con su apoya se empieza a gestar la idea de nuestra primera gran escuela de danza moderna"; Interview/article with photos by Mayu Mohana
• La Industria; Trujillo, Perú; Sunday, June 20; "11th International Ballet Festival of Trujillo"; mention in article
• El Comercio: Luces; Monday, June 21; "Danza: ¿Retrato de Lima?: 'Huellas en el Camino'"; Review by Lichi Garland with photo
• El Comercio: Luces; Thursday, June 24; "'Excavaciones'/ 'Huellas en el Camino' de Mark DeGarmo"; Announcement of performance at Museo de la Nación
• El Comercio: SOMOS: Number 655; Saturday, June 26; "Danza
Invisible"; Letter to the Editor written by Morella Petrozzi with Editor's Response/ with photos
• El Comercio: Sociales; Saturday, June 26; "Las Huellas de Mark DeGarmo"; Photo essay of the dance concert at ICPNA/Miraflores (Friday, June 18)
• Puntos Seguido: Cultural; July 1999; Interview of Mark DeGarmo (Sunday, June 13 at 10:00AM) written by Karla Villarreal.
PUBLICATIONS
Print & Multimedia Publications & Manuscripts
• DeGarmo, Mark B. Accessing Embodied Imagination: An Approach to Experiential Learning through Movement Improvisation. Diss. Union Inst. & U, 2006. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2007.
• ---. Accessing Embodied Imagination: A Movement-Learning Theory and the Lincoln Center Institute Approach to Aesthetic Education.. Paper presentation, research strand. Aesthetic Education: Expanding Notions of Excellence in K-18 Learning Communities conference, Equity Studies Research Center, Queens College, Queens, NY, March 24, 2007.
• ---. "Innovations and Alternatives in Dance Choreography, Performance, and Pedagogy", ts. Proposal for Fulbright Sr. Scholar Fellowship in Theater and Dance to Peru 1998-1999. Mark DeGarmo and Dancers/Dynamic Forms Inc., 107 Suffolk Street, Suite 310, New York, NY 10002.
• DeGarmo, Mark B., ed. Curricula in Dance, Creativity, and Interdisciplinary Arts Integration for Students, Teachers, Administrators, Staff, Parents, and Teaching Artists for Mark DeGarmo & Dancers/Dynamic Forms Inc.'s Schools Partnership Programs developed for the NYC Dept. of Educ. Public Schools including a) Partnerships in Literacy through Dance and Creativity© b)Partnerships in Literacy through Dance, Creative Movement, and Creative Process c) Creatively Moving toward Literacy Readiness d) Schools Partnership Program: A Comprehensive Arts Educ., ts. Mark DeGarmo and Dancers/Dynamic Forms Inc., 107 Suffolk Street, Suite 310, New York, NY 10002. Mark B. DeGarmo, Artistic and Executive Dir. 1995-2009.
• DeGarmo, Mark B., prod. and ed. Mark DeGarmo and Dancers/Dynamic Forms Inc. Partnerships in Literacy through Dance and Creativity© at P.S. 142 The Amalia Castro School, Lower East Side, New York City 2002-2005. Videotape. Videography by Mark B. DeGarmo and Penny Ward. Video editing by Mark B. DeGarmo and Kay Hines. MDD/DFI Staff Teaching Artist in Dance and Creativity: Maria Mitchell. New York: Mark DeGarmo and Dancers/Dynamic Forms Inc., 2005.
• New York City Department of Education. Consultant. Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts. N.p. 2005.
• Window on the Work: Flamenco Vivo (choreographed by Juan Andrés Maya, performed by the Carlota Santana Spanish Dance Company); Mark DeGarmo, Window Narrator, Researcher and Interviewer (interview with Carlota Santana); Heckscher Foundation Resource Center, Lincoln Center Institute, New York, NY, 1997.
• Window on the Work: Cunningham (choreographed by Merce Cunningham, performed by the Cunningham Repertory Group); Mark DeGarmo, Window Researcher and Interviewer (interview with Merce Cunnigham); Heckscher Foundation Resource Center, Lincoln Center Institute, New York, NY, 1997.
• Window on the Work: Facing North (created by Meredith Monk); Mark DeGarmo, Window Researcher; Heckscher Foundation Resource Center, Lincoln Center Institute, New York, NY, 1997.
• Window on the Work: Limón Dance Company, Carla Maxwell, Artistic Director, Choreographed by José Limón and Donald McKayle, performed by The Limón Dance Company. Mark DeGarmo, Window narrator. Lynn Marie Ruse and Mark DeGarmo, dance researchers. Mark DeGarmo, interviewer. Carla Maxwell and Donald McKayle, interviewees. New York: Heckscher Foundation Resource Center, Lincoln Center Inst., 1998.
• Window on the Work: Danny Grossman Dance Company; Mark DeGarmo, Window Researcher; Heckscher Foundation Resource Center, Lincoln Center Institute, New York, NY, 1998.
• Window on the Work: American Repertory Ballet; Mark DeGarmo, Window Researcher; Heckscher Foundation Resource Center, Lincoln Center Institute, New York, NY, 1998.
Selected Publications by Other Authors 2009-2000
• Aulestia, Patricia. "Speaking of Dance: Relative Tranquility, an Ecuadorian Choreodrama, Premieres in New York." Ecuador News. 16-31 Jan. 2001.
• The Center for Arts Education. A Decade of Progress. [N.p.]: The Center for Arts Education, 2007.
• Dulicai, Dianne, and Ellen Schelly Hill. "Expressive Movement." Low-Cost Approaches to Promote Physical and Mental Health: Theory, Research, and Practice. Ed. Luciano L'Abate. New York: Springer Science Business Media, 2007. 177-200.
• Marrapodi, Maryann. Promising Practices: The Arts and School Improvement. New York: The Center for Arts Education, 2000. 43.
• Snyder, Kate. "Dance of Life: Mark DeGarmo '73." Northfield Mount Hermon Magazine. Ed. Mary Seymour. 10.1 (2007): 20-21.
• Union Institute & University. "Alumni Faces of Distinction: Mark Degarmo - UI&U Alum" (sic). Union Institute & University About Union. 2009. http://www.myunion.edu/.
• Union Institute & University. "Meet Mark Degarmo: Educator, Choreographer, Dancer, and UI&U Graduate" (sic). @ Our Best. @UI&U: A Newsletter for Union Institute & University Learners, Alumni, Staff, and Faculty. (Apr.) 2008. http://www.myunion.edu/about/.
• Vellucci, Michelle. "Speaking the Same Language: How Three Artistic Directors Are Using Dance to Help Students Learn English." DanceTeacher. (Oct.) 2007. 126-29. www.dance-teacher.com.
• Wang, Yungyu. "A Grand Feast for Performing Arts." Special Feature: Looking Out. Journal of Aesthetic Education. National Taiwan Arts Education Institute. 114 (2000): 39-48.
PANELS & PRESENTATIONS
• Integrating Dance into the PreK-5 Curriculum. 21st Century Arts in Learning: Innovation, Imagination and Creativity in the Age of Testing. Keynote speaker Jonathan Kozol. Sponsored by U of New York at Buffalo, Grad. School of Educ., Western New York Regional Leadership and Learning Network, and The Coalition of Arts Providers for Children, Inc. U of New York at Buffalo, North Campus, Student Union, Buffalo. October 3, 2008.
• Key Ingredients to Effective Arts Education Partnerships between Schools and Arts Organizations. Using the Arts to Energize Core Curriculum: An Education Conference in the Hudson Valley. Presented by the New York State Alliance for Arts Education in partnership with the Columbia County Council on the Arts and the Richard B. Fisher Center. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. January 10, 2008.
• Elementos de la danza. Ballet Municipal, Trujillo, Peru. December 11, 1998. 7:30-9:30 PM.
• Danza en el Peru: ¿profesión o hobby? Asociación Terpsicore-Taller de Danza, Lima, Peru. November 20, 1998. 7:00-10:30 PM.
• El uso de la danza en el teatro. Escuela Nacional Superior de Arte Dramático, Lima, Peru. November 19, 1998. 3:30-5:30 PM.
• Responsibilidades del artista. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru, Lima, Peru. November 10, 1998. 5:30-7:30 PM.
• Arts in Education: Dancers Teaching in K-12 Classrooms. Career Conversations with The Joyce Theater Foundation. Career Transitions for Dancers. Joyce Soho, New York. Sept. 22, 1997.
• Through a Glass Darkly: Creative Intention and Responsibility. World Dance Alliance Third General Assembly of the Americas Center. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. June 1997.
