Jacqulyn Buglisi

Jacqulyn Buglisi
Photo by Bill Biggart
Born	New York City
Website	Buglisi Dance Theatre

Jacqulyn Buglisi is a present day choreographer, artistic director, dancer, educator, and founder/co-founder of multiple dance institutions. Jacqulyn Buglisi with Terese Capucilli, Christine Dakin and Donlin Foreman founded Buglisi Dance Theatre in 1993/94 (formerly BuglisiForeman Dance).

Choreography

Buglisi's ballets are highly visual and imagistic dances that draw from literature, history and heroic archetypes as primary sources. Buglisi's ballets are passionate and rooted in strong physical technique. Her repertoire of more than 80 works has been seen by audiences across America from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, to the Joyce Theater; Jacob's Pillow Dance Festivals; Society of the Performing Arts Wortham Theater Center-Cullen Theater, Houston; Kravis Center for the Performing Arts; Spring for Dance, St. Louis; SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center- Concert Hall; Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts- Sosnoff Theater; The University of Arizona- Centennial Hall; and abroad to the Melbourne International Festival- State Theater; International Dance Week in Prague; the Czech Republic, Japan, Italy, France and Israel.

Lynn Garafola of Dance Magazine proclaimed, "Buglisi is a rarity in today's world, a woman who delights in the many splendid forms of female being. Probably no woman, other than Graham, has plumbed such emotional depths choreographically"^[1] and Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times wrote, "Cecil B. DeMille would have been proud." ^[2]

Her commission include The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey 2, The LMCC River to River Festival, New York Flamenco Festival in Madrid; Sadler's Wells Theater London and New York City Center; The Richmond Ballet; pieces for Ananda Shankar Performing Arts Company of India; the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble of China; The Juilliard School, The Martha Graham Dance Company; North Carolina Dance Theater; Joyce Trisler Danscompany (charter member/choreographer) and the Teatro Danza Contemporanea di Roma (co-founder/choreographer).

Buglisi collaborated with Venezuela's leading environmental painter/filmmaker, Jacobo Borges, to create her trilogy, Rain (score by Glen Velez), Sand (music by Philip Glass), and Blue Cathedral (music by Jennifer Higdon. Other collaborations include composers Tan Dun, Paola Prestini, Andy Teirstein, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Libby Larsen, Daniel Brewbaker, Reza Vali, cellist Maya Beiser, Flamenco guitarist Gerardo Nunex, the Cassatt String Quartet, Carmen de Lavallade, Clair Bloom, mannequin maker Ralph Pucci and lighting designers Clifton Taylor and Jack Mehler, to name a few.^[3]

The Table of Silence Project 9/11^[4]

On September 11, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, Buglisi Dance Theatre presented 150+ dancers at Lincoln Center in The Table of Silence Project 9/11, a public Tribute/Ritual honoring peace and tolerance, a magnificent expression of peace. Live streaming around the globe reaching 100 countries and all 50 states, www.tableofsilence.org.^[5] Other Table of Silence Site-specific commemorations were presented at the Pan Am 103 Remembrance Wall during the company's NYSCA residency at Syracuse University; in Perugia and Assisi, Italy; and UCSB on May 23, 2016 .

Her company's repertoire is archived for public viewing at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library

Dancer

Photo Credit by Jack Mitchell

During her 30-year association with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Jacqulyn Buglisi danced as a principal artist for 12 years, performing the classic roles such as the Three Mary's (El Penitente), Andromache (Cortege of Eagles), the Warrior (Seraphic Dialogue), the Lament (Acts of Light), the Girl in Yellow (Diversion of Angels), Leader of the Night Journey Chorus and Jocasta (Night Journey), Creusa (Cave of the Heart), The Spectator (Every Soul is a Circus) and in Tangled Night created for her by Martha Graham. She danced in Graham's honor on the nationally televised CBS Presentation of the Kennedy Center Honors and is featured in the PBS film, An Evening of Dance and Conversation with Martha Graham. Coached by Jane Sherman, Buglisi performed the solos of Ruth St. Denis at Jacob's Pillow and internationally, including Lyon Biennale De La Dancse, on film in Trailblazers of American Modern Dance, and also in the film, The Spirit of Denishawn. ^[6]

Educator

Buglisi has been commissioned by the Juilliard School's Emerging Modern Masters Series, Ailey/Fordham University B.F.A. Program, the University of Richmond, California State University/Long Beach, George Mason University, Purchase Conservatory of Dance, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the State Ballet College of Oslo, Oklahoma Arts Institute, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Boston Conservatory of Music, Randolph-Macon College and National Dance Institute, among others.^[7]

In 1970, Buglisi founded the first school of contemporary dance for the community of Spoleto, Italy and was the Master Artist-in-Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.^[8] She has taught for the Dance Aspen Festival from 1990-1995, the Julio Bocca Center in Argentina, the Victoria College in Melbourne in 1999, and the Chautauqua Institution and Festival from 1995-2005.

As a resident teacher in NYC, she has been Chairperson of the Modern Department at The Ailey School, has served on the faculty of The Juilliard School from 1991-2005, The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance since 1977, and Ballet Hispanico School of Dance. Buglisi guest teaches at the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts (alumna) and instructs workshops at Steps on Broadway and Peridance Capezio Center. She was named Honorary Chair for the Marymount Manhattan College 2005 Gala and served as a panelist for both the Heinz and the New Jersey State Council for the Arts. Buglisi holds creative and educational residencies at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts-Institute, SUNY Purchase, California State University,Long Beach, George Mason University, University of Richmond, The Mahayfee Theater Class Act in St. Petersburg Florida and Syracuse University.^[9]

Jacqulyn Buglisi's awards and honors include the American Dance Guild Award for Artistic Excellence, Fiorello LaGuardia Award for Excellence in the field of Dance, The Gertrude Shurr Award for Dance, Altria Group's 2007 Women Choreographer Initiative Award, as well as grants for new work from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs, Harkness Foundation for Dance, and the O'Donnell-Green Music & Dance Foundation.^[10]

Ms. Buglisi serves on the Dance/USA's Board of Trustees as Chair of Artistic Directors Council ^[11]

References

1. "Duo Layers The Visual With The Emotional". Dance Magazine. May 2001. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
2. "Grand Leaps on Wall Street, for a Change". The New York Times. May 30, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
3. "2004 Press". Buglisi Dance Theatre. 2002. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
4. "Invitation to the 'Table of Silence,' a 9/11 Commemoration". Thirteen New York Public Media. 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
5. "tableofsilence". tableofsilence. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
6. "Reviews/Dance; Denishawn Works Are Recreated". The New York Times. March 15, 1994. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
7. "Jacqulyn Buglisi, Council Chair-Artistic Directors". Dance/USA. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
8. "Master Artist-in-Residence Program History". Atlantic Center for the Arts. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
9. "Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Teacher Bio". Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
10. "Who's Who in the Company". Buglisi Dance Theatre. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
11. "Growing Through Collaboration: Finding Balance in a Shifting Landscape". Dance/USA. 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012.