Through abstraction and connection, often quirky and unexpected, Gretchen Garnett & Dancers takes inspiration from everyday life and creates dance that is crafted with a mathematical focus on detail, pattern and design and is performed with dedicated athleticism.
Gretchen Garnett & Dancers premiered its first piece at the 2008 SpectorDance Emerging Choreographers Festival in Marina, CA. Since then the company has presented work in the Bay Area at the Subterranean Arthouse, The Garage, Dance Mission Theater and CounterPULSE and at the Tempe Center for the Arts (Tempe, AZ), the Wellspring Theater (Kalamazoo, MI) and the John Ryan Theater (Brooklyn, NY). The company has created new work for Footloose’s 2009 Women on the Way Festival and the 2009 and 2010 San Francisco International Arts Festival and also collaborated with Feel the Earth to create Sunrise Awakening, a piece about how we plant, grow, harvest and appreciate our food, that was performed at Farmers’ Markets around San Francisco. The company has been described as having “a spark of effervescence” and the choreography as being “full of contradictions, pre-ordained accidents, and surprising repetitions” by Rita Felciano in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and “fresh, dynamic”… “innovative and heartfelt” by Richard Ciccarone in SF Appeal. In addition to the works she has created for Gretchen Garnett & Dancers Gretchen has had two works commissioned by the East Street Youth Ballet (Hadley, MA). Gretchen has performed with Bay Area-based companies including The Riley Project, Leyya Tawil’s Dance Elixir, RAWdance, little seismic dance company and Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton. She is currently dancing with Aura Fischbeck Dance. Gretchen received her training through the high school program at the North Carolina School of the Arts and earned her B.F.A. in Dance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Gretchen Garnett & Dancers has received funding from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and is fiscally sponsored by Dancers’ Group. You can contact the company at gretchengarnettanddancers@gmail.com.
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Gretchen Garnett is a San Francisco-based choreographer, dancer and teacher. In addition to the works she has created for Gretchen Garnett & Dancers she has had two works commissioned by the East Street Youth Ballet in Massachusetts. Gretchen has performed with Bay Area-based companies including danceNAGANUMA, peck peck dance ensemble, Leyya Tawil’s Dance Elixir, RAWdance, little seismic dance company and Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton. She is currently dancing with Aura Fischbeck Dance. Gretchen received her training through the high school program at the North Carolina School of the Arts and earned her B.F.A. in Dance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
photo by Matt Haber
Born in flat and frigid North Dakota, Leah Curran began moving towards a warmer climate as soon as she could. She attended the University of Montana (slightly warmer), where she received a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography, as well as a B.S. in Finance. Leah moved to the Bay Area in 2007 (warmer still) and promptly immersed herself in the modern dance scene. She has been a member of Gretchen Garnett & Dancers since 2008, and dances for Kelly Bowker & Dancers, The Riley Project, and Carolé Acuña; Leah has also performed with Aura Fischbeck Dance and Sara Pfeifle. When not dancing, she works full-time for Capital Group, a mutual fund management company, where she serves the Board of Directors of American Funds mutual funds. Leah is the Company Manager of Samantha Giron Dance Project and volunteers with Project Bandaloop, Karl Cronin and the SF Ballet as a BRAVO member. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Push Dance Company. Leah lives in North Oakland with her SoCal born husband (very warm!), their fox terrier-Flash, and parakeets-Bix and Louie.
photo by Kevin Wong
Chad Dawson was born and raised in New Orleans, LA where he began his dance training at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. While there, Chad was able to work with and perform the works of Robert Battle and Elisa Monte. In 2008, he graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance from SUNY-Purchase where he had the opportunity to perform the repertory of Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris, Lauri Stallings, and Paul Taylor. Chad has performed at venues in and around NYC, New Orleans, Phoenix, Hong Kong, Japan, and at the Kennedy Center. Since arriving in San Francisco, Chad has had the pleasure of working with Heidi Schweiker, Nol Simonse, Mark Foehringer Dance Project SF. Chad is currently a member of Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater and Gretchen Garnett & Dancers. When he’s not dancing, Chad is a practicing CMT.
photo by Kevin Wong
Jackie Goneconti is from Nyack, New York. Her parents enrolled her in ballet at the age of four. The infatuation began quickly enough, and then of course there was Madonna and Michael Jackson to help with the dance obsession. She trained in classical ballet from early age, including at summer programs such as Pennsylvania Ballet’s the Rock School, Boston Ballet and NYSSA. Jackie earned a B.A. in both Psychology and Urban Design at New York University while continuing to pursue her dance career with Joffrey Ballet School and with many of New York’s contemporary choreographers. Jackie has enjoyed dancing with Eva Dean Dance and Sens Productions in New York as well as with Zhukov Dance Theater, Garrett + Moulton, Kelly Bowker, Samantha Giron Dance Project and Copious Dance Theater in San Francisco.
photo by Matt Haber
Leah Katz is a native of Northampton, Massachusetts and is excited to be dancing with Gretchen Garnett way over on the west coast. She is a (very) recent graduate of SUNY Purchase with a B.F.A. in dance. She has danced works by Lauri Stallings, Sidra Bell, Stephanie Tooman, Yung-Li Chen, Kevin Wynn and was fortunate enough to work with San Francisco’s own Ben Levy on her senior B.F.A. candidate solo. Also, studying for four months at De Theaterschool in Amsterdam, Netherlands she worked with Michael Schumacher, Anouk Van Dyke and Liat Waysbort. In October 2008 Leah and a select group of dancers were chosen to represent Purchase at the Friends Throughout the World Festival in Nanjing, China, dancing a work by Kevin Wynn. Leah began dancing with Gretchen Garnett in May 2008.
Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, LizAnne Roman relocated to the Bay Area in 2007. She holds a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma where she danced in works by George Balanchine and Ben Stevenson. Before and during her studies at OU, LizAnne worked as an apprentice with the Tulsa Ballet. While there she performed many classical works in addition to Lila York’s Celts. After seasons with the Louisville Ballet and Artisan Dance Theater LizAnne moved to San Francisco. Here she has been priviledged to work with Todd Courage, Folawole, Janice Garrett & Charles Moulton, Paco Gomes and David Herrera. She also works with Mark Foehringer Dance Project SF. This is her first season dancing for Gretchen Garnett & Dancers. Along with her dancing, LizAnne is currently pursuing her STOTT Pilates certification.
Becca Rufer has been dancing with Gretchen Garnett for since they were kids together in Northampton, Massachusetts. Other choreographers she has performed for include Sara Pfeifle, Mark Davis, Amie Dowling, and The Movement Ensemble.