Bud Blumenthal

... practiced 15 years of sports before exploring yoga, tai chi chuan, and improvisational dance. He studied dance at the University of Arizona and the Five College Dance Department where he received his degree in Dance, Choreography and Movement Exercise from University of Massachusetts in 1986. He then explored contact improvisation and release technique in New York City. He has worked with more than twenty choreographers, notably Bill Evans, Jonathon Wolken, Remy Charlip, Yoshiko Chuma, Susan Marshall, Jim Coleman, Terese Freedman, Bill Young, metteur en scène Frédéric Flamand, and Michèle Noiret. Between 1988 and 1991 he performed with the Plan K of Brussels, in "Scanlines", "If Pyramids Were Square" and the "Fall of Icarus". Since 1989 he has worked with Michèle Noiret. As Tandem in 1990 they created “ Louisiana Breakfast” and in 1991 he danced in Ms Noiret’s "L'Espace Oblique" and then in 1993 and 1994, "Tollund". In 1992 he created the multi-media dance work "Fishtracks" and with the composer Garrett List. In 1993 he created "Metalogue" and wrote, choreographed and performed with Michèle Noiret in the film “Palindrome”, a production of BRTN (Belgian Flemish Television) and winner of the first prize in the music-drama category of the Prague International Film Festival 1994. In 1996 he made the solo “24 Haikus” which received a Ruth Page Dance Achievement Award from the Chicago Dance Coalition in Chicago USA. In 1997 he choreographed the duet “Knot of Sand” for himself and Michèle Noiret as well as the first sketch of the solo “The Hut” which was re-created in a second version in Brussels in March of 1998 and its third version in April 1999. In December 1997 and January 1998 he taught and choreographed a work for the dancers of The Cairo Opera Dance Group, Egypt. He choreographed the trio “river three” in December 1998 for the Movement Source Dance Inc. in Phoenix, USA. The duo “Rivermen”, the first of the three works to constitute the RiverTryptik, premiered in the Centre Culturel Jacques Franck in Brussels in May 1999. In February 2000 he presented the contemporary, techno, hip-hop experiment “Spledge” in the Theater Les Tanneurs for the opening day of Bruxelles2000. The second part of the RiverTryptic, the solo entitled “ The Inside of Narcissus” will be premiered February 2001 in the festival Les Hivernales in Avignon, France, with the third part, the trio “Red Cliff” previewed for Autumn 2001. In April 2000 he danced in Michèle Noiret’s production “In Between”. The short experimental film “Scrub Solo 1: Solonliness” made with Antonin De Bremels won the Springdance Cinema 2000 award. The second in the three part series “Scrub Solo 2: Disolocation” was completed in summer 2000. The shooting of Souche, a short science fiction film written by Bud Blumenthal is planned for the spring of 2001. Bud directed the choreography for the Zinneke Parade North West of Brussels in May 2000. For two years he taught dance to students of Physical Education at the Catholic University of Louvain la Neuve in Belgium, and gives classes and workshops for diverse organisations such as Ideal Stand Art, Charleroi/Danses, Michèle Noiret, Wim Vandekeybus, The Need Company. Whenever he has the opportunity he participates in improvisational performances.
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