ChEckiT!Dance 5th Annual Celebration of Female Choreographers

Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 3 MIN.

On Saturday, July 18, ChEckiT!Dance presents the fifth annual ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival: A Celebration of Female Choreographers, an eco-friendly evening of dance celebrating female choreographers at Solar One on the East River, NYC. Admission is free.

The evening will include works from more than 10 female choreographers, at various stages in their careers, from across the United States and abroad. Presenting Choreographers/Companies include:

Cindy Sosa
Joya Powell/Movement of the People Dance Company
Jessie Sector/Tangent Dance
MJ/Innovate Dance
Bridge & Olive Dance
Ashley Sleeth
Cathy Allen/Red Desert Dance Ensemble
Victoria Brown/MashUp Contemporary Dance Company
Erica Hart
Jana Prager/Jana Prager Dance Theater
Kara Dudley/Kara Dudley Dance
InstaDance Collective
Allison Brzezinski/ChEckiT!Dance

The fifth annual ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival sponsors include: One on One NYC; The Philly Knitters; Speliotis Video; Marcie Mauro, Speaker, Author and Intuition Coach; Michael L. Campbell & Rie Poirier-Campbell; and efpnyc bottlecharms.

The ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival is the culmination of all of ChEckiT!Dance's efforts to increase performance opportunities for female dance makers. This annual outdoor festival, now in its fifth year, is curated and produced by ChEckiT! Dance each July. Summit Rock in Central Park has been the home of the past four festivals. This year, the festival will be held at Solar One! on the East River. The ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival is a platform designed specifically to provide female choreographers the opportunity to share their work with an eager audience. The work is enriching, lively, and thrilling, and the eclectic styles of dance presented by performers hailing from all corners of the globe, builds a truly global community of female dance artists. In addition, the ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival is entirely green and entirely free of admission, providing access for all.

ChEckiT!Dance is an all female modern dance company based in New York City founded by Artistic Director, Allison Brzezinski in 2010. Through the creation and production of new works that seek to empower women and explore what it means to be a woman, we seek to create a crack in the stereotypical infrastructure of female archetypes and standards most commonly portrayed on stage. It is our goal to both promote awareness and gender equality through our own work and provide a platform for emerging female choreographers and dancers to share their talents.

Under the leadership of Allison Brzezinski, ChEckiT!Dance utilizes improvisational and collaborative movement techniques. Company members are given phrase material or written material to work with, from which they create, adapt, and devise their own movement. Each dancer has her voice heard in the company, and their individuality and creativity is vital for the company as a whole. This collaboration forms a community of female artists, working together without competition or stress. We are women working together to make change happen, inside the studio and out.

ChEckiT!Dance's performance credits include: Edinburgh Fringe, Scotland; Body Blend, Dixon Place, NYC; JT Lotus First Choreographer's Showcase, The Ailey Studios, NYC; HATCH Presenting Series, The Works Studios, NYC; STEPS Performance Lab Series, STEPS, NYC; New York City Dance Parade, NYC; Dance Fest, The Bandshell at Tompkins Square Park, NYC; ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival, Summit Rock, NYC-- 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014; Waterside Plaza Dance Festival, Waterside Plaza, NYC; Moving Beauty Series Dance Lab, Church of All Nations, NYC; Secrets, Lies and Rumors: A Cabaret, Loft on Fifth, NYC; MishMash201, Sukha Arts Center, Harrington Park, NJ; FigmentNYC, Governor's Island, NY-- 2012, 2013; TEXT/CONTEXT, The Kraft Center at Columbia University/Barnard College, NYC *featured artist at talk back*; GHOST Series, The Gershwin Hotel, NYC; Astoria Dance Festival, Bohemian Beer Garden, Astoria, NY 2012, 2013; Dance Film Association's Films That Move Series, Solar One, NYC; Home is Where The Art Is, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn, NY; 20 Years Celebration of Dance, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA.

ChEckiT!Dance Fifth Annual ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival: A Celebration of Female Choreographers will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 18 at Solar One on the East River, NYC. Admission is free. For information, visit www.checkitdance.com or email [email protected].


by Winnie McCroy , EDGE Editor

Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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