Abigail Levine
Abigail Levine has made dances for subway stations, swimming pools, sidewalks, airports, office buildings and theaters in New York, Washington DC, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and Taiwan. She is the co-founder, with Pei-chun Wang of NYC/Taipei-based dance group Strange Company.
Abigail has received commissions from Lorin Maazel’s Chateauville Foundation (The Turn of the Screw; Kennedy Center, May 2006), Danza Contempoánea de Cuba (Desatar; Havana, Cuba, April 2003), chashama, NYC (2007), New York’s La Guardia High School of Performing Arts (Thru, 2001), and the Manhattan Opera Theater ( Le Docteur Miracle & Trouble in Tahiti, Florence Gould Hall, 2003 & 2004). She has participated as a choreographer in the Movement Research Festival (2011), DanceNow Festival 2000 and 2005 (NYC), Movement Research at the Judson Church (NYC 2007, 2010, 2012), Dixon Place’s Under Exposed Festival (NYC 2006), SITEFest (2009), Art in Odd Places (2011), Escenario Urbano (the Urban Stage Festival, Caracas, Venezuela 2006 & 2008), Teatro O Lugar (São Paulo, Brazil 2010), the International Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes (Havana, Cuba 2002 & 2003), the Días de la Danza Festival (Havana, Cuba 2003), the Taipei Fringe Festival (2008) and Prisma Forum in Mexico City (2009).
Abigail has performed most recently in Marina Abramović’s retrospective at the NY Museum of Modern Art and with Carolee Schneemann at Judson Church. She has also worked with Jennifer Monson, koosil-ja, Alan Good, Pat Catterson, Clarinda MacLow, Marianela Boan, Larissa Velez, the Modern Dance Awareness Society/ Despina Stamos, Pele Bauch, Wendy Osserman, the French theater collective Superamas, Jenny Romaine, the Little Miss Big Mouth Show/Sara Valentine, and the Denishawn Repertory Dancers. Abigail has published articles in the Movement Research Performance Journal, e-misférica, Critical Correspondence, Zine, Cuba Update and CubaNow and received support from The Puffin Foundation (2006 &2008), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Brooklyn Arts Council, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Hollins University Fantasy Generator Residency, Lugarização Artist Residency (Brazil), The Field, La Guardia H.S. of the Arts, the Seaport District Cultural Association, The Dragon’s Egg Residency in Ledyard, CT and NYU Gallatin and Dean’s scholarships for graduate study.
Abigail lived and worked in Havana, Cuba from October 2001 through December 2003, performing with and creating work for festivals and companies including Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Danza Voluminosa and Festival Habana Vieja: Ciudad en movimiento.
Abigail trained at New York's La Guardia High School of Performing Arts and at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center as a scholarship student. She graduated from Wesleyan University with degrees in English and Dance and is now working towards as Masters at NYU in Experimental Performance in Latin America and the US.
Photo: Ian Douglas
