Press

"A festive disply by terrifcally vibrant dancers, attuned to all the African, Indian, Latino, and Middle Eastern flavors that Leichter stirs into his brew... fluent-bodied, get-down dancing a dynamic richness and sensuous elegane that just about stops by heart.."

Deborah Jowitt,The Village Voice
>full article (PDF)

"Killa is a dance phenomenon... a celebration of the virtuosity and ingenuity of club dancing.."

Quinn Batson,offoffoff.com
>full article (PDF)

"Leichter overlays funky, elbow-flapping, crotch-grabbing moves- an infectious mix of hip hop, West African, and disco-drag-- with references to money, politics, and fashion.."

Gus Solomons Jr.,Gay City News
>full article (PDF)

“Nicholas Leichter’s choreography is joyfully infectious; he punctuates smooth, pulsing phrases with hops and gestures. His musical choices vary from pop and R&B to experimental commissioned pieces for strings. He sometimes floats the movement atop the music, like a boat riding the sea’s swells. Or he leads a phrase across a rhythm’s path, creating a curious tension––as simple as stillness set against music.”

Susan Yung, Dance Magazine
>full article (PDF)

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Slow and sensual, insistent and intertwined, athletic and aware, Leichter's dance pieces are filled with provocative pairings. Whether exploring race and gender, the relationship between dancers, or between street and traditional dance styles, the movement evokes a cultivated culture clash.

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Nicholas Leichter Biography

Nicholas Leichter (Artistic Director) received a BA in Dance from Connecticut College where he studied with Jacylnn Villamil and Martha Myers. He was a member of Ralph Lemon Company from 1993-1995, has performed with the companies of Jennifer Muller, Ronald K. Brown, and Gus Solomons jr, and regularly appears in the work of Clare Byrne. He has taught throughout the United States, at festivals in Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and Canada, and he has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts and the American Dance Festival. Recent commissions include the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Aaron Davis Hall, Celebrate Brooklyn, Central Park SummerStage, In the Company of Men, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project, and others.

Leichter’s work and company have received support from TIAA-CREF, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, New York Foundation for the Arts (BUILD Grants and Choreography Fellowship), Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, Pentacle’s Help Desk, Dance/USA and the NEA as part of the National College Choreographic Initiative, The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund, The Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with major support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts. Leichter has been artist-in-residence/guest artist at many institutions including Sarah Lawrence College, University of Iowa, University of Richmond, George Washington University, University of Houston, Adage School for the Performing Arts in Modesto, Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, Muhlenberg College, and Idaho State University.

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Repertory

The Whiz (evening length)
Ease on down the road to recession and back from the brink of fantasy in Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black’s take on “The Wiz/ard of Oz” for the Obama generation. Featuring choreography by Leichter, and a commissioned adapted score by Black with added musical selections, THE WHIZ is a full-spectrum original show of song, dance, and theatrical extravaganza. The work showcases an array of different dance, performance, and music styles—house, funk, postmodern, drag, hip-hop, contemporary, and psychedelic—which traverse a landscape of hopes, fears, dreams, and home.

Killa (35 Minutes)
Leichter's latest kinetic work Killa, is a bold collage reflecting the underground dance and music scenes, with live performance and music by Monstah Black and some of the most fierce and fabulous dancers.

The RIte of Spring (33 minutes)
Leichter’s vision for this second commission for the company from the Brooklyn Philharmonic follows the structures of the Stravinsky ballet but imagines a collective of workers instead of a virgin as the central theme. Support for the Rite of Spring was provided, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Sweetwash (30 minutes)
Marking Nicholas Leichter's first collaboration with African American composer, writer, and performer Eisa Davis, Sweetwash honors the work and ideas of African American civil rights activists and literary figures. Sweetwash has been commissioned, in part, by The Duncan Theater at Palm Beach Community College, was performed in a work-in-progress presentation at The Whitney at Altria and previewed at Dance New Amsterdam (NYC) June 30 and July 1, 2006.

Scrutiny (15 minutes), Never End (28 minutes), Skin Diving (20 minutes), Free the Angels (16 minutes), Undertow (10 minutes), Love Letter, other mixed repertory

Coming soon...

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