Mt-Vernon Dance Space

Philly PARD

(Perfromance Arts Research and Development)

Philly PARD (Performance Arts Research & Development) is a laboratory for the investigation of dance and movement-based art forms. PARD offers a range of classes and workshops taught by movement artists and innovators; as well as performances and showing cases for up-and-coming and emerging artists. Valuing the individual artist, their creative process and vital role within society, PARD is dedicated to the creation and implementation of affordable programs that nurture and initiate discourse and experimentation.   

Curt Haworth

Choreographer, Improviser, Teacher and Performer, Curt Haworth is an expatriate Californian who lived in New York City for twenty years before moving to Philadelphia in 2009. He holds a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz and a MFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.  He has an eclectic movement background ranging from athletics to modern dance and release techniques, to yoga, contact improvisation and ballet. Curt performed with Lisa Race’s Race Dance from 1993-2000, and toured internationally with David Dorfman Dance from 1990 to 2002, while creating over 15 original roles. He was a Movement Research Artist in Residence in 2001-2002, he has taught regularly at Movement Research and DNA (formerly Dance Space Center) in NYC. He has taught and set work as a guest artist throughout the United States and Europe and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.



His work has been shown in Philadelphia at: the Annenberg Center, The Painted Bride. The CEC,and various Fringe venues; and in NYC at: TheDanspace Project, LA MAMA, DNA, Symphony Space, Movement Research at the Judson Church, IFNY, Dixon Place, PS122, Metamorphosis, DanceNow, New Dance Alliance; as well as at:
Rockland Community College, Bennington College July Program, and Tanecne Divadlo in Bratislava Slovakia.  

 Photo: Jason Chen 

Director: Curt Haworth

Managing Director: Leanne Grieger

phillypard@gmail.com 

Leanne Grieger

Leanne Grieger hails from Long Island, NY.She moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of the Arts, where she earned her BFA in Modern dance performance, and was also awarded Outstanding Overall Performance in Modern Dance. She has worked both academically and professionally with Silvana Cardell, Curt Haworth, Manfred Fischbeck (Group Motion), Brian  Sanders (Junk), Zane Booker, Gabrielle  Revlock, and Wally Cardona. She has also  studied at the Ailey School (NY), and the  Martha Graham School of Contemporary  Dance,  which she attended under scholarship.

 Photo: Jason Chen

Julia Lopez
Dancing professionally since the age of 17, Julia Lopeztrained in Madrid with such notables as La Quica, Paco Fernandez, Ciro, Tomas de Madrid and Antonio Martin. The native Spaniard quickly became known throughout the country, appearing on Spanish television, in film, and on the most prominent stages in Spain including the Corral de La Moreria in Madrid. Internationally recognized, Ms. Lopez has graced the cabarets in Paris, and performed at the Expo in Canada; critics have called her "mesmerizing!"

She is best known in the United States for the successful company she founded and directs - Flamenco Ole! Outside of the Company, her imaginative choreography has been seen in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Carmen at the Academy of Music in which she performed the role of the lead dancer. She also choreographed La Traviata and Carmen for the Tri-Cities Opera Company in Binghampton, New York and in 1995, was nominated for the Barrymore Award for outstanding choreography in The Song of the Lizard at the People's Light and Theater Company in Malvern, Pennsylvania. She has won over audiences throughout the Americas, partnering with such prestigious dancers as Jose Greco, Juanele Maya and Miguel Sandoval. Each year Ms. Lopez returns to Spain where she reconnects with other contemporary flamenco artists and the great flamenco masters Tomas de Madrid and Ciro.

Ms. Lopez has presented hundreds of lecture/demonstrations in schools throughout the United States and conducts flamenco dance classes at the Mount Vernon Dance Space . Ms. Lopez and her dance company seek to preserve flamenco as a vital art form by creating and performing both traditional and contemporary flamenco dance works and by providing the highest quality instructional and educational programs in flamenco to diverse adult and youth population.