KAROLE ARMITAGE

Karole Armitage, director of the New York-based Armitage Gone! Dance Company, was rigorously trained in classical ballet. As a professional dancer she performed in Balanchine’s Grand Théâtre de Genève Company and in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Armitage is renowned for pushing the boundaries to create contemporary works that blend dance, music and art to engage in philosophical questions about the search for meaning. She joins a legacy of process-focused experimental dance that embraces the ballet and modern dance heritage as well. She directed the Ballet of Florence. Italy (1995–99) and the Biennale of Contemporary Dance in Venice (2004), served as resident choreographer for the Ballet de Lorraine in France (1999–2004). She has created works for many companies form The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow to the Tasmanian Dance Company in Australia. She has choreographed two productions for the New York Philharmonic, directed opera at important European Opera Houses from Teatro di San Carlo in Naples to Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, two Broadway productions (Passing Strange and Hair, the latter earning her a Tony nomination), videos for Madonna and Michael Jackson, several films for Merchant Ivory productions and the Cirque du Soleil production Amaluna (2012). Ms. Armitage, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, was awarded Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s most prestigious award in 2009, and an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Kansas in 2013.