JOHN JASPERSE

John Jasperse has been working as a dance artist in New York City since graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1985. He founded John Jasperse Company, later renamed John Jasperse Projects, in 1989 and has since created 17 evening-length works through this non-profit structure as well as numerous commissions for other companies including Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Batsheva Dance Company, and Lyon Opera Ballet. He is the director of the dance program at Sarah Lawrence College.
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John was in residence at The University of Akron August 2-14, 2015 for an early development residency for Remains, a Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) commission which went on to premiere at the American Dance Festival in 2016. Jasperse used his time at UA to begin developing choreographic structures for the new work with New York-based performers Maggie Cloud, Burr Johnson, Stuart Singer and Claire Westby. While in residence, he experimented with early ideas for visual design elements (“archival visual fragments”) that included working with various objects and approaches to screen-based imagery. Jasperse opened up a work-in-progress showing to UA Dance Institute high school and college aged students, shared insights as to his working process and the new work, the value of having been given this residency, and practical information about being a dance maker in New York. Jasperse also shared the work-in-progress with the NCCAkron Feasibility Study Team alongside reflections and dialog at the close of the residency.