dropshift dance

dropshift dance is a provocative, inquisitive and authoritative investigator of movement. Conceived through a collaborative incubation laboratory of movement, sound, and visual installation, the work engages audience with dialogue, choice and experimental practice. DSD works through a rigorous process of studio investigation to create work that energizes the space and creates an alternate world for the performer and viewer. Using specific directives of quality, imagery, and trajectory DSD creates movement environments that allow the viewer an opportunity to connect and engage with what is abstract by layering the physical experience with one that is human and authentic.

dropshift was founded in 2009 by Chicago based artist Andrea Cerniglia as a movement project dedicated to a collaborative and investigative studio practice and pushing the boundaries of the art form in performance. The company makes work for solo and ensemble members throughout the season and is directed by Ms. Cerniglia. Movement investigation and creation is conceived in collaboration with the dancers and is directed through an imagery based narrative in order to mine each voice of creation and allow for abstraction in performance. The company mines abstract concepts and asks questions that dissect societal structure, dynamics, and events which surround and impact us. The exploration is limitless and yields a performance to which viewers are invited to find personal connection through evocative image. Collaboration extends beyond dance into the realm of dance film, visual art and installation piece, and musical composition. dropshift is interested in uniting a myriad of artistic points of view and allowing for an equal contribution and voice from each. This multi-disciplinary approach engages viewers in a visual, aural, and human experience in order to explode the definition of dance performance and move audience towards a transformative experience.

Andrea Cerniglia began dancing at an early age while growing up in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Dance has always been a large part of her life and her training ultimately led to a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Much of Ms. Cerniglia’s exposure to modern dance came during her collegiate years; she quickly fell in love with the form for its endless freedom and ability to give the audience such a powerful and visceral experience. Currently a contemporary artist based in Chicago, IL, she is a performer, choreographer, laban practitioner, and seasoned educator. Ms. Cerniglia’s work has been shown internationally in Vancouver, BC as well as locally at Links Hall, The Hairpin Arts Center, I AM Logan Square Gallery, The Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, Produce Music and Dance, Hamlin Park and Holstein Park, Chicago, IL. She is a long time collaborator with Zephyr Dance with whom she performed from 2004 to 2013. She received her Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis from Columbia College Chicago in 2015. Ms. Cerniglia has performed at such Chicago venues as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Dance Center of Columbia College, Harold Washington Library Theater, the Athenaeum Theater, and the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts. She has also performed in New York City at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Dance Space, the Cunningham Studio Theater, Mulberry Street Theater, and Triskelion Arts. Ms. Cerniglia has been a part of residency and master class work within the elementary grade levels as well as at such colleges as Columbia College Chicago and Illinois Wesleyan University. She has also taught and designed arts integrated curriculum in the Chicago Public schools through Zephyr’s arts integrated education programs uniting classroom curriculum with dance. In the spring of 2009, she was named Artistic Director of the Dance Foundation Youth Company Chicago, a dance group providing opportunity and scholarship to Chicago’s underserved youth founded at Fisher Dance Center, now R&B Dance, where she continues to support dance education and appreciation. dropshift’s work has been supported by the Illinois Arts Council, The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and many generous individuals since 2010.

Learn More: http://www.dropshiftdance.com