Christopher Rudd
Teaching: Ballet, Movement Expressions
Homeland: Jamaica
Location: NYC, NY
Born on the island of Jamaica, Christopher Rudd began dancing
at the age of 9 in Miami, FL at The Miami Conservatory,
the school of The Thomas Armour Youth Ballet.
Just two years later, Mr. Rudd became the first black person in the US to dance the title role in The Nutcracker, an accomplishment for which ABC’s Peter Jennings named him Person of the Week in 1991.
A graduate of the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Mr. Rudd has performed with such companies as Alberta Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Carolina Ballet, of which he was a founding member, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, where he rose to the rank of soloist. He also worked on the creation and danced for Cirque Du Soleil's Zaia, Cirque's first resident show in Asia.
Mr.Rudd also performed in the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Throughout his career he worked with many different choreographers such as Shen Wei, Diddy Veldman, Christopher Wheeldon,Mauro Bigonzetti, Robert Weiss, Donald Mahler, and Tyler Walters to name a few. And has been featured in roles by George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian, WilliamForsythe, Margo Sappington, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Jose Limon, Mats Ek,Ohad Naharin, Jean-Christophe Maillot.
He always felt the desire to createdance, but he also felt the need to dedicate himself as a dancer first to dive into as many roles, experience as many styles, be exposed to as many cultures, listen to as many beliefs, see as many wonders, and to learn as much as he could.
He experimented with pieces of his own, choreographing for Duke University, North Carolina School of the Arts, and a solo on a colleague for Alberta Ballet’s Workshop. He choreographed and danced in the opera Don Giovanni for the Musik theater Vorarlberg in Goetiz, Austria.
Upon moving to New York he produced a weekend at the Cunningham studios entitled No Relations highlighting his own work as well as the work of fellow choreographer Hattie Mae Williams. After being chosen to participate in Harlem Stage’s E-Moves 14: The Takeover, he was awarded grant New Work Fund from the Harlem Stage, which receives support from The Jerome Foundation.
An excerpt of that work will be present during E-moves 15 April 5th and 12th at the Harlem Stage, 2014. He was also chosen to choreograph on Peter London Global Dance Company’s emerging choreographers showcase. Now, he feels, is the time for him to share choreographically what he’s learnedthrough dance.
