Andrea Miller/Gallim Dance

Gallim Dance (Hebrew for “waves”) is a New York based contemporary dance company founded in 2007 by Artistic Director, Andrea Miller. While walking along the shore in Tel Aviv, Miller was transfixed by the rising and falling waves of the Mediterranean Sea and the surfers’ adaptability to define their path through the masses of morphing currents. This concept birthed Gallim Dance: a company that approaches change by staying present and alert to the unfixed landscape we live in; problem-solves by utilizing acute, hyper body-awareness to seek solution; and uses the entire psyche and physique as vessels to explore, respond, and foster creativity.

The mission of Gallim is to create and perform innovative works by Andrea Miller, nurture the careers of young artists, and stimulate the imagination of a diverse international audience. Miller’s work embodies technical skill, physical exhaustion, and intimate expressions of the self. Calling on the realm of the theater, Miller craftily takes audiences on an artistic journey that awaken questions and emotions as well as generating a place to search for meaning.

Miller and the seven award-winning ensemble of dancers uses their language of movement imagery to make an imprint on diversified audiences. Gallim has performed at The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Spoleto Festival USA, White Bird Dance, Madrid en Danza (Spain), Isadora Festival (Russia), Chutzpah! Festival (Canada), Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York Live Arts, Joyce Soho, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Juilliard Theater, and Judson Church, among others.

The company nurtures creative education in their local New York area and the many places they tour—extensive programming includes classes in movement technique, Gallim repertory, and improvisation. Currently, Gallim is invested in their rich partnership with Dancewave and The Fieldston School in New York.

Gallim Dance regularly teaches master classes and sets work for many prestigious companies and universities across the world.

The company has been fortunate enough to get support from very exciting places including the National Dance Project for a 2011-2012 Touring Award, The American Music Center, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, First Republic Bank, The Jerome Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation’s USArtists International, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, The Princess Grace Foundation, and The Trust for Mutual Understanding.

Andrea Miller (Artistic Director and Choreographer) Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Andrea Miller is a graduate of the Juilliard School where she received her BFA in Dance. Upon graduating, Miller joined Ohad Naharin’s Ensemble Batsheva in Israel to perform the works of Naharin and Sharon Eyal, resident choreographer. She has also performed as a guest with Cedar Lake and Limon Dance Company. Prior to attending Juilliard, Miller was a student and performer of Doris Humphrey’s works and solos under the direction of Ernestine Stodelle and Gail Corbin.

In 2007, Miller returned to NYC to establish Gallim Dance. In 2009, Miller was selected for Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” and in April 2011, she was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine. Her prolific movement invention has quickly caught the attention of a diverse international audience. Miller is constantly searching for new ways of making work, challenging the relevance of dance in our world, infusing the power of body-awareness amongst audiences, and relating potential expression with inner-fulfillment. As a choreographer, Miller looks for individuals’ awareness, intellectual discovery, and quest for meaning to keep movement relevant.
Miller has been awarded the 2009 Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship in Choreography and 2010 Princess Grace Foundation USA Works in Progress Award. She is also the recipient of the Youth America Grand Prix award for Emerging Choreographers and the Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographers Award from Wesleyan University. Her work has been presented throughout the US, Canada, Russia, and Europe.

Her most recent commission for Ballet Bern was presented at Royal Opera House in London, and her collaboration with Phantom Limb was presented at BAM Next Wave in Fall 2011. Miller has also set works for Ballet Hispanico, Noord Nederlandse Dans, Hubbard Street 2, Zenon Dance, Hedwig Dances, New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble, Repertory Dance Theatre, Body Traffic, Northwest Dance Project, and Springboard Danse Montreal.

Miller’s educational initiatives include co-creating The Movement Invention Program alongside Jill Johnson and Alexandra Wells, a program dedicated to improvisation, and resident choreographer at Dancewave, a pre-professional dance program based in Brooklyn.

Miller is a citizen of both the United States and Spain; also fluent in English, Spanish, and Hebrew.

TEACHER

Andrea teaches a dance class that is deeply informed by her unique experience as a dancer with Ohad Naharin’s Ensemble Batsheva and by her own movement investigation as a choreographer and dancer. Andrea uses structured improvisation to research how to access movement from the body. Improvisation is used as a means to understand the capacity of the body, its anatomy, its power, and its ability to be simple and complex. The class ends with a choreographed sequence in which students practice the tools gained from the improvisations. Her class is appropriate for intermediate to advanced students.

In addition to dance, Andrea teaches movement for actors. The class approaches movement and the relationship between people and space by exploring three action words: Escape, Catch, Rescue.