Dancer & Choreographer
Hello everyone, and welcome to my website! As you take a look around you'll see that I have different information about me and my life as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!
Links:
*Contradiction Dance Company
*MetroTAP
*Elon Dance Company Blog
*Elon Dance Company Promo
*|DanceWorks 2010
*|DanceWorks Master Class: Kate Jablonski
*|Dance Photos by Leslie Scott
*|More Photos
Photos by Leslie Scott
Matina Phillips is originally from Fairfax, VA and graduated in May 2010 with a BFA Dance Performance & Choreography degree and a minor in Business Administration from Elon University. Matina began dancing at a young age and has continued her training in a variety of different genres including jazz, tap, ballet, modern, contemporary, hip hop, lyrical, musical theater, and African. This interest and capability to be emerged in various dance styles was emphasized as an intern at Broadway Dance Center in New York City in the summer of 2008. This experience immersed her with professional choreographers and high-quality dance classes. At Elon University, Matina was a member of the Elon Dance Company which enabled her to further craft her performing and choreographing skills. She is now a performer, choreographer, and teacher in the Washington, D.C. area. Her credits include being a company member of Contradiction Dance, Mich-Mash Productions, and MetroTAP. From 2010-2011 she performed in various D.C. venues such as Round House Theater, Joe's Movement Emporium, The Phillips Collection, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, The Warehouse, The Jack Guidone Theater, The Fridge, The Patterson, as well as Dance New Amsterdam and Green Space in NYC. Along with being a perfomer, Matina is now working on presenting her own choreography, which began by being the lead choreographer for The Alliance Theater's production of Hairspray in the summer of 2011. Finally, Matina is also a dance teacher with Tiny Dancers, Rhythm Street Dance, and Contradiction Dance.
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My overall purpose for dancing is to fulfill a passion and love that I continue to increasingly embody. Being relatively introverted, I find that I can often articulate movement and what the movement is conveying better than in the form of words. Continuing to dance for a career and for my whole life is something I have been aware of for a long time. It clicks in my body and mind as something that I am meant to do. The way I connect and engage through dancing and performing is unlike any other connection that I have. There is a magical quality about it that I never want to lose, which is why I will never stop doing it.
I create dance to make connections between thoughts, ideas, and feelings through the physical body. I have found that creativity can always be explored because possibilities are endless and there are so many open choices. There seems to be excitement in not knowing what will happen in the process of choreographing. Even though there is structure in making dance, I find that it is something I can play with, which is fun and intriguing. I also choreograph to see if I can spark something in other people, which could range from an emotional reaction to a thought-provoking reaction. The spark I, too, receive from choreographing is too exciting to ignore. I cannot imagine many other professions that provide constant discovery and creative choices.
In the dances I have created so far my movement has been physical, athletic, and technical. I pay close attention to musicality by often paralleling musical accents with physical accents. Movement is often contrasted between sharp and fluid, being influenced by my experience with different dance genres, such as the inherent rhythms in jazz and tap. Overall, I am a versatile performer with different performing experiences and I pull from these experiences when choreographing.
*Hairspray (The Alliance Theater; Fairfax, VA): Lead choreographer (2011)
*The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (The Keegan Theater; Washington, D.C.): Tap choreographer for Magic Foot. (2011)
*We Are More Than Our Parts: Small group contemporary work presented in the Senior Thesis Dance Concert. (2010) Video of choreography -->
*Eye <3 U: A collaboratively choreographed and performed rhythm tap trio with Rachel Perlman and Karena Thacker, presented in DanceWorks and TAPPED OUT! (2010)
*We're Going to be Friends: A character tap duet performed by Kristen Sandler and Meg Wagner in TAPPED OUT! (2010)
*What Runs Us Together: Contemporary modern duet performed by Sarah Jenny and Caitlyn Juengel in the Choreography Salon I. (2008)
*The Pursuit: A small group rhythm tap piece performed in DanceWorks and TAPPED OUT! in 2008. This was collaboratively choreographed with Karena Thacker.
We Are More Than Our Parts
Senior Thesis Dance Concert (April 2010)
Photos by Betsy Sise
Elon University:
*DanceWorks: Dancer/collaborative choreographer in tap piece, Eye <3 U (2/10)
*Senior Thesis Dance Concert: Dancer in two full-length student pieces: the thoughts from the light, and the light from the sounds (featured tap dancer) by Rachel Perlman, and Dangling by Karena Thacker (4/10)
*TAPPED OUT!: Dancer in Gene Medler's pieces Sanctified Blues and Dansa Brasileira , Rachel Perlman's piece They Don't Really Care, and Eye <3 You (4/10)
*Elements Spring Dance Concert: Dancer in Loft by guest artist Leslie Scott, and I fall in. I burn up. I float. I fall again. by Amy Beasley (5/10)
Washington, D.C.:
*Living, Breathing, Human Organism?: Contradiction Dance Company's fall evening-length work, directed by Kelly Mayfield, at Round House Theatre (11/10)
*The Disorder of Things: Contradiction Dance Company's spring evening-length work at Round House Theatre (4/11) -- soloist
*Various performances with Contradiction: Making Shapes in Space (The Phillips Collection, 3/11), Late Night Expressions (Joe's Movement Emporium, 4/11) Dance Craze with Taffety Punk Theater (Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 5/11), Takoma Park Play Day (2/11), Thanksgiving Day Parade (11/10), Late Night at the Patterson (10/10)
*Perchance to Dream: Micheline Heal's work performed at The Warehouse (4/11), Dance Craze with Taffety Punk Theater (5/11), Dance New Amsterdam (NYC, 1/11), Green Space (NYC, 3/11)
*Percussive Dance Project: Dancer in MetroTAP's piece Travellin' at the Jack Guidone Theater (1/11)
*Jazz & Tap Festival: Dancer in MetroTAP's piece Who Will Comfort Me (3/11)
Living, Breathing, Human Organism?
Contradiction Dance (Nov. 2010)
Photo by Michael Avilez
The Disoder of Things
Contradiction Dance (April 2011)
Eye <3 U
DanceWorks (Feb. 2010)
Photo by Andy Ralston-Asumendi
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