Bronwen MacArthur received her dance training from North Carolina School of the Arts and performed in New York City with the companies of Robin Becker, Gina Gibney, Bill Young, and Donna Uchizono, among others. With these companies and those of choreographers Tim Feldmann, Sara Gebran, and others based in Copenhagen, Denmark, she has taught and performed throughout Europe, the U.S. and South America. MacArthur received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 2006 and continues to teach ballet and contemporary dance at home as well as internationally.
MacArthur began choreographing in New York in 1999. Since then, her work has also been shown in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Paris, France, Edinburgh, Scotland, Pennsylvania and throughout New England. At Yale University, she choreographed for various operas, plays, and other multi-media events, including a production of Four Saints in Three Acts, an opera by Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein, and Zang Tumb Tuum!, a futurist installation at Beinecke Rare Book Library. In 2005, MacArthur co-founded, with Emily Coates, the dance theater lab Motion In Dialogue (MIND) which, in the fall of 2006, presented a dance theater interpretation of the first week of Suzan-Lori Parks' play cycle 365 Days/365 Plays. In the summer of 2007, MacArthur and Coates presented MIND's 2005 work Memory Suite at the CORD (Congress on Research in Dance)/SDHS (Society of Dance History Scholars) joint conference, "Rethinking Theory and Practice in Dance" in Paris. MIND performed Hearing B(l)ind a site-specific piece on Old Campus at Yale in 2008 and most recently performed with Change Behavior improvisation collective at The Vision Festival at Abrons Art Center, NYC.
MacArthur has served as guest instructor at Connecticut College, as a guest artist at Bucknell University and she co-taught, with Coates and Joseph Roach, a seminar in the Theater Studies department at Yale. For this seminar, MacArthur, Coates and Roach co-directed Don't Look Back! a rock 'n roll Orpheus which was presented in the Looking Back/Looking Forward Orpheus Conference at Whitney Humanities Center at Yale.
In addition to her work with Emily Coates, MacArthur has also co-produced and co-choreographed a number of shows with Adele Myers and created a movement and media piece titled "Disappearing Woman" with Nell Breyer, Alissa Cardone and Lorraine Chapman. MacArthur's passion for music and particular interest in original scores have led her to collaborate with composers Doug Henderson, Matthew Suttor, Willow Williamson, Bryan Senti and Todd Horton, among others.
Bronwen is a 2010-11, 2011-12 Susan Hess Modern Dance Choreographers Project resident in Philadelphia and the recipient of the 2011 Ellen Forman Memorial Award. She has recently performed in the work of Eun Jung Choi. She is on faculty at the University of the Arts.
Photo by Lindsay Browning
Marie Brown moved to Philadelphia from Jacksonville, Florida in 2005. While in Jacksonville, she trained at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and The Florida Ballet. In 2004, she graduated from Radford University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. During that time, she received dance scholarships to attend Bates Dance Festival and American Dance Festival where she was honored to work with Gerri Houlihan and Tatiana Bagonova. Currently she works and performs with MacArthur Dance Project, Group Motion Dance Company, Scrap Performance Group, Stone Depot Dance Lab, Merge Dance, and Chisena Danza. She recently performed in Italy at the Spoleto Festival for the Rossobastardo Live event with Scrap Performance Group and in NYC for the La MaMa Moves Dance Festival.
Photo by Melissa J. Hays
Bethany Formica is a dancer/actress who, in addition to MacArthur Dance Project, is currently a performer with Curt Haworth, Cardell Dance Theater and Makoto Hirano. Bethany has worked with New York City based companies including The Kevin Wynn Collection, Sean Curran and Company, Pearson/Widrig DanceTheatre, Martha Bowers Dance Theatre and Michael Foley Dance, many Philadelphia based companies including Megan Mazarick, BoanDanz Action, Melanie Stewart, Nichole Canuso, J. Ferron Hiat, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Ladybird, Myra Bazell and Kate Watson-Wallace, and Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre and Koncentrat in Poland, among others. She graduated with a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 1994 and has received a 2008 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a 2009 Rocky Award, a 2011 Dances in Public Spaces Grant/Stipend and several professional development awards from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance. Bethany has taught workshops at studios and universities throughout the U.S. and internationally and is currently an adjunct professor at Rowan University. Her work has been presented in NYC, Philadelphia, NJ, England and Italy and she was the Co-Director of REACTIONARIES from 2005-2006. In her spare time she is a wood turner. (www.bethanyformica.org)
Ellie Goudie-Averill, a 2007 MFA Dance Performance graduate of the University of Iowa, currently directs the Stone Depot Dance Lab (www.stonedepotdancelab.wordpress.com) and dances for MacArthur Dance Project and Group Motion Dance Company in Philadelphia. Her choreography has been shown NYC, Philly and throughout the Midwest, and she was recently a selected artist for DNA’s RAW Material. Ellie has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of dance at Bucknell University and Artistic Coordinator of the UI Youth Ballet and is currently teaches technique at Temple University. She began her training at Ballet Midwest in Topeka, Kansas and holds a BFA in dance from the University of Kansas.
Beau Hancock recently earned his MFA in Dance from Temple University. As an undergraduate at the University of Kansas, Beau was a founding member of the Bowery Dancers, a Lawrence-based movement collective. His choreography has been presented at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Westbeth Art Gallery and the Flea Theater. As a performer Beau has had the pleasure to work with Ben Munisteri Dance Projects, cornfield dance, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company and Douglas Dunn and Dancers.
Scott McPheeters graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in Theatre Arts in 2005. Since then, he has worked as a freelance performer in Philadelphia and has had the pleasure of working with companies and individuals including Headlong Dance Theater, Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Marianela Boan's BoanDanz Action, Kun-Yang Lin / Dancers, Subcircle, Melanie Stewart Dance Theater, Enchantment Theatre Company, Hotel Obligado, Stone Depot Dance Lab, Megan Mazarick, Michael Biello and Dan Martin, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Gabrielle Revlock, Shannon Murphy, and Rain Ross. Scott began working with Bronwen MacArthur in the Spring of 2011. In addition to performing, Scott works as a Certified Massage Therapist for his own private practice, Kudzu Bodywork.
From the Margins, This, Unmentioned (2009) was created with dancers:
Takiyah Britton, Hannah Marie Corbin, Marcos Duran, Meghan Frederick, Chelsea Retzloff and Matthew Westerby
Coming to Grips (2008) was created with dancers:
CaraMarie Carboni, Margaret Evans, Kerry Gallagher, Laura D'Amato Russo and Caroline Smith
Other Performers and Guests (2007-2011) have included:
Kaitlyn Christensen, Emily Coates, Julia Guarneri, Annie LaBatt, Kate Loh, Kellie Lynch, Lauren Meluskey, Lauren Putty, Monica Rhea
MacArthur Dance Project PO Box 22530 Philadelphia, PA 19110
