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Theatre, Film and Dance Department - Cornell University

Department Faculty - Dance

Jim Self

Dancer/Choreographer/Teacher

B.A. Summa Cum Laude (Ritual and Performance)

  • Cornell University-1996 Current Position: Senior Lecturer in Dance at Cornell University
  • Performance/Companies: 1980 -1988 Jim Self and Dancers, Artistic Director 1980 -1984 Robert Wilson's The Civil Wars,Performer/Choreographer 1976 -1979 Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Dancer 1975 -1976 Self Performing Arts Company, Artistic Director 1974 -1975 Moming Collection, Co-Founder 1972 -1974 Chicago Dance Troupe,
  • Performer/Choreographer Film/Video: 1999 AIDS in the Southern Tier: Seven Stories/interviewer/M.Rivchin director for Southern Tier AIDS Project (STAP) 1988 Retracing Steps/ Michael Blackwood Production 1986 Jim Self Comes Home/ Alabama Public Television Special 1984 Beehive/ Frank Moore and Jim Self, Directors 1981 Stations by Robert Wilson/ performer/choroegrapher 1979 Locale/ Merce Cunningham Dance Company 1977 Torse/ Merce Cunningham Dance Company
  • Honors/Awards: Alabama Arts Award - 1992 New York Foundation Choreography Fellowship - 1988 BESSIE - 1985 NEA Choreography Fellowships - 1987, 1985, 1984, 1982, 1981,1975 NEA Film/Video Fellowships - 1987, 1985, 1982
  • Conference/Presentations: 1997 - American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive- "Animals, Dreams and Televisual Transformations" 1995 - Congress on Research in Dance --"From Fierce Wolf Energy to Dancing Iguana Consciousness: The Evolution of a Contemporary Ritual Vocabulary"
  • Teaching: 1997 - American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive 1994 - Link's Hall, Chicago (performance workshop) 1989 - present Cornell University/ Senior Lecturer in Dance (movement explorations/composition/dance history/video and performance/post-modern technique) 1989 Arts in Education, NYC (movement workshops) Montessori School, Brooklyn (children's movement) 1987-88 Joy of Movement/Studio 400, NYC (post-modern technique) Jacob's Pillow (post-modern technique) 1986 University of Alabama (post-modern technique/repertory workshops/improvisation) 1984-85 Centre Nationale de Danse Contemporaine (technique/ improvisation/repertory) 1982 American Center, Paris/Dance Umbrella, England/SUNY, Purchase (movement workshops) 1980 Merce Cunningham Studio (technique) 1977 Universities of Iowa and Minnesota/Minneapolis Guild of Performing Arts (movement workshops for children/technique) 1975-76 Self Performing Arts Studio, Chicago (technique/improvisation) 1974-75 Moming Collection, Chicago (techniques/improvisation/public events workshops) 1972-74 Columbia College, Chicago (technique/improvisation/children's movement/repertory)
  • Dance Education: NYC 1981-83 Maggie BLack 1973-79 Merce Cunningham Dance Studio Chicago 1972-76 Edward Parish Ballet Studio 1970-74 Shirley Mordine 1972-73 Richard Arve 1971-73 Nana Shineflug 1970-72 Jackie Radis 1971 Tom Jaremba
  • Choreography: 2000: The End is a Gesture (solo) Cornell 7/11/2000 Aesthetics of Snoredom (solo) Ithaca Men's Fest 4/29/2000 1X8 Faculty/Student collaboration(17 dancers) Cornell 3/9/2000. 1999: Corpus Colloseum (duet w Brandon Miller) Cornell 7/27/1999 The Fairy Malaise (9 performers) Cornell 3/11/1999 1998 HouseHouse (duet w B. Miller) Philadelphia Fringe Fest. 9/1998 Untitled Tribute to Duke Ellington (9 dancers) Cornell 3/5/98; 1997: Rite Reverend Dada Channels Dancing Iguana Consciousness While Thinking Like a Squirrel (solo) Link's Hall/Chicago 7/5/97 Terra Incognita (45 dancers) American Ballet Theatre Intensive University of Alabama 6/20/97; 1996: Suite: Dummy Dances for Love and Money (4 performers) Cornell 3/7/96; 1995: Chez Dada, Chez Moi -- an Invocation (solo) CORD Conference New World School of the Arts, Miami 11/2/95 MC, JC, JJ, EF, LA, Dancing Iguana Consciousness, and a Bunch of Name- Droping, Art-Barking Dummies (12 performers) ACDFA Cornell, Ithaca 3/22/95 Merce Cunningham and the Shrine of Dancing Iguana Consciousness: or the Life in John's Cage with Ella and Louis (14 performers) Cornell, Ithaca 3/9/95; 1994: Sweet Homecoming Chicago (5 performers) Full Evening Link's Hall, Chicago 10/14/94 Psyche Dreams: A Story of Love and Delight (10 performers) Cornell, Ithaca 3/10/94 1993 Ramona and The Wolfgang Work for a Cure (17 performers) Cornell, Ithaca 3/11/93 Sanctuary (15 performers) Danspace at Saint Mark's Church, NYC 1/7/93; 1992: The Dance (duet) Artists Space, NYC 12/1/92 Ramona's Transformation (solo) Ohio Theater, NYC 4/30/92 I Dream of Genealogy and Jesus (7 performers) Cornell 3/5/92 1991 Stairway to Paradise (solo) Cornell, Ithaca 5/2/91; 1990: Getting Married (8 performers) Alice Tully Hall, NYC 8/1/90 Soap and Sin (30 performers) Cornell, Ithaca 5/4/90 Dreammaker/Heartbreaker (8 performers) Cornell, Ithaca 3/8/90; 1989: Monkey March (8 dancers) Manhattanville College, NY 4/5/89; 1988: Surrender (solo for Mary Abrams rep) Minneapolis Crankhouse (duet) DTW, NYC 5/26/88; 1987: Beehive Ballet (48 dancers/Boston Ballet) Wang Center, Boston 3/5/87 Camellia (5 dancers) Bama Theater, Tuscaloosa, AL 4/25/87 Miller's Wife (5 dancers) P.S. 1, NYC 10/11/87 1986 Orpheus and Euridice (13 dancers/Jacob's Pillow Ballet Co) Ted Shawn Theater, Jacob's Pillow 7/15/86 Between Lives (solo) DTW, NYC 4/10/86 Pastorale (6 dancers) DTW, NYC 4/10/86 Urban Glance (6 dancers) DTW, NYC 4/10/86; 1985: Beehive Film (8 dancers) Public Theater, NYC Spring/85 La Ruche des Abeilles (35 dancers/Centre National de danse Contemporaine) Theatre Municipal, Angers, France 6/14/85 New Zuyder Zee (6 performers/in collaboration with Richard Elovich) The Kitchen, NYC 3/21/85 Nuit Blanche (12 dancers/CNDC-Angers) Perros, France 1/25/85; 1984: No Memory (4 dancers) Moming, Chicago 10/4/84 The Kachina Dance/The Civil Wars (30 dancers/Rome Opera Ballet) Rome Opera House, Italy 3/25/84; 1983: ex/stance (9 dancers/SUNY Dance Corps) SUNY, Purchase 11/83 The Harvest Dance/The Civil Wars (12 performers) de Rotterdam Schouwberg, Holland 9/83 1983 Heaven and Earth (5 dancers) The Kitchen, NYC 5/26/83 Beehive Flower Pas de Deux (duet) The Kitchen, NYC 5/26/83; 1982: Ricochet (9 dancers/Werkcentrum Dans) Leiden, Holland 9/17/82 Perpetrator (4 dancers) ADF, Durham, NC 7/12/82 The Nurse's Waltz/Stations (dance for video by Robert Wilson) Museum of Broadcasting, NYC The Phenix City Story (6 dancers) DTW, NYC 2/5/82 Lookout (solo) DTW, NYC 2/18/82; 1981: Architectural Stories (6 dancers) DTW, NYC 5/8/81 Vocabulary Lessons, Part II (solo) P.S. 1, NYC 5/9/81 Blue Grotto (solo for Ellen Kogan rep/collaboration with Frank Moore) Jacob's Pillow, MA 7/28/81 Goose on a Sidewalk (solo) American Center, Paris 6/81; 1980: Les Egouts de Paris (solo) Moming, Chicago 12/19/80 A Domestic Interlude (duet) DTW, NYC 10/7/80 Marking Time (trio) Cunningham Studio, NYC 6/30/80 Silent Partner/Changing Hands (duet/collaboration with Richard Elovich) Grey Art Gallery, NYC 1/16/80; 1977: Up Roots (solo) Walker Art Center, Minneapolis 4/15/77 Side Walks (solo) Walker Art Center, Minneapolis 4/15/77; 1976: Scraping Bottoms (solo) Goodman Theater, Chicago 5/10/76 White on White (4 dancers) Self Performing Arts Studio, Chicago 1/23/76; 1975: More of The Same in a Different Place 12 Times (solo) Self Performing Arts Studio, Chicago 11/13/75 Self Studies 1-12 (12 solos) Moming, Chicago Spring/75 Xanadu (12 performers) Moming, Chicago 3/75 Friday Night at Moming (group event) Moming, Chicago Winter/75 1974 Tuscaloosa (solo) Moming, Chicago Fall/74 Transverse (10 performers) Columbia College, Chicago Spring/74; 1973: Miami Beach (solo) Columbia College, Chicago Spring/73