PROFILE
Biography:
Recently returned to Seattle from Tokyo/Yokohama Corrie Befort (1978) has been creating dance works for ten years in the Northwest, Minneapolis and Belgium, and in Japan since 2005. Her work is often described as highly detailed, pressing between complex patterning and richly evocative physical imagery; precise yet enigmatic. She engages in energetic collaborations with composers, musicians, videographers/animators and dancers including Tom Baker, Tom Kanthak, Sheri Cohen, Beth Graczyk, Hisao Ihara, Anne Adachi, Tim Olive and many others.
The naturally cinematic nature of Corrie's choreography led her to the dance film genre in 2000. Since then she has produced three dance films, and a fourth is to be released in late 2008. Her films have screened in festivals in the US, Belgium and Japan, and are currently distributed by IndieFlix.com. In 2007 her film Rota was awarded a Choreography Media Honor by Dance Camera West at the Directors Guild of America, Hollywood.
Studying ballet, music and fine art from an early age, Corrie attended the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Minneapolis, received her BFA in Dance from Cornish College in 1999. She was the recipient of the danceWEB scholarship to Vienna's ImPulsTanz Festival, and a choreographic residency at the Rosas/P.A.R.T.S. school. She has danced for Scott/Powell Performance (1998-2005), Sheri Cohen (2001-2004) and as a guest with Japanese artist Natsuko Tezuka (2005-2007). Corrie teaches contemporary modern, improvisation, and dancers' conditioning classes in Japan and the US. In Japan she also worked in the commercial entertainment industry, modeling and dancing for music videos and television.
Company:
Corrie Befort has a solid repertory of works created with a select group of distinguished independent performers, composers and designers living in Japan, Europe and the US with whom Befort has rigorous ongoing creative relationships. The company is currently based out of Seattle and Tokyo/Yokohama.
Awards:
2007 Dance film Rota (2005) awarded a DCW Choreography Media Honor
at the Directors Guild of America, Hollywood
2004 City Artists Grant, Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, for the development of dance film Rota
2004 GAP Grant, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA, for self-produced performance of
What Remains
2003 DanceWeb Scholarship for the ImPulsTanz Festival, Vienna, Austria
2002 Mary Levine Scholarship Award for Performance Excellence
2001 Touring Grant from Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, White Plains, NY
2001 Professional Development Assistance Grant from Washington State Arts Commission
1997-1999 Cornish College Presidential and Merit Scholarships
Education:
2004 Pacific Northwest Dance Lab (RDDI/PNW)
presented by NEFA's National Dance Project
2003 ImPulsTanz Festival, Vienna, Austria
danceWeb Scholarship Recipient
2000 Rosas/PARTS School, Brussels, Belgium
Summer Studios Residency Program
1996-1999 Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
BFA in Dance
1994-1996 Perpich Center for Arts Education, Minneapolis, MN
Two-year arts high school, focus in dance and choreography
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