the Company
Lingo is an inspired group of contemporary artists, athletes, actors, bravehearts, lunatics... and yes, dancers. They are drawn to the circumstances that provide common ground, inspire surprising connections and shift the entry point of how the public interfaces with dance. They seek platforms for work outside the limitations of proscenium-based performance, such as art "events" including food, drink, gathering and dancing, museum installations and one on one encounters in urban, public settings. Their new show INHABIT is a culmination and celebration of such a circumstance.
Based in Seattle, WA, and under the Artistic Direction of KT Niehoff, Lingo's work has been presented internationally in Canada (Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver B.C.), Japan (Alti Buyoh festival, Kyoto and Tori Hall, Osaka), Ecuador (El Festival Concurso "Alas de la Danza" with support from Arts International) and Cuba (Cuidad en Movimento in Havana). Nationally, the company has been presented by venues including On the Boards, Seattle, The Joyce SoHo, NYC, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Inside/Out, Massachusetts, The Southern Theater, Minneapolis (through an NEA funded touring initiative Niehoff created called SCUBA), SUSHI performance gallery, San Diego, The Oregon Britt Festival and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, among others. The company was one of four chosen to represent the U.S. at the 2004 Tanzmesse in DŸsseldorf, Germany.
The company's artistic integrity has been recognized by such institutions as The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Dance Project, The National Performance Network, Meet the Composer, Seattle, Washington and King County Arts Commissions, Arts International, among others.
the performers
KT Niehoff
KT Niehoff is a recipient of three Seattle Arts Commission Individual Artist awards, a 2001 Seattle Artist Trust Fellow and a 2006 Choreographic Fellow at the Maggie Allessee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. She holds a BFA in theater from New York University, receiving training from the Experimental Theater Wing. From 1992-1995 she was a performer with The Pat Graney Company.
With her company of collaborating artists, Lingo, Niehoff has created four full-length dance theater works and numerous short works. Professional company commissions include Spectrum Dance Theater (Donald Byrd, Artistic Director) and Groundworks Dance Company (David Shimotakahara, Artistic Director). University commissions include Mt. Holyoke College, St. Olaf College, Cornish College of the Arts and the University of Montana.
From 1996-2006 Niehoff was the co-founder and director of Velocity Dance Center, which has since grown to be the epicenter of Seattle's professional dance community. Aside from teaching regularly at Velocity, Niehoff has taught contemporary technique and her composition system called Reinvent Your Eye / Tools for Abstract Composition world wide at institutions including The School for New Dance Development (Amsterdam), Oberlin College (Ohio), Estudio 3 (Madrid), The Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, Cornish College of the Arts and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
In 2002, Niehoff was an invited artist delegate to the think-tank retreat at White Oak that was sponsored by the Doris Duke Foundation. Her work there helped laid the platform for the Pacific Northwest Regional Dance Lab that took place in late summer 2004 in Seattle, for which she was an artist advisor.
Aaron Swartzman
Born and raised in Seattle, Aaron Swartzman began dancing through the Creative Dance Center, eventually joining the children's dance company Kaleidoscope and touring to Japan. After stopping for many years he returned to dance in college, parallel to studying the Brazilian martial art form of Capoiera Angola. Now a Treineu in Capoiera, as well as a professional dancer and improviser, he has been lucky enough to work with and learn from a number of inspiring choreographers and movers, particularly KT Niehoff and Amii Legendre. Aaron joined the company in 2002.