Short FilmS

Directed by Artistic Director, Roni Koresh

June 2020 - At this time of uncertainty and fear, in conjunction with the inability to create work in normal circumstances, Artistic Director, Roni Koresh is using this time to refocus and reimagine new ways of dance expression. As a result, Mr.Koresh presents a trilogy of yearning for normalcy, justice and peace of mind.

“Hide your face/unmask your heart”

A TRILOGY OF YEARNING FOR NORMALCY, JUSTICE AND PEACE OF MIND

6 feet apart

A collaborative short film in response to social distancing.

Poetry by Karl Mullen
Directed by Roni Koresh
Edited by Sandy Mitchel
Performed by the Koresh Dance Company dancers

The Elephant Is In The Room

“No Justice, No Peace of Mind” - Karl Mullen

A visceral response to our troubled America, hate crimes, and our cry for change. #BLM.

Words and Voice by Karl Mullen
Performed by Rennie Harris, Raphael Xavier, Zane Booker
Edited by Rennie Harris, Sandy Mitchel
Directed by Ronen Koresh

All Dance leads to home

Let’s jump in the air and say we care , we all need a revolution! Be the revolution of yourself, choose kindness and an open heart!

Words and Voice by Karl Mullen

Directed by Ronen Koresh

Edited by Sandy Mitchel

Performed by Koresh Dance Company

RAPHAEL XAVIER | Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Raphael Xavier is an award-winning artist and alumnus of the world renowned Hip Hop dance company, Rennie Harris Puremovement. A 2013 Pew Fellowship Grantee, 2016 Guggenheim Fellow and 2016 United States Artist Fellow, Xavier has been a professional breaker/dancer for the last 20 years, working in a variety of fields including music, photography and film. Xavier currently lives in Philadelphia and is a professor at Princeton University, where he teaches the History of Hip Hop Dance and Culture and Intro to Breaking courses.

RENNIE HARRIS | Lorenzo "Rennie" Harris was born and raised in an African-American community in North Philadelphia.  In 1992, he founded Rennie Harris Puremovement, a hip-hop dance theater company dedicated to preserving and disseminating hip-hop culture.  Voted one of the most influential people in the last one hundred years of Philadelphia history, Mr. Harris has received several accolades, including the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the Governor’s Arts Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, and an honorary doctorate from Bates College.  The London Times wrote of Mr. Harris that he is “the Basquiat of the U.S. contemporary dance scene.”  Rennie Harris Puremovement was chosen by DanceMotion USA as one of four companies to serve as citizen-diplomats to tour Egypt, Israel, Palestinian territories and Jordan in 2012.  Mr. Harris' other contributions to Ailey’s repertory include Love Stories (a collaboration with Judith Jamison and Robert Battle) and Home.

ZANE BOOKER | Zane Booker, a native Philadelphian, began his dance training at the age of seven with the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts under the direction of Joan Myers Brown. By age fourteen he was selected by Ms. Brown to perform with Philadanco. During a trip to Holland with the School of American Ballet to perform on a joint program with the Vagonava School, Zane auditioned for the Netherlands Dance Theater. He was quickly accepted into the company and spent the next six years dancing under the direction of Jiri Kylian. Zane left Les Ballets De Monte Carlo in 1999 to accept invitations to appear as a guest artist with major ballet companies around the world including the new National Theater of Tokyo, Philadanco, Complexions, Les Ballet De Monte Carlo, the Opera of Monte Carlo, and Rhythmek. During this period Zane also focused his energies on creating choreographies for universities, ballet companies, operas and musical productions.

In 2006 Zane became the founder and artistic director of the Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative (SLJ), a socially conscious, multimedia, dance theater company, promoting HIV/ AIDS awareness. He created Ebony, Beige and Bronze: The Philadelphia Show to inspire social consciousness about HIV/AIDS. Dance Magazine chose SLJ as one of 25 companies to watch in 2007. Zane is a master lecturer at University of the Arts and Howard University.

KARL MULLEN | Karl Mullen, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and lives and works in Philadelphia. He has developed his own non-traditional approach to art making and materials, utilizing walnut oil, raw powder pigment and a wax medium that coalesce into color-saturated, luminous images. Karl Mullen also takes a highly original approach to music making – painting with sound. He avidly documents city and street sounds and transforms them in soundtracks for theater and contemporary dance companies. He is regularly commissioned by Philadelphia’s Koresh Dance Company, and has guest composed for Donald Bryd Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle.

SANDY MITCHEL | Videographer Sandy Mitchel, of Mt. Carmel Films, has filmed many Philadelphia-based dance companies including Pasion y Arte, the Nora Gibson Performance Project and Sambrooka, as well as individual artists. However, her first love remains Koresh, with which she has been associated since 2000, and for which she has filmed countless performances, workshops and rehearsals. One way or another, she expects she will always be involved with the cutting-edge, innovative choreography for which Koresh has become famous.