David
Grenke
Department Chair
Dance, Choreography
David Grenke is the founder of ThingsezIsee’um Dance/Theater and a former principal dancer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. He has also danced for Dennis Wayne’s Dancers and The Joffrey Concert Dancers, and he was a founding member of the Armitage Ballet. His choreography has been presented in New York at Lincoln Center, Dance Theatre Workshop’s Fresh Track Series, The Guggenheim Museum’s Works and Process Series, The Dia Center for the Arts, Pace University and Riverside Church. Outside New York his works have been performed at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The American Dance Festival, The Cannes International Festival, Kaatsbaan International Festival, and on tours of Russia, Poland, Denmark, Taiwan and Argentina. Support for these tours has come from the U.S. Embassy, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Harkness Foundation.
Professor Grenke is a recipient of ADF’s 1998 Doris Duke Award for new work, the 1997 Scripps/ADF Humphrey-Weidman-Limón Fellow for Choreography, and the Nora Kaye Award for dance. He participated in the American Dance Festival’s 1997 International Choreographers Commissioning Program, where he was in residence creating new work on ADF dancers.
For the Paul Taylor Company, his choreography inspired the hit Funny Papers, where his work is represented in the first movement, which was filmed for PBS’ “Dance in America” special The Wrecker’s Ball. His choreography is also in the repertory of Mark Taylor’s Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, The Baltimore School for the Arts and Rutgers University. A former faculty member at Rutgers University, Mr. Grenke is currently on the faculty at the Taylor School and teaches master classes both domestically and internationally. He has been guest faculty at Brigham Young University, SUNY Brockport, Denmark’s Oure Academy, and The Baltimore School for the Arts, among others.
Professor Grenke became Chair of the department in 2008. He currently sits on the oversight committee for the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
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