Announcing The Four Choreographers That Will Compete In REGALIA 2018

Repertory Dance Theatre is proud to officially announce the four choreographers who will compete at REGALIA on February 24, 2018 for an RDT commission in the 2018-2019 season.

In November, RDT put out a call for choreographers. The Company, celebrating its 52nd season this year, received entries from choreographers across the country ranging in style and experience. The submissions were reviewed very closely by dancers and staff who evaluated them based on movement vocabulary & ideas, personal statement, video links, past experience, and how the work would fit with RDT's mission.

The four choreographers that will compete on February 24, 2018 are Marty Buhler, Molly Heller, LAJAMARTIN (a team of Laja Field & Martin Durov), and Bryn Cohn. The choreographers will have four hours to create a new work that will be shown that night. Each piece will be "voted" on by audience members using their wallets as part of the evening's fundraising component. The choreographer that raises the most money will be awarded the commission for the 2018-2019 season.

Marty Buhler is a senior at the University of Utah in the School of Dance. He has had numerous choreographic experiences in the school as well as performing opportunities throughout the area. Buhler performed with Repertory Dance Theatre in 2016 in Jose Limon's "Missa Brevis" as well as in RDT's EMERGE concert in 2017. He has received multiple awards in dance filmmaking including the Perth Screendance Awards and the Utah Film Festival. His work was recently chosen to be showcased at the Northwest Region American College Dance Association Conference.

Bryn Cohn, of New York City, is described as having "a brilliant mind...people want to see more" (The Dance Enthusiast). She founded and assumed the position of artistic director of Bryn Cohn + Artists in 2011. She has been commissioned to create original works for Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Billy Bell's Lunge Dance Collective (formerly of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet), and The Big Muddy Dance Company, among others. Cohn is a permanent faculty member at Peridance Capezio Center and for the Pushing Progress Contemporary Training Program where she teaches composition, improvisation and contemporary techniques. She formerly directed the modern department at Greenwich Ballet Academy.

Molly Heller is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah School of Dance in the Modern Program. She received her Masters from the School of Dance at the University of Utah in 2015, as well as her Bachelor's in 2009. She has taught across the country from San Francisco to New York City as well as Chicago & Vermont. She is the Co-Director of the Department's summer workshop, SALTDANCEFEST and has won numerous awards including the Thomas G. Stockham Medal for Conspicusously Effective Teaching and Scott Marsh Mentorship Award. She also owns and operates The Tea Grotto in Salt Lake City.

LAJAMARTIN is a dance collective founded by Laja Field-Durov & Martin Durov in 2017. The focus of the collective is to present highly physical dance theater with a big part of the aesthetic drawing from traditional Slovakian Folk Dance. Hyper dynamic movement defined by musicality and rhythm is a fundamental aspect of their movement vocabulary. LAJAMARTIN is also equally involved in furthering dance education through teaching classes and workshops in the USA and EU. Laja and Martin are currently based in New York City where they are founding members and co-rehearsal directors of VIM VIGOR Dance Company (VIM). They have taught and choreographed with the company at Lines Ballet Training Program, ODC, San Francisco Conservatory, University of Michigan, NYU Tisch and Springboard Danse Montréal. With VIM they have premiered in NYC, the Lobero Theater in Santa Baraba with DANCEworks and toured to Prisma Festival in Panama.

"RDT is eager to see what these choreographers create at REGALIA. All four of them are extremely talented. The work of any one of them would be an asset to our 53rd season," said Linda C. Smith, Executive/Artistic Director of RDT. "We're thrilled to have artists represented from across the Country and can't wait to see which one the audience chooses."