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Home > Ballet Uncovered ~ Balancing Pointe Podcast > 98 ~ Colby Damon - Choreographer BalletX
Podcast: Ballet Uncovered ~ Balancing Pointe Podcast
Episode:

98 ~ Colby Damon - Choreographer BalletX
Category: Business
Duration: 00:32:21
Publish Date: 2015-08-21 05:00:00
Description:

Colby Damon has spent his entire life exploring various types of movement. Born and raised in Richmond VA, Colby was active in various sports as a young child, including snow skiing and sailing, but he found his true calling in the arts, and began formal classical ballet training at age 7 at the Richmond Ballet. At age 15, he left home to attend the Virginia School of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA, a pre-professional boarding high school for dancers, and spent his summers training at the Boston Ballet. Upon graduation, Colby joined the Sacramento Ballet, where for five years he performed soloist and principal roles.  While living in California, Colby also began studying Qi Gong and Chen style Tai Ji Quan with renowned Grandmaster Bing Fan YeYoung, and eventually received certification to teach. In 2007, Colby relocated to Brooklyn, NY, in order to explore life's options, and to pursue a career as a freelance artist. While living in New York, Colby also began studying other forms of Chinese Martial arts, including Ba Gua Zhuang, and also embarked on a personal study of Yoga.  In 2008, Colby joined BalletX in Philadelphia, PA. As a company member, Colby has been featured in over 20 world premieres.     As a choreographer, Colby's style blends an inevitable fluidity with a sense of classical line and virtuosity. He began his choreographic explorations while dancing with the Sacramento Ballet, where he produced a total of five works on fellow company members, including the piece 3 to 1, which was performed for the Sacramento Ballet's annual contemporary repertoire program, Modern Masters, in 2004. After focusing primarily on performing for a number of years, Colby began choreographing again in 2012, when he created the structured improvisational piece, Run Barefoot Down the Mountain, for Pennsylvania Ballet's annual Shut Up & Dance. He has since worked with Opera Philadelphia, The Curtis Institute, the Charlottesville Ballet, and the BalletX summer program, in addition to having his work selected to perform in the Vivadança Festival in Salvador, Brazil, The Current Sessions contemporary dance festival in New York City, and again annually for Shut Up & Dance. In the spring of 2015, he spent two months as a choreographer in residence at the Sacatar Institute in Itaparíca, Bahia, Brazil. In fall 2015, Colby will begin creation on an all new production of Jungle Book for Pennsylvania Ballet II, as well as a new work for Bryn Mawr College. He currently serves as a company class teacher for BalletX, and has served as a guest teacher for Balé de Cidade do São Paulo and Balé de Teatro Castro Alves in Brazil. Recently, after years of integrating a personal, daily yoga practice into his dance regime, Colby completed his 200 hour yoga teacher training through Sadhana Yoga School, and is a registered yoga teacher currently based out of Philadelphia, PA. 

Colby Damon's website

Colby's choreography

Choreographer Interview | R. Colby Damon's "Inevitable Resonance"

Matthew Neenan's THERE I WAS (Extended Version)

BalletX website

Balancing Pointe Website

Balancing Pointe Facebook page

Balancing Pointe Twitter

Balancing Pointe Instagram

 
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