Michelle Dorrance receives Ford Foundation Fellowship and rave review in The New York Times

Michelle Dorrance receives Ford Foundation Fellowship and rave review in The New York Times

• 2017-10-06

The Ford Foundation announced 25 new Art of Change fellowships that will support visionary artists and cultural leaders in creating powerful works of art that help advance freedom, justice, and inclusion to strengthen our democracy.

Artists and cultural leaders have been at the forefront of social change throughout US history. Today, in the face of growing intolerance and widening inequality, the arts have the power to transform how people see and understand each other, and the world around them.

The artists and cultural leaders selected for Art of Change fellowships all have a demonstrated commitment to social justice, and reflect a powerful diversity of experiences and creative voices. Drawn from a wide range of artistic fields, the fellows span generations, backgrounds, geographies, and life experiences—and together tell a rich and varied American story.

The yearlong fellowship comes with unrestricted stipends of $50,000 for individuals, and $75,000 for collaborative teams. Fellows will create work exploring questions of freedom and justice, which they will showcase in late 2018.

“The Ford Foundation is honored to support these powerful working artists and creative innovators,” said Hilary Pennington, vice president of Education, Creativity, and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation. “We know the work they create through this fellowship will touch millions of lives for generations to come.”

Excerpt of review by Alastair Macaulay
October 3, 2017

"Rhythm keeps accumulating and multiplying in 'Myelination,' the Dorrance premiere; it’s an exhilarating ensemble piece, including solos and duets, that switches gears from section to section. Most lovable is its inclusiveness: dancers of different races, of widely unalike temperaments and couture, coexist calmly here, often in exactly the same intricate meter but sometimes in overlapping sequences and facing separate directions. The live music — with vocals, piano, guitar, percussion and other instruments — is in a range of appealingly melodic jazz styles; its harmony with the dancing is never simple. Ms. Dorrance’s own persona, so happily tough, is part of the piece’s surprising theatricality. Without changing facial expression, she can seem confrontational, supportive, stern, jubilant."