Robert Moses Kin

Robert Moses' Kin (also known as RMK dance company) is an american dance company known for artistic and choreographic innovation. It is founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in 1995.

Founder

Before starting his own dance company, Robert Moses, the founder of the company, danced for many institutions like Twyla Tharp Dance, ODC/San Francisco, Long Beach Ballet, Walt Disney World Productions, and Gloria Newman Dance. Robert Moses also works as faculty member at Stanford Dance Center. He is also a guest teacher at many other schools and universities in bay area. He also composed dance for films and theaters like the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, New Conservatory Theater, Los Angeles Prime Moves Festival, Olympic Arts Festival, and Black Choreographers Moving Toward the 21st Century.

tyle

The company performances are combination of athletic techniques, rhythmic complexity and gestural details. They are fusion of different styles and genres like jazz, light hip hop, gospel music and balletic movements. Robert Moses explores the issues of race, gender, class and other social topics like biographies.

Performances

* Word of mouth: It is a concert with words spoken by or about women from Mother Mary to the playwright Lorraine Hansberry. The dance was performed by Bliss Kohlmeyer, Lauren Marcogliese, Danielle Colding, Todd Eckert, Jose Comoda and Carlos Gonzalez.
* Woman spelled this way: This is another concert about women.
* President's daughter: The President's Daughter is the story of the offspring of Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress, Sally Hemmings. It tries to explore the contrast between private behavior and public posturing. It is performed by Bliss Kohlmeyer Dowman, Robert Moses and Katherine Wells.
* 3 Quartets for 4 and the Second is Two: It is story less performance for two couples and a four person corps dancing to Bach's F Minor's One and Two Harpsichord and number Five Minor music. It is performed by Robert Moses, Ram'n Ramos Alayo, Tristan Ching and Tianne Frias.
* Towards September : It is about the divine impulse behind artistic creation. It gives message about perils and pleasures of anti-social urges. It runs with the music ranging from church bells, groove and piano chords. It is performed by Amy Foley, Norma Fong, Caitlin Kolb, Todd Eckert, Nicholas Korkos, Brenden Barthel, Natasha Johnson, Michael Velez, Yeni Lucero and Antoinette Lum.
* Learning in Secret: It starts as a solo performance by Todd Eckert and he will be joined by Jose Comoda and Carlos Gonzalez.
* Dos Congio: It is a solo performance done by Bliss Kohlmyer.
* Aproaching Thought: It displays acts of kindness and cruelty. It starts with the performers Caitlin Kolb and Brendan Barthel, who were later joined by Amy Foley, Norma Fong, Todd Eckert and Nicholas Korkos.
* Jokes that can get you killed: It is a sarcastic play on current events, prejudices and phobias. It features animations of George Bush, Gavin Newsom and Anna Nicole Smith across a screen as Robert Moses and David Worm's score remixes screams and media absurdities like Don Imus. It is performed by Amy Foley, Norma Fong, Caitlin Kolb, Todd Eckert, Nicholas Korkos, Brenden Barthel, Natasha Johnson, Michael Velez, Yeni Lucero and Antoinette Lum.
* Reignforest: It is about human beings and the environment. Instead of just being ecological subject, it also shows how the ideologies and belief systems can reign over and suppress individuals with the forces affecting them.
* Lucifer's Prance: It is a dance performed for Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten. It consists contrasting impulses of stillness and turbulence. The dance was performed by Bliss Kohlmeyer Dowman and Raissa Simpson.
* Blood in Time
* Deep River
* A Biography of Baldwin
* Solo Suite: Robert Moses performed three excerpts from longer operas including one by Alonzo King.
* The Soft Sweet Smell of Firm Warm Things: It is work that captures the first blush of attraction.

Awards

The dance company won many grants and awards.
* an Irvine dancemakers grant
* Awards for the NEA
* Isadora Duncan Dance Award (“Izzie”) for Best Choreography
* Bonnie Bird North American Choreography Award
* San Francisco Bay Guardian “Goldie”
* San Francisco Weekly “Black Box” Award.

The dance company gets funding from many funds and art institutions.
* The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
* San Francisco Arts Commission,
* Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund
* Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation
* Fleishhacker Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts
* Zellerbach Family Foundation, Princess Grace Foundation
* New England Foundation for the Arts
* Rockefeller MAP Foundation, San Francisco Foundatio
* James Irvine Foundation
* California Arts Council
* Walter & Elise Hass Fund.

External links

* [http://www.robertmoseskin.org/ Robert Moses' Kin dance company]
* [http://dance.stanford.edu/faculty/rmoses.html Robert Moses page at stanford university]
* [http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=5687&catid=85 San Francisco Gaurdin article on Robert Moses Kin during Black Choregraphers Festival]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/12/PKB612O85N.DTL San Franscisco Chronicle's interview with Robert Moses]
* [http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/may2/ppl_gugg-050207.html izzie award for Robert Moses]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/19/DDGTV4L3N.DTL&type=performance SF review, Moses focuses on style over substance]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/19/DDGSHBDFMS1.DTL&type=performance Moses troupe makes daring dance]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E4DC163CF930A3575BC0A9629C8B63&scp=4&sq=Robert%20Moses%20Kin&st=cse Newyork times review on Dance Festival]
* [http://www.ballet-dance.com/200703/articles/RobertMoses20070209.html Woman spelled this way]
* [http://www.criticaldance.com/reviews/2002/moses_wordofmouth-020202.html Word of mouth]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/19/DDR81319N4.DTL Towards September]
* [http://www.voiceofdance.org/v1/features.cfm/1030/Dance-Review-Robert-Moses-Kin-Mixed-Program-2005030.html President's daughter]
* [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/24/choreographing-a-reign-of-destruction-in-robert/ ReignForest]