CHRISTIAN VON HOWARD, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

CHRISTIAN VON HOWARD (Honolulu, Hawaii) is the Artistic Director of the VON HOWARD PROJECT.  Born on the Island of Oahu and nurtured in the Big Ole state of Texas, Christian is an international performer, teacher and choreographer. His professional career began as a teenager at Ballet Concerto, under the Artistic Direction of Margo Dean. He would later become a founding member and Assistant Director of JAADE Dance Theatre under the direction Keisha Breaker-Haliburton. In Texas, Christian also performed with Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, Darryl B. Sneed (Former Assistant Director of Dallas Black Dance Theater), the Irving Ballet, Denton Civic Ballet, North Central Ballet, Dancers Unlimited, Mary Kay Industrials, Dian Clough West, NOVA Dancing Company and many others.   Overseas in the mid 90's, he graced the stage with the Trier Ballet (Germany) and Let's Dance/Teatro de Reggio (Italy). In 1997, Christian co-founded 1*4*8 The Collective, a collaborative dance and theater company of seven artists creating work in the NYC area. From 2000-2003 he served as the Artist in Residence at Columbia College (SC) and the Associate Director of The Power Company. As a concert performer, Christian has worked with such artists as Doug Varone, Fernando Bujones, Douglas Becker, Mark Dendy, Randy James, and he currently dances with the Fred Benjamin Dance Company, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company and the Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company. In 2006, Christian was awarded a Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts. His choreography has been produced in various venues across the globe including Trier, Germany, Joyce SoHo, Dixon Place, DanceNow/NYC Festival, d.u.m.b.o. arts festival, the Ailey School and the Spoleto Festival (SC). He has set works on various colleges and universities, which included Columbia College (SC), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Jacksonville University, Texas Christian University, Winthrop University and various other schools of dance across the country. Christian has been a member of the dance faculties of Texas Christian University, Morris County Academy of Visual & Performing Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts - Rutgers University, Interlochen Arts Academy and he continues to teach at the Ailey School where he has been on faculty since 1998. Christian holds a BFA from Texas Christian University and a MFA from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. In the fall of 2008 he joined the dance faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University as an Assistant Professor of Dance & Choreography.