Daniel Gwirtzman – Guest Choreographer/Performer

    PHOTO: LOIS GREENFIELD

Daniel Gwirtzman, whose choreography has been presented in New York since 1995, directs the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, a nonprofit performing and teaching organization that has received strong critical attention consistently since its inception.   “A troupe I’d follow anywhere,” The Village Voice  has written.  As a dancer he has been described as a willowy John Travolta, sensual, playful, a rag doll, unusually supple, and one who moves like the wind.  His choreography has been performed at venues throughout New York, the country, and abroad, and he has taught at numerous colleges, universities and conservatories.  The educational arm of the company, contracted with the New York City Department of Education since 1999, has taught over 8000 public school students, parents, teachers and administrators.  He helped to develop the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, the NYC arts curriculum mandated by Mayor Bloomberg. In 2006, his solo Character was presented at the National American College Dance Festival’s Kennedy Center season, and he received a commission from The North Carolina Dance Theatre to set Cycles, a work from the Company’s repertory.  The Charlotte Observer noted that the N.C. Dance Theatre “has never done a piece quite like this.  Gwirtzman’s stark, arresting Cycles qualifies for the annual Innovative Works show more than anything in recent years.”  In 2007 the Company premiered Encore to critical and public acclaim.  Currently, Gwirtzman is in residence at the University of Michigan’s Dance Department as a Visiting Professor; in December, The Joyce Theater presents an encore of Encore for their Family Matinee Series; in January, he will attend the Rural Retreat 2008 near London for future directors and producers of dance, an international gathering sponsored by DanceEast, one of England’s leading dance organizations; and in the winter of 2008 he will be a guest artist at Virginia Commonwealth University.