BodyVox is a dance company based in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, United States, and was formed in 1997 on commission from the Portland Opera

Portland Opera

Portland Opera is an American opera company based at The Hampton Opera Center in Portland, Oregon. Its mainstage performances take place in the Keller Auditorium, while the Portland Opera Studio Theater at the Hampton center is used for performances of chamber operas...

. The company blends contemporary dance with dance theater, and often makes use of other performance art form such as live music. In addition to their performances, the company has worked extensively with film and multi-media. BodyVox's collection of short films "Modern Daydreams" was a collaboration with performance artist and film maker Mitchell Rose

Mitchell Rose

Mitchell Rose is an American director of short films known for comedic work. He began his career as a choreographer and performance artist and became known at "the dance world's Woody Allen" after being so dubbed by The New York Times . He then migrated to film and his works have won numerous...

, and the film won the American Choreography Award for Outstanding Achievement in Short Film in 2002.

Repertory

• Carmina Burana – 1997 (with the Portland Opera)
• The Big Room – 1998
• A thousand little cities – 2000
• The Cunning Little Vixen - 2000 (with the Portland Opera)
• Reverie – 2001
• Zapped – 2001
• Water Bodies – 2004
• Civilization Unplugged – 2005
• Macbeth - 2006 (with the Portland Opera)
• First Impressions Series Volume 1-5 – 2001-2007
• Horizontal Leanings – 2008
• Foot Opera Files – 2009
• Chronos/Kairos - 2010
• Smoke Soup – 2010
• BloodyVox – 2010

Personnel

• Jamey Hampton – Co-founder and Co-artistic Director

A Portland native, Hampton began his dance training in his hometown and furthered his study of artistic mediums at Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, where he graduated with a BFA in drama. In 1978, Jamey joined Pilobolus

Pilobolus (dance company)

Pilobolus is a contemporary dance company whose origins are traced to a 1971 Dartmouth College dance class taught by Alison Becker Chase. The group first began performing in October 1971....

 dance theater; he later was an original member of MOMIX

Momix

MOMIX is a company of dancer-illusionists known internationally for presenting work of exceptional inventiveness and physical beauty. For 30 years, MOMIX has been celebrated for its ability to conjure up a world of surrealistic images using props, light, shadow, humor and the human body.Under the...

, and co-founded ISO Dance with his wife Ashley Roland. The duo founded BodyVox in 1997.

• Ashley Roland – Co-founder and Co-artistic Director

Ashley Roland is a Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 native and began her dance training in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the David Howard and Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance...

 studios, continuing her studies at North Carolina School of the Arts

North Carolina School of the Arts

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts , formerly the North Carolina School of the Arts, is a public coeducational arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that grants high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is one of the seventeen constituent campuses of the...

. Ashley joined MOMIX Dance Theater as a choreographer and dancer in 1983 and four years later she cofounded ISO Dance with her husband Jamey Hampton. The duo founded BodyVox in 1997.