Jess Curtis, Director/Choreographer
Jess Curtis has created a body of dance and performance based work ranging from the underground extremes of Mission District Warehouses with Contraband (1985-1994) to the formal refinement of European State Theaters with Jess Curtis/Gravity (2000-present). Along the way Mr. Curtis has co-created ground breaking circus works with the Franco-American Circus project Cie Cahin Caha, Cirque Batard; collaborated with the renowned FabrikCompanie in Potsdam Germany to create the award winning fallen; and been commissioned to create works for companies such as Artblau in Germany, ContactArt in Milan, Italy and Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company in England.
Curtis has twice been recognized by the Irvine Foundation/Dance USA California dance initiatives having been awarded a California Dancemakers Fellowship (2001) and a Dance: Creation to Performance Award (2005). In 2005 he was the recipient of San Francisco’s prestigious CHIME (Choreographers In Mentorship Exchange) Fellowship with José Navarrete and was one of twenty American choreographers nominated for the extremely competitive Alpert Awards in the Arts Fellowship. In August 2002 he received a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for “fallen”, and has been awarded San Francisco’s Isadora Duncan Dance on three occasions.
Currently he divides his time between San Francisco and Berlin.