Ian Spencer Bell Explained
Ian Spencer Bell is an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and poet best known for his genre-blurring work Marrow.[1] [2]
Early life
Bell was born in Washington, D.C.[3] He graduated high school from North Carolina School of the Arts. In the summers, he trained at School of American Ballet, in New York City. At 17, Bell moved to Seattle, Washington, to study at Pacific Northwest Ballet. He remained in the school for two years, often performing with the company.[4] When Bell was 19, he moved to Virginia and began creating his own dances.
Career
In 2001, Bell was awarded a grant for his choreography from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.[5] Two years later, he premiered his work in New York City at the National Arts Club. He has performed his solo work at the Poetry Foundation, the Queens Museum, and Jacob’s Pillow, where he has also taught and been a research fellow.[5] [6] [7]
Bell has taught for American Ballet Theatre and New York City Center and is artist in residence at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. His writing on dance has been published in Ballet Review and Zen Notes. In 2013, Bell graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a bachelor of arts degree and, in 2017, from New York University with a masters of fine arts in poetry.[8] [9]
Reception
In 2014, The New York Times in a review of Elsewhere called Bell "a dancer of gentle but defined precision" and wrote: “At its best, his movement itself seems to do the talking, physical sentences inseparable from verbal ones so that what results is not dance and not poetry but some third medium."
Notes and References
- News: Schmidt . Kate . March 11, 2015 . Performer-choreographer-poet Ian Spencer Bell brings his 'talking dances' to the Poetry Foundation tonight . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150313150459/http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/03/11/performer-choreographer-poet-ian-spencer-bell-brings-his-talking-dances-to-the-poetry-foundation-tonight . March 13, 2015 . 17 March 2015 . Chicago Reader.
- News: Burke . Siobhan . 2014-03-22 . An Autobiography, Written in Bodies . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20181018201744/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/arts/dance/ian-spencer-bell-marries-words-and-movement.html . October 18, 2018 . 23 March 2015 . The New York Times.
- News: Nickel . Adele . 2004-11-16 . Reducing laundry to ludicrousness and other adventures in Billyburg . https://web.archive.org/web/20141129041409/http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-11-16/dance/reducing-laundry-to-ludicrousness-and-other-adventures-in-billyburg/ . 2014-11-29 . November 23, 2014 . Village Voice.
- Web site: NCSA: A NCSA: A COMMUNITY OF ARTISTS . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20130127034055/http://uncsa.edu/alumni/callboard/cb_winter_2005.pdf . January 27, 2013 . November 23, 2014 . UNCSA.
- News: Ian Spencer Bell earns Sarah Lawrence degree . https://web.archive.org/web/20181019001515/http://www.fauquiernow.com/index.php/fauquier_news/entry/ian-spencer-bell-earns-sarah-lawrence-degree-2013 . 2018-10-19 . November 22, 2014 . Fauquier Now.
- Boynton . Andrew . June 16, 2012 . There's No Place Like Jacob's Pillow . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141028181549/http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/theres-no-place-like-jacobs-pillow . October 28, 2014 . The New Yorker . New Yorker . November 23, 2014.
- Web site: 2014 Writers Retreat Fellows . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141202034157/http://www.lambdaliterary.org/writers-retreat/2014-writers-retreat-fellows/ . December 2, 2014 . November 23, 2014 . Lambda Literary.
- Web site: Ian Spencer Bell . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141202085952/http://www.slc.edu/ce/cce/profiles/ian-spencer-bell.html . December 2, 2014 . November 22, 2014 . Sarah Lawrence College.
- News: Anderson . Jack . October 13, 2003 . A Contemporary, Tippling Narcissus . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141129223217/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/13/arts/dance/13BELL.html . November 29, 2014 . November 25, 2014 . The New York Times.
