ABOUT US
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
LaneCoArts
Lane Gifford is artistic director of LaneCoArts, a New York-based multi-arts company that examines the intersecting relationship between dance, theater and the visual arts. After attending Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, Lane Gifford founded LaneCoArts in 2006 with a mission to create physically charged dance dramas that reflect meaningful social issues and expand the language of movement through lenses of drama, visual arts, film and sound. Her multi-arts approach to dance grew from her early experiences living and working abroad as a dancer, developed with her experiments as both artist and choreographer and later evolved as she entered the film industry as a designer/producer with Sony Music. In her dance theater works, Lane Gifford explores communication in today’s technologically driven world through a process of collaboration with other artists where the juxtaposed creative languages, engender a process of cross-pollination. The goal is to connect with today’s audience through critical commentary and physically charged dance theater works.
Design plays a central role in the overall shaping of these compositions. All aspects, from specifically crafted costumes to unusual props, video projection, sculptures and backdrops, are textured into the overall fabric of the movement conversations.
Lane Gifford currently is a Wingspan Arts teaching artist, offering multi-arts movement classes to children in New York City’s public school system. She also has taught dance in several institutions including University of Kansas and her own summer creative arts program. Her mission as an educator: ignite the imagination of children and young adults and use the arts as a collective voice.
Ms. Gifford first studied dance at The Boston Conservatory in Boston, MA. She received a BFA in dance performance and MFA specializing in choreography from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance.
Performances include: Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, NY International Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, Baruch PAC, Triskelion Arts, Le Poisson Rouge, New York Theater Workshop, Boston Center For The Arts residency and performance, Dance New Amsterdam RAW Directions, American Dance Guild, Battery Dance Festival, University Settlement, ITE Festival, The 92st Y, Bryant Park Festival, Dixon Place, Dance Place (Washington DC), Kaatsbaan Cultural Park for Dance, Missouri Valley College Residency and Spring To Dance Festival (Saint Louis, MO).
Commissioned projects include McKnight Artist Fellowship, University of Kansas Fellowship, Southern Utah University Residency, Northeast Choreographer Residency, Ballet Nouveau Colorado/Redline Gallery, iKada Dance Company and Joffrey Ballet School Commissions. Lane Gifford was a finalist in Western Michigan University 2015 National Choreography Competition.
Recent events: Kaatsbaan Residency, Bryant Park Festival (NYC), Women in Dance Leadership Conference Performance (PA), Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning/Making Moves Festival (NY), Dixon Place Dance Bloc (NYC), and Cove Street Arts/Site Specific Performance (Portland, ME). Cancelled invitations due to COVID: BAM Fisher Theater 2020/Brooklyn/ NimbusPRESENTS.
Upcoming: Battery Dance Festival 2022, McCallum Theatre/Palm Desert Festival, CA 2022.
Grants and Awards:
Empire State Creates Grantee 2021, Richenthal Foundation Grant 2019-2022, New Music USA 2020, Maine Arts Commission 2020 Award with Artist Margaret Lawrence, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation for Dance Place Performances 2016 (Special Presenters Initiative program / National Endowment for the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities), 2014 & 2020 Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Grant 2014 & 2020, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant 2012, Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant 2011, BUILD Grant (Building Up Infrastructure Levels for Dance) 2011, Harvard University/Project Zero Financial Assistance Award 2004, Outstanding MFA Award - Purchase College 2004
Education
Purchase College MFA – Choreography & Dance Education / 2004
Project Zero - Harvard University Summer Program / School of Education - 2004 and 2005
Purchase College BFA - Dance
LaneCoArts is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.