"One day some breakthrough string theory of the heart is sure to explain why beauty and damnation can be perceived at the same moment, why grief and joy can hit you at once. Until then, David Rousseve's dance-theater... offers a succinct and lyrical look at how the highs and lows of life collide." - Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post
Portrait of David Rousseve (2015-09)David Roussève/REALITY
"One of the country's most inspired and inspiring dancemakers."
- San Francisco Chronicle
Choreographer/writer/director/filmmaker David Roussève is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and a Guggenheim Fellow. He has written, directed, and choreographed 14 full evening works for David Roussève/REALITY including three commissions for the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
About REALITY
Founded in 1988, David Roussève/REALITY creates evening-length expressionistic dance/theater works that combine the accessibility, grit and passion of African American traditional and pop cultures with the challenging compositional structures of avant-garde dance and theater to explore socially-charged, immensely relevant, and often spiritual themes. Steeped in the power of storytelling and moving freely between wild humor and harsh reality, the work of REALITY braids words, movement, and elaborate visual imagery into a compositional framework that is ‘reinvented’ to meet the demands of each piece.
"My work for REALITY addresses a myriad of social issues from AIDS, to racism, to sexism, to homophobia, to transnationalism but does so within an avant-garde context. And as a gay citizen of color who grew up at the apex of the civil rights movement, above all else my work hopes to create an empathetic conversation that transcends the boundaries of difference to communicate on the level of the heart.”
- David Roussève
Engagement
Building an informed and involved public audience for contemporary performance is central to the work of David Roussève/REALITY. Roussève has an extraordinary breadth and depth of experience in planning and conducting educational and engagement activities with people of many ages, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, and backgrounds.
Dance Films
As a filmmaker, David has created three short films including his most recent, "Two Seconds After Laughter" for which he served as director, writer, and choreographer. Shot in Java, "Two Seconds" is an original intersection of documentary, narrative short, dance-for-camera, and surreal fantasy. The film has screened at over 40 film festivals in 12 countries and won or was a finalist for 13 festival awards including four for best short.
David was twice a fellow in the Sundance Feature Film Development program’s Screenwriter’s Lab and is the recipient of First Place Screen Choreography at the prestigious IMZ International Dance Film Festival. Roussève recently completed "Twit," a feature screenplay based on his dance/theater work "Stardust." In 2017, "Twit" was a finalist in two “Best Screenplay” categories at the Nashville Film Festival and a semifinalist for the Los Angeles Outfest Screenwriter’s Lab. In 2014, his screenplay adaptation of his dance/theater work "Urban Scenes/Creole Dreams" was a finalist for “Best Historical Screenplay” and a semifinalist for “Best Dramatic Screenplay” in the Feature Film Screenplay competition at the 2014 Nashville Film Festival.
Roussève’s writing has been published in collections by Bantam Press and Rutledge Press. His awards include a “Bessie” (N.Y. Dance and Performance Award), three LA Horton Awards, the Cal Arts/Alpert Award in Dance, seven consecutive NEA Fellowships, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Association of Black Princeton Alumni, two Irvine Fellowships in Dance, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Creative Capital Fellowship.
Among others David has served on the faculty of Princeton University, Columbia College summer program, and Randolph Macon College. In 1996, he joined UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance where he is Professor of Choreography and former department Chair. For the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture he has served as Associate Dean (2014-15), Acting Dean (2015), and Interim Dean (2015-17).
For more information on David Roussève/REALITY, visit our website at:
www.davidrousseve.com
