Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Messenger Eagle

Dana Tai Soon Burgess holds a BA from the University of New Mexico where he was on full scholarship.  Burgess was trained in dance by Tim Wingerd, Bill Evans, and Judith Chazin-Bennahum.  He danced principal roles for Eric Hampton Dance, Sharon Wyrrick’s Full Circle, DC Contemporary Dance Theatre, Bill Evans/UNM Repertory and Tim Wingard and Company.  Burgess received his MFA in dance from the George Washington University.  Burgess was a highly regarded Professor at the George Washington University.  Burgess first performed with The Dance Construction Company in an arroyo event for the First International Celebration Artists Conference in Santa Fe.  He was a featured soloist in the Company’s Dance for the Earth, an evening-length performance that included Sky Cloud, Prologue, Messenger Eagle, Still Rush, Rolling Thunder “Transformation.”  Dana traveled with Maida Withers Dance Construction Company as part of an International group, 100 Artists for Ecology,  to participate in  a 5-week residency in Brazil that featured performances related to the world’s first Earth Summit, Eco ’92 in Rio de Janeiro and in Brasilia, Brazil where Dana performed in the beautiful National Theatre.  Dana performed in Stone Garden a site specific work conceived and directed by Maida Withers for three Dance Construction Company dancers and one Brazilian dancer.  For this dramatic event, dancers crawled on rugged rocks in the block long rock garden, at dusk, the work commissioned by Museao de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro.  Of special interest were the improvisations and creations of music and dance on Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil.  Dana established Dance Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company in 1992 in Washington, DC. The Company is held in high regards as Washington, DC’s most respected modern dance company. 
Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Sky Cloud

 

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