Tedd Robinson biography
Tedd Robinson, born in Ottawa, Canada, graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University (Toronto, Canada), and studied at The School of The Toronto Dance Theatre and with eminent British visual theatre artist Lindsay Kemp. Robinson first rose to prominence as Artistic Director of Contemporary Dancers in Winnipeg (1984 to 1990), where he created highly theatrical ensemble works. Having returned to Ottawa in 1990 to pursue a solo career, he is now firmly established as a choreographer, educator and solo artist whose critically acclaimed, award-winning and utterly unique works have won him a multitude of commissions and an international schedule of touring and teaching. Robinson is Artistic Director of 10 Gates Dancing Inc., a non-profit company formed in 1998 that provides points of entry to contemporary theatrical dance works.
Since 2007, Robinson and 10 Gates Dancing have been creating, producing and presenting works at The Barn, a refurbished outbuilding on 94 acres of land in the Pontiac region of Western Quebec. In 2008, he created Rocks, a piece for five dancers and one musician, followed by The Reins in 2009 for three dancers and three musicians. Alongside these creations, Robinson runs the Exclusive Intensive program for dancers: a two-week residency at The Barn that includes morning class with Peter Boneham.
Robinson's critically acclaimed work Rokudo: six destinies in three steps, which received the 1998 Chalmers National Dance Award, was premiered at the 1996 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa and was followed by a national tour and performances abroad. Red Line, created as a complimentary solo to Rokudo, was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore award following its premiere at DanceWorks 100 in Toronto. Rigmarole, premiered at the Canada Dance Festival 2000 and toured Canada including the FIND Festival in the fall of 2001. Rigmarole was presented in Dusselfdorf (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic) and at DanceWorks (Toronto) in the fall of 2002. His most recent solo, REDD, his final evening length solo work, co-produced by New Dance Horizons (Regina) and the National Arts Centre, premiered in October 2006 and toured across Canada during the following two seasons, with its final performance in Halifax in May 2008.
March 2003 marked the premiere of Reclusive Conclusions and Other Duets, a series of three duets accompanied by live music, co-produced by the National Arts Centre and l'Agora de la danse, which paired Robinson with renowned international dance artists Mako Kawano (Japan), Louise Lecavalier and Margie Gillis. In 2004 the Duets were performed on tour in Quebec to sold-out audiences. His collaboration with Louise Lecavalier lead to a new partnership for the creation of a quartet commissioned by Lecavalier, Cobalt Rouge, which premiered in February 2005, and was co-produced by the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), la Biennale di Venizia and Theatre de la Ville (Paris).
In June 2001, 10 Gates Dancing, in co-production with the Canada Dance Festival and in association with Le Groupe Dance Lab and NDH Intempco (Regina), presented 100 Minutes Dancing in the Studio of the National Arts Centre, an evening of Robinson's short works presented on the same stage for the first time. The program of six works was performed by some of Canada's most intriguing and outstanding dancers including: Rob Abubo, Susie Burpee, Yvonne Coutts, Mark Eden-Towle, Shauna Elton, Tanya White, Sasha Ivanochko, James Robertson, Denise Fujiwara, Claudia Moore, Fiona Drinnan, Robin Poitras, and Robinson himself in Recruiting Recalcitrance, a new duet he created with Ru Padolsky. This duet inspired the creation of the innovative group work B-Boys Project A, premiered at and commissioned by the 2002 Canada Dance Festival.
In 2000, Tedd was one of four Canadian choreographers invited to take part in CJ8, a Harbourfront Centre initiative showcasing 8 world- premieres by 8 world-renowned choreographers from Canada and Japan, for which Robinson created Grey Suit But Black Dress, a duet for Mako Kawano and Mitsutake Kasai. CJ8 toured Canada in 2000 and Japan in the spring of 2001. In February 1999, Tedd was invited to monitor the work of two Irish choreographers at Firkin Crane in Cork, Ireland. From that Lab, two accounts of the process were published "Writing Dancing Righting Dance: Articulations on a Choreographic Process" by Diana Theodores and "Fine Lines on Shifting Ground: Reflections on a Choreographic Process" by Paul Johnson, helping to further the reach of the information that is disseminated during the mentorship process. A year later, he was guest monitor for a choreographic lab held in Australia and Scotland as part of an international collaboration between New Moves in Glasgow and the Adelaide Festival of the Arts.
Robinson has been commissioned by the Dance Collective, Danse Partout and independent performers Katherine Labelle, Marc Boivin, Jane Mappin, Claudia Moore, D-Anne Kuby, Sylvain Brochu, Andrew Harwood, Randy Joynt, Marie Louise Albert, Robin Poitras, Denise Fujiwara, Yvonne Ng, Peggy Baker and Louise Lecavalier. He has created for and taught the students of MainDance (Vancouver), The Professional Program of the School of Contemporary Dancers (Winnipeg), The School of Dance (Ottawa), The School of the Toronto Dance Theatre (Toronto), the Canadian Children's Dance Theatre (Toronto) and LADMMI (Montreal).
Robinson created Lexicons of Space, a co-commission of the Canada Dance Festival and the CanDance Network, in association with Le Groupe Dance Lab. This work was presented in Toronto by Danceworks and in Vancouver by the Vancouver East Cultural Centre in March 1995 along with three shorter works choreographed by Robinson. His work Anti-social Studies #1 through #21, (included in this work are some of his over forty fruit studies) was performed in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Regina, St. John's and at Gian Carlo Menotti's Spoleto Festival U.S.A. in Charleston, South Carolina. Anti-social Studies #1 through #21 was a trio created for himself, Fiona Drinnan and Marc Boivin.
In 1988, Robinson's He Called Me His Blind Angel was performed at both the Festival of Canadian Modern Dance in Winnipeg (Robinson was artistic director of the festival from 1985-90), and at the 1988 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. In 1989, Robinson, in co-production with the National Arts Centre, created Lepidoptera with music by Ahmed Hassan and Arron Davis, costumes by TRAC Costume and set by Michel Lemieux. In 1987-88, Contemporary Dancers performed Camping Out, a collaboration between Robinson and choreographer Murray Darroch, at three major dance festivals: Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa, Le Festival International de Nouvelle Danse in Montreal, Canada and Festival Cervantino in Mexico.
Tedd Robinson teaches Interprétation IV to LADMMI 3rd-year students. The piece created during that course will be presented at Maison de la culture Frontenac on May 27, 28 and 29, 2010