Nelly van Bommel, Choreographer

Since the debut of her New York City based company NØA DANCE in 2002, Nelly van Bommel has become one of the most talked about choreographers to emerge from the French American dance scene. Striving for a quality that mixes subtle restraint and raw athleticism, linking rapid sequences of incisive, clear-cut, trenchant movement, slicing through space and the body, Nelly van Bommel asks for a physical engagement approaching exhaustion. The extreme energy contrasts with profoundly simple statements that are timelessly evocative, exploring emotional territory, standing at the edge of physical theater and contemporary dance.

She has presented four acclaimed New York City seasons, and her work has been featured in major festivals and venues throughout the Northeast including The Alvin Ailey Citigoup Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow, Joyce SoHo, P.S. 122, and The Duke on 42nd Street to name a few. She has received support from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Field, and The Joyce Theater Foundation.

"Nelly van Bommel has talent, a sense of passion and intensity...and a quirky sense of humor [...] She seems to be working her way smartly up the American dance ladder,” wrote John Rockwell of The New York Times in February 2006.

Raised in France by Dutch parents, Ms. van Bommel trained at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Nantes (French National Choreographic Center) and at the Centre National de la Danse in Paris (French National Dance Center). She participated in numerous programs and workshops and worked with choreographers including Richard Alston, Christian Trouillas [Tanztheater Wuppertal/ Pina Baush] and Susan Buirge, among others. She performed throughout all Europe and North Africa with French choreographer Claudine Peny.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. van Bommel attended Université de Paris 8-Sorbonne (France) and graduated with an MA in Comparative Literature and an MA in Performing Arts Aethetics. In 2002 she moved to New York City thanks to a fellowship from the Conseil Régional d'Ile de France. In 2004, she was awarded the Outstanding Master of Fine Arts Award upon graduation from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance. Ms. van Bommel is also an alumna of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival from which she was awarded a full scholarship to work with Susan Marshall during summer 2005.

Ms. van Bommel is a co-founder and producer of the Reverb Dance Festival, a yearly event at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater in New York City.

In the spring of 2007, she won first prize at the 2nd Genesis International Choreographic Competition organized by the Milwaukee Ballet Company and was a finalist at the A.W.A.R.D Show at the Joyce SoHo Theatre in New York City. In the fall of 2007, she was granted a residency at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center [Direction Gregory Cary, Kevin McKenzie, Bentley Roton, and Martine van Hamel] in New York. She will return to Kaatsbaan in the fall of 2008 for a full season with her company NØA DANCE. Ms. van Bommel will also be the Stella Adler Studio of Acting “MAD AIR” artist-in-residence (New York City) in the summer of 2008.

Nelly van Bommel is currently on faculty in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, State University of New York.

To learn more, visit www.noadance.org.