Meredith Rainey
BIOGRAPHY
Meredith Rainey began dancing at 15 in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale. In 1985 he joined the Milwaukee Ballet. He was asked to join the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet. When the joint venture ended he remained with the Pennsylvania Ballet, and was promoted to soloist in 1999. For a brief period in 1997 performed as a demi-soloist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Mr. Rainey has performed works by such choreographers as George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Mary Anthony, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Jose Limon, John Butler, John Cranko, William Forsythe, Jean Grand-Maître, Robert Weiss, Jorma Elo, David Parsons, Trey McIntyre, and Kevin O'Day touring throughout North and South America, Europe and Seoul, Korea.
Upon retiring from the Pennsylvania Ballet in 2006 he decided to further focus his creativity on his choreographic career. Meredith spent two years as a part of the Choreographer's Project at the Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio (Philadelphia). In 2008 he was awarded a "New Edge" residency at the Community Education Center (CEC) of Philadelphia. During this 2008/2009 residency he founded his own company "Carbon Dance Theatre", a company that empowers performers and entertains audiences by creating work that is rooted in classical ballet and infused with the collaborative processes of theatre.
Meredith has won numerous awards including the 1995 & 2002 PA Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant for Choreography, the 2001 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Artist as Catalyst Grant, the 2002 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts and, a 2003 Pew Fellowship in the Arts Finalist. He has been commissioned to create works for Pennsylvania Ballet, Incoln Ballet (Ballet Clássico Nacional de Colombia), Brandywine Ballet, Ballet X, Delaware Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, Phrenic New Ballet, and has had his work performed throughout North and South America and Europe including Miami International Ballet Festival, the International Ballet Festival of Ecuador, the First and Second International Ballet Festival of Calí, (Colombia) and Madrid, Spain.
ARTIST STATEMENT
With an emphasis on accuracy, grace, form, function and most of all humanity, I create work that is engaging for the audience and the artists involved.
REVIEWS
"Rainey's port de bra upper body expressionism poignantly expressed" Broad Street Review
"... Rainey's explosive classicism..." Dance Magazine
"... edgy and kinetic..." critical dance.com
"Rainey's rarefied, yet easy-flowing choreography..." THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"... supple and triumphant." THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"The dynasty jumps to a new generation in Meredith Rainey's wonderful new Slight Shifts." THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"Rainey succeeds in weaving the drama right into the structure of the dance..." PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
2010/2011 Dance Advance Grant
2008 CEC New Edge Residency
2007 Susan Hess Modern Dance Choreographer's Project Residency
2006 Swarthmore College Artist in Residency
2004 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship
2002 Winner - Hubbard Street 2 Choreography Competition
2002 Independence Foundation Artist Fellowship
2002 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation "Artist as Catalyst" Grant
2002 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship
1997 Seven Arts Magazine "Rising Star" Award
1996 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship
MEMBERSHIPS
2007 - present Board Member, Philadelphia Dance Projects
1996 - 2000 Board of Trustees, Pennsylvania Ballet
1985 - present American Guild of Musical Artists
1983 - present Founding Choreographer & Member of the Artistic
DANCE EXPERIENCE
2005 - 2008 Ballet X, Philadelphia, PA
1989 - 2006 Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadelphia, PA
Soloist 1998-2006
Corps de ballet 1989-1998
1997 Dance Theatre of Harlem, New York, NY
Demi-soloist 1997
1987 - 1989 Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee, WI & Philadelphia, PA
Corps de ballet 1987-1989
1985 - 1987 Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee, WI
Corps de ballet 1986-1987
Apprentice 1985-1986
1984 - 1985 Fort Lauderdale Ballet, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Corps de ballet 1984-1985
DANCE EDUCATION
1985 - 1986 Milwaukee Ballet School, Milwaukee, WI
1984 - 1985 Magda G. Aunon School of Ballet, Fort Lauderdale, FL
1982 - 1984 Dillard School of Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, FL
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2009 - present Peabody Preparatory (Guest Instructor)
2008 - present Drexel University (Adjunct Professor)
2007 - present Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center
2007 - present Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania
2006 - present Dance Academy
2006 - present Brandywine Ballet
August 2002 Hubbard Street 2 - Master Class
2000 Bryn Mawr College - Master Class
2000 Swarthmore College - Master Class
1997/1999 Bryn Mawr College - Master Class
CHOREOGRAPHIC WORKS
2010 Caged/ Danse 4 Nia, (Joby Talbot)
2010 The Line Will Move/ Muhlenberg College (J.S. Bach)
2009 They Break/ Ballet X, (David Lang)
2009 Look Inside/ CEC "New Edge" Residency, (Jorge Cousineau)
2009 Make Haste Slowly/ Brandywine Ballet, (Kevin Volans)
2009 Petal / Caged/ Garden State Dance Festival, (Brahms / Anonymus)
2009 Before they Fall/ Muhlenberg College, (Todd Reynolds)
2008 Seven to One/ Garden State Dance Festival, ( Michael Gordon)
2008 Panel/ Shut Up and Dance, (Jorge Cousineau)
2007 This Is It It Is This/ Choreographers Project, (David Lang)
2007 Ex Nihilo/ Incolballet; First International Ballet Festival of Calí ,Columbia South America, (Vivaldi)
2007 In the Light of Shadow/ Garden State Dance Festival, (Jeff Story)
2007 Near Miss/ Shut Up and Dance, (Steve Reich)
2006 PM/ Shut Up and Dance, (Ludwig van Beethoven)
2005 Shadowplay/ Ballet X, (Chen Yi)
2005 One Button Down/ Shut Up and Dance , (Eiichi Saito, Tetsuro Naito)
2004 Verum Gaudium, Raga, Slight Shifts/(South American Premier) Incoln Ballet Cali, Columbia
2004 Bolmimeri/ American Harp Society , (Carlos Salzedo)
2004 Six to One, Nap Time/ Shut Up and Dance, (Björk) ( Toby Twining)
2003 V erum Gaudim/ There & Back Again/ Wills Eye Hospital, (J.S. Bach), (J.S. Bach, Arvo Pärt)
2003 Raga/ Shut Up and Dance, (Shiela Chandra)
2002 Through The Wake/ Hubbard Street 2, (Richard Strauss)
2002 Speaking in Tongues/ Miami International Ballet Festival, (Shiela Chandra)
2001/2002 Mixed Company/Relâche Ensemble, (Guy Klucevsek) [full solo evening of work]
2001/2002 Fall In/ Miami International Ballet Festival/Shut Up and Dance, (Guy Klucevsek)
2001 Paper/ Shut Up and Dance, (W. A. Mozart)
2000 Fly on the Wall/ Phrenic New Ballet, (Maurice Ravel)
2000 Waltz at 20, Installation/ Phrenic New Ballet, (Jaques Brel)(John Adams)
2000 Last Drag/ Bryn Mawr College, (Squirrel Nut Zippers)
2000 Zipper Suite/ Shut Up and Dance, (Squirrel Nut Zippers)
1999 Slight Shifts/ Pennsylvania Ballet, (Steve Reich)
1999 Aire/ Shut Up and Dance, (J.S. Bach)
1999 Graces/ Bryn Mawr College, (Michael Nyman)
1999 Cinderella/ Delaware Regional Ballet, (Sergei Prokofiev)
1998 In a State of Undress/ University of the Arts: Philadelphia Dances 1998, (J.S. Bach)
1998 Still Holding/ Shut Up and Dance, (Samuel Barber)
1997 Kodo/ Philadelphia Fringe Festival, (Ondekozo and Kodo)
1997 Feeling the Need/ Shut Up and Dance, (Adam Wernick)
1997 Water Women/ Bryn Mawr College, (Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Conner)
1996 Untitled/ Dance Institute of Ohio, (Fiedel)
1996 If Only/ Carlisle Project New Impulses, (David Darling)
1996 Deliverance, Funky Town/ Shut Up and Dance, (C. Monteverdi)(The Chemical Brothers)
1996 Cracks in the Sidewalk, Interiors/ Pennsylvania Ballet, (Philip Glass)
1996 Beauty and the Beast/ Delaware Regional Ballet, (Maurice Ravel)
1995 Work in Progress II/ Carlisle New Impulses Workshop, (C. Monteverdi)
1995 100 Degrees in the Shade/By Leaps and Bounds PA Ballet Benefit, (Davenport/Cooley)
1995 Four/ Delaware Regional Ballet, (Antonio Vivaldi)
1995 Tango in Progress/ The Carlisle Project, (Anonymous)
1994 Underneath Everything There Is.../ Philadanco (with PA Ballet) (Peter Gabriel)
1994 Work in Progress I/ Jacob's Pillow, (Tomaso Albinoni)
1994 Duke's Call/ School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, (Duke Ellington)
1994 5 by Franklin by 5/ Shut Up and Dance, (Aretha Franklin)
1993 Unstudied/ School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, (John Cage)
1993 In This Box/ Shut Up and Dance, (Peter Sculthorpe)
1993 Children's Games/ The Philadelphia Orchestra, (Georges Bizet)
1992 Stravinsky Suite/ Off-Center Ballet Experimental wing of PA Ballet (Igor Stravinsky)
