Gus Solomons Jr.

	Biography: Gus Solomons, Jr.

		As an undergraduate in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gus began modern dance training in Laban technique with Jan Veen at the Boston Conservatory of Music and Graham technique with Robert Cohan. Upon graduation with his Bachelor of Architecture degree, he decided to pursue dance in New York, where he performed as soloist in the companies of Donald McKayle, Joyce Trisler, Pearl Lang, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham, among others, before and after forming his own troupe, The Solomons Company/Dance, in 1972.
	Since then he has been a leading figure in postmodern and experimental dance, creating over a hundred dances for his own company as well as dances commissioned by professional companies across North America, including the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble in New York, the Berkshire Ballet, Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, and others, and numerous universities, including Cal State Long Beach, UC Santa Cruz, Manhattanville, Mary Washington, Hunter, and Goucher Colleges.
His choreography has been seen in the off-Broadway production of Al Carmines's "Joan, an Opera" and in the NBC-TV series Exploring, and as early as 1968 he created the award-winning dual-screen videodance piece "CITY IN MOTION SPACE GAME," produced by Boston's Public Television Station WGBH-TV.
			Gus Solomons, Jr.
	Solomons and The Solomons Company/Dance have received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NY State Council on the Arts, the NY Foundation for the Arts, Meet the Composer, the Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the Harkness Foundation for the creation and production of new works and have been produced by the 14th Street DanceCenter, Danspace Project at St. Mark's, the Dance Theater Workshop, the Delacorte, Riverside, Jacob's Pillow, and Joyce Theater Festivals, and the American Festival in London.
			Recently, Solomons created a new trio company for Legendary modern dancers Carmen DeLavallade, Alvin Ailey star Dudley Williams, and himself. Called Paradigm, the troupe is available for touring, with commissioned dances with various choreographers including Geoffrey Holder, David Parsons, Robert Battle, and others.
	In September 2000, Solomons won a "Bessie" (New York Dance and Performance Award) for Sustained Achievement in Choreography, and in March 2001 he was awarded the first annual Robert A. Muh Award from his alma mater, MIT, as a distinguished artist alumnus. In addition to teaching, touring, guest-performing, and artistic lecturing, Solomons serves frequently as an adjudicator and dance panelist for various state arts councils, artistic advisory boards, and private foundations. He has contributed to several books on dance and written for Ballet News, Attitude, and Instep and currently reviews and writes for Dance Magazine, Chronicle for Higher Education, Village Voice, and the New York Times.