About Samuel |
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 Photo by Kristina Zaidner
"Kunzman's work showcases a maturity of style, technique, emotional depth, and craft well beyond his years on this planet." |
Samuel was born and raised in Tewksbury, NJ.
As the son of Jane (a painter) and Steve (a singer/songwriter), art was a guaranteed factor in his childhood. Sam's dance training began at Ballet Forté in Chester, NJ when he was 17. He later joined the New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble under the direction of Nancy Turano. At NJDTE, Sam worked with esteemed faculty and choreographers, including Kate Skarpetowska, Adam Barruch, Bradley Shelver, and Cherice Barton. His studies led him to pursue a BFA in Dance from The Ailey School/Fordham University. While in school, Sam performed works by William Forsythe, Lar Lubovitch, Jessica Lang, Nicholas Villeneuve, Robyn Mineko Williams, and Norbert De La Cruz III, among others. He also had the opportunity to perform alongside the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey's "Memoria" and "Revelations - Cast of 50." Sam spent summers training at Perry-Mansfield, the Movement Invention Project, Jacob's Pillow, and with the Northwest Dance Project. During his senior year of college, Samuel joined the Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, directed by Igal Perry. He completed his BFA degree while also rehearsing and performing in NYC as well as touring around the United States, Europe, and Asia. He danced with PCDC from 2014-2016. Sam has danced with the Metropolitan Opera, Armitage GONE! Dance, for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS's Easter Bonnet, with the New York City Opera, and for Ballet Hispanico's BHdos. Samuel currently lives in St. Louis and is a dancer with the Big Muddy Dance Company, directed by Brian Enos. Sam has served as an assistant to legendary teacher Milton Myers, and teaches classes in ballet, Horton-based modern, as well as contemporary partnering/pas de deux throughout the country. |
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While at The Ailey School, Sam studied composition under the legendary teacher Kazuko Hirabayashi and regularly presented his work at school. Sam has also been closely mentored by choreographer Nicholas Villeneuve.
Samuel has participated in esteemed festivals throughout the NY/NJ area, including the DUMBO Dance Festival, Peridance Choreographers Showcase, Steps Performance Lab, the American Dance Guild Festival, the Young Choreographer's Festival, and the Periapsis Open Series. The New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble has commissioned new works from Sam twice, and he has also created and staged works for the AROVA Contemporary Ballet, Peridance Youth Ensemble, the Steffi Nossen School of Dance, the Eglevksy Ballet Studio Company, and the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program. In 2014, Sam developed 4 Stories a project in which he choreographed four brand new works over the course of three weeks and presented them in a studio showing. In July 2016, Samuel released READY, a dance film he choreographed in collaboration with Nel Shelby Productions, starring Sarah Daley of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. READY was screened at the inaugural LA Dance Shorts Film Festival in 2017. Samuel's work has been praised for its seamless blend of virtuosic technique and starkly humanistic expression. He has a keenly developed sense of musicality and dramaturgy which lend a subtly crafted theatricality to his ballets. |
photo by Christopher Duggan; from the set of READY
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