Colin Gee

Colin Gee

Fellow: Awarded 2019
Field of Study: Choreography

Competition: US & Canada

Colin Gee trained as an actor at École Jacques Lecoq in Paris and the Dell’ Arte School of Physical Theater in California. His minutely constructed performances focus on descriptive movement and evoke narrative and emotional states by subtle physical motions. Writing for the New York Times, Roslyn Sulcas wrote of his work: “With the curve of an arm, the twitch of a finger, the slight shift of a foot Mr. Gee can suggest infinite possibilities of physical language, intimate the subtleties of human feeling.”

He began dancing in 1999 with the Iréne Hultman Dance Company, performed as a clown with Cirque du Soleil from 2001 to 2004, and in 2009 was named the founding Whitney Live artist-in-residence at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Recipient of a 2011 EMPAC Dance Movies Commission and a 2012 Rome Prize, he has received commissions from SFMOMA and the Whitney Museum. His performance works have premiered in New York at PS122, DTW (video), the Chocolate Factory, and Abrons Arts Center. Since 2007 he has collaborated with Angie Smalis in Ireland on dance works including “Madeline” (2018), “John’s Query” (2017), and “Lenore” (2016).

He often collaborates with the composer Erin Gee (his sister), providing libretto, performance, choreography, and video for opera and concert works, with recent performances at Zürich Opera House, Carnegie Hall, and Vienna Konzerthaus. Other selected performance works for concert include “Two Satires” (2012, American Academy in Rome, with Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic), composed by Martin Brody; “Kindling with Subsongs” (2014, premiere: Tufts University), composed by John McDonald; and “Angelus Novus” (2017, premiere: Le Laboratoire Cambridge) composed by John Aylward.

He has taught at Brandeis University, Wellesley College, Tufts University, Amherst College, Columbia University, London International School of Performing Arts, the University of Iowa, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of California San Diego, Televisa Studios in Mexico City, University of Arts and Communication in Santiago de Chile, and CLASS CLASS CLASS (NY), among others.

Profile photograph by Jana Prikryl

Sibling: Erin Gee, Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition, 2009

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