Ben Bergmans
Teacher modern-jazz
The jazz trumpet player Miles Davis, my great example, perfectly combines anarchy with subtlety and craftsmanship. I also aim for that combination. My own style is eclectic, my modern jazz dance is a mix of techniques from contemporary dance and a great deal of physicality, speed and drive, with a specific dynamic phrasing that is closely linked to the structure, color, mood and funkiness of the contemporary jazz music.
I never followed a formal dance course. I trained with Clay Talliaferro (Limon), Clive Thompson (Graham), Suzanne Hayman Chaffey (Cunningham) and Milton Meyers (Horton), as well as several greats in the field of jazz dance: Matt Mattox, Lynn Simonson, Alvin McDuffee, Donald McKayle, Walter Nicks, Ernst Duplan, Vanoy Aikens ...
I followed lessons in the Cunningham Studio, the Alvin Ailley Dance Center and the Morelli Studio with choreographers such as Louis Falco, Bill Gornell and Nina Wiener. As a choreographer I worked for, among others, Djazzex and Belgian television and as guest lecturer in Germany, Iceland and Norway. Since 1983 I teach at the Rotterdam Dance Academy.
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