Batten Bland is a 2016 Bessie Schonberg Choreography Fellow at The Yard, 2015 Kevin Spacey Foundation Artists Choice Awardee, Camargo/Jerome Foundation Choreographer for Zenon Dance Company - France, 2015 Alvin Ailey Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab Fellow, 2014 Joffrey Ballet Choreographer of Color, 2010-12 Baryshnikov Arts Center/Jerome Robbins NEW Fellow and is now among names such as Twyla Tharp and Robert Wilson as a 2016 Jerome Robbins Awardee for outstanding artistic integrity.
In addition to dances commissioned by the Second Avenue Dance Company (New York City), Modlin Center for the Arts (Richmond, VA), Zenon Dance Company (Minneapolis, MN), Transitions Dance Company (London), Alvin Ailey II Company (New York City) and Frontier Danceland (Singapore), Batten Bland's work for her own troupe, Company SBB, has been seen in the UK, throughout the USA, Europe, Caribbean and Asia.
Recent artistic residencies include NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Oakland University, Wayne State University, Spelman College, Santa Fe College, University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Ohio University, Middle Tennessee State University, Guest Faculty at Ithaca College. In fall, she was the 2016 Guest Artist Lecturer at Rutgers University in Rutgers, NJ.
While the majority of her creative efforts commit to creating site-specific installations that unite community with dance, music and visual arts, Batten Bland has created nine films that have been presented in international festivals in Europe, South America, the US and South Africa. She has also choreographed for Guerlain Perfumes, Van Cleef and Arpels, Louis Vuitton, SYTYCD-Poland and the French Presidential Gala of Cannes in 2012. As a performer, Batten Bland has danced for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Paul Frenak, Sean Curran Dance Company, Kraig Patterson, Georges Momboye, Cie Linga, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, Lar Lubovitch, Julie Taymor and Angelin Preljocaj. Currently she is completing her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts with a Concentration in Performance Creation at Goddard College in Vermont and teaches improvisation and contemporary partnering at the Ailey/Fordham BFA program.
The College of Arts