Jamie Benson Dancer / Choreographer / Instructor
Jamie Benson aims to challenge performance traditions and create accessibly original work through dance, instruction and choreography.
Jamie Benson attended the Dance Department of Cornish College of Fine Art in Seattle Washington on scholarship. Following Benson's extensive schooling at Cornish, he trained at Spectrum Dance Theater on full scholarship. Produced in venues such as On the Boards and for events like the Art's Edge Festival, Benson made a name for himself. Relocating to Los Angeles in 2004, Benson became a featured dancer on the television series Dance 360 before originating the character of Eldon in the Ovation award winning Shag with a Twist. Backstage West heralded Benson as "the most Chaplin-like" of this wordless production. Since 2005, Benson appeared in Taking Back Sunday's Make Damn Sure music video, Rei Aoo's Dance Planet, and McDonald's Mario Art Commercial. Benson is now a member of the Rudy Perez Ensemble and will take part in the post-modern choreographer's latest work Enough Rope, premiering at the Luckman Fine Art Complex in June of 2009.
Besides instructing for reputable studios in Washington, such as Bellevue's Dance Dimensions, Benson choreographed for the Washington State University Dance Squad and conducted dozens of Dance Camps across the Northwest with Dance Tec. In Los Angeles Jamie Benson instructed at Gold's Gym Hollywood, Fancy Feet Studio and an after-school program at Los Feliz Elementary. Currently at the Pasadena Academy of Music and Dance, Benson teaches an array of dance classes detailing and expanding upon the principles and joys of movement and performance, in the realms of Jazz and Hip-Hop dance as well as professional scene-work.
A versatile choreographer/director, Benson’s goal is to observe and explore humanity by placing differing dance styles into unusual, and often humorous, everyday landscapes. Benson successfully co-produced his second dance comedy series with Highways Performance Space entitled Go Metro. The show utilized the public transit system as a vehicle for exploring human drama. The show made “The List” of the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly's "Pick of the Week" stirring up plenty of attention. Jamie Benson strives to push performance and instruction to new limits as a means of exploring his personal creative-voice.
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