Deborah Abel has choreographed, and danced in her own works since 1987. The work has been presented in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Delhi, Jaipur and Chennai, and among her many concerts have been 7 full evening works. In 2010 Deborah was awarded the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Choreography. She was a finalist in the 1988 Massachusetts Artist Foundation Fellowship Program in Choreography. In 2012 she served as a judge on the Massachusetts Cultural Council panel for the Artist Fellowship in Choreography. Her most recent work Calling to You: A Tale of Ancient Wisdom in the Modern World (Premiere, March 2012, Tsai Auditorium) toured India in December 2012, through the sponsorship of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and the Kalakshetra Foundation. While in India The Deborah Abel Dance Company worked in partnership with the SEWA Foundation, (the largest trade union in the world serving poor self–employed women) introducing young students of Sewa in New Delhi to modern dance.
The company has been supported in the past by a number of foundations, receiving grants and monetary awards from the The Indian Council for Cultural Relations, The Indian Embassy to the United States, The Kalakshetra Foundation, Dreyfoos Corporation, Rotch Library (MIT), Massachusetts Artists Foundation, The MIT Council on the Arts (twice), The Experimental Study Group (MIT), The Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Harris Family Foundation and over 100 other individuals and small foundations. Most of the company’s work has been self-produced, and it has also been presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, The Kalakshetra Foundation, The Connecticut College Dance Department, and selected by a juried panel for Boston Moves Downtown.
Abel and resident composer Lee Perlman have created and presented the Unraveling to the Source Movement Workshops, which have been presented by Rowe Camp and Conference Center, Spring Hill of Ashby, and The Jubilee Center. The workshops include Lovedancing: A Couples Movement Workshop andCreative Dance as Divine Worship.
Deborah received a B.A. in Dance from Connecticut College and a Certificate of Dance from the Laban School in London, England. In the 1980’s she established a school of modern dance, the Deborah Abel School of Modern Dance, which continues to flourish.
The company has been supported in the past by a number of foundations, receiving grants and monetary awards from the The Indian Council for Cultural Relations, The Indian Embassy to the United States, The Kalakshetra Foundation, Dreyfoos Corporation, Rotch Library (MIT), Massachusetts Artists Foundation, The MIT Council on the Arts (twice), The Experimental Study Group (MIT), The Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Harris Family Foundation and over 100 other individuals and small foundations. Most of the company’s work has been self-produced, and it has also been presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, The Kalakshetra Foundation, The Connecticut College Dance Department, and selected by a juried panel for Boston Moves Downtown.
Abel and resident composer Lee Perlman have created and presented the Unraveling to the Source Movement Workshops, which have been presented by Rowe Camp and Conference Center, Spring Hill of Ashby, and The Jubilee Center. The workshops include Lovedancing: A Couples Movement Workshop andCreative Dance as Divine Worship.
Deborah received a B.A. in Dance from Connecticut College and a Certificate of Dance from the Laban School in London, England. In the 1980’s she established a school of modern dance, the Deborah Abel School of Modern Dance, which continues to flourish.
Lee Perlman has been performing and composing for over 40 years. He began composing for the Deborah Abel Dance Company in 1991. Since 1996 all of the music for the Company’s performances has been live, and Lee has composed, arranged, directed, and performed the music for those performances.
In his day job Lee teaches philosophy in the Concourse program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is also Associate Director. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. and did his undergraduate work at Kalamazoo College and St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md. He has taught at Brown University, Harvard University, Swarthmore College, Phillips Academy/Andover and M.I.T.
His keystone course is The Philosophy of Love which, using classic works in literature and philosophy, leads the students on a very personal exploration of the nature of love. Lee has taught the course at M.I.T. for 15 years, and has taught it in a private high school as well. Beginning this year he will also be teaching the course in the university degree program in the Massachusetts prison system. All of his musical work with the Deborah Abel Dance Company has also been part of his life-long mission to understand and express the nature of love and deep spiritual longing.
In his day job Lee teaches philosophy in the Concourse program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is also Associate Director. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. and did his undergraduate work at Kalamazoo College and St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md. He has taught at Brown University, Harvard University, Swarthmore College, Phillips Academy/Andover and M.I.T.
His keystone course is The Philosophy of Love which, using classic works in literature and philosophy, leads the students on a very personal exploration of the nature of love. Lee has taught the course at M.I.T. for 15 years, and has taught it in a private high school as well. Beginning this year he will also be teaching the course in the university degree program in the Massachusetts prison system. All of his musical work with the Deborah Abel Dance Company has also been part of his life-long mission to understand and express the nature of love and deep spiritual longing.