2010/11  Baryshnikov Arts Center/Jerome Robbins NEW Fellow

2011/12 Cambridge Who’s Who! Of professionals and entrepreneurs

Frequently called the Josephine of today, Stefanie Batten Bland mixes European subtleties with American ardor to explore human emotional relationships and the physical notions of community.

A native New Yorker, who now splits her time between Paris and New York.  Granddaughter of a Virginia peanut farmer,  Stefanie Batten Bland was born in New York  and began performing at the young age of four.  Expressing herself to her father’s compositions and mother’s writings, Bland charged her parents 25cents during dinner parties to “amuse” guests in what would become true round table entertainment. 

At age six an appearence on the TV show Dance Fever encouraged her to begin exploring her “special side” before moving with her family to Los Angeles at age nine.

Her serious dance and theater training began later at the performing arts high school in LA , at The Joffrey School, where she was awarded a scholarship to participate in their trainee program and at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.  She graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where she was honored with the Sunny Brown Foundation Award. 

She then attended SUNY Purchase for dance, and New School for Social Research for post coloninal literature studies on scholarships.  In 1998 she began to dance as a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, where she spent several seasons as a soloist. 

In addition, she performed with Sean Curran, Kraig Patterson, Gus Solomons Jr., Douglas Dunn...  She has been a soloist for Lar Lubovitch Dance and was seduced to Europe by Pina Bausch and her Tanz Theater Wüppertal where she then moved and danced as a guest in 2001 and in 2002.  Afterwards she joined Compagnie Linga in Switzerland and worked with Hungarian choreographer Pal Frenak and was assistant to Ivory Coast choreographer Georges Momboye,  and danced for Angelin Preljocaj in Julie Taymor’s “Grendel” for the LA Opera, among others...

Ms. Bland has been creating works between France and the US over the last 5 years, fusing her dance heritage with her desire to converse with artists from other mediums.  

In theater she has worked for directors such as Jérôme Savary,  “A La Recherche de Joséphine,” made for the Paris Opera Comique, which toured internationally from 2006-10 and premiered at Montclair State University “Peak Performances” in 2009 and Aurélie Delmart for “Soweto,” the musical that celebrated the liberation of Nelson Mandela at the Casino de Paris.

The Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val-de-Marne selected Ms. Bland to open the evening “Rendez Vous de la Danse” and “Les Plateaux.” 

In New York City she was selected to participate in the 2005 Joyce Soho Presents, a series created to encourage young choreographic talent. The Joyce then chose Ms. Bland for their Spring 2006 Season.  The company has performed at Symphony Space and the Saratoga ArtsFest.  Ms. Bland has choreographed for the Mu Terminal Conservatory in Budapest and her works and company have performed in Prague, Brussels, Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Denmark, France, throughout the United States and for UNESCO’s International Dance Day 

Her commercial choreography includes luxury galas for Louis Vuitton, ads for Guerlain perfumes and industrials for Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry, Dance Mania and guest choreographer for “So You Think You can Dance- Poland”. 

Her cinematic dance films with collaborators Guillaume Le Grontec (cinematographer) and Ed Bland (composer) and Benjamin Heller (artist) have been recognized with inclusion in the Alexander Onassis Foundation choreography competition, the Thessaloniki film festival in Greece, Dança em Foco dance cinema festival in Rio de Janeiro, FMB Dance Umbrella of South Africa, Tanztendenzen of Germany, Dance on Film of Virginia and the Sans Souci dance film festival in Colorado.

Guest artist residency credits include: Virginia Commonwealth University, Ohio University, Middle Tennessee State University, guest faculty at Ithaca College. 

Masterclass credits include: Spelman College, Emory University, Kennesaw State University, University if Georgia, George Mason University, Skidmore College and the Joffrey Ballet.

A 2011/12 Cambridge Who’s Who! Of professionals and entrepreneurs, she is currently creating a piece on the Alvin Ailey 2nd Company and for Transitions Dance Company of England, Artistic Director David Waring.