The Works Residency

Part of The Studio@620 Dance Hall

The Studio@620 Dance Hall is back with a new focus: illuminating dance as essential work. Inspired by local dance artist Andee Scott, this initiative highlights the process of three local dance artists by providing space for them to create and present their work–whether it is self made, repertory work by another, and/or a deepening in their practice. Over three months, each participating artist will archive their process inside the Ellis Gallery to share with the community–it is important to see the work that goes into this ethereal, athletic, and intelligent art form–resulting in a community showing at the end of the residency. Our first dance artists are Andee Scott, Michael Crotty, and Deisha King. Join their process starting February 2021 and follow with us as we witness this work in progress. Posts will be made on social media accounts as the project develops.

The Studio@620 Dance Hall Works Residency Participating Dancers 2021

Michael Crotty is a dance artist and teacher from Springboro, OH. He received his Diploma from CODARTS Conservatory in the Netherlands and an MFA in Modern Dance from The University of Utah.  His theater-dances have been commissioned and produced for The Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Columbia College, The Utah Museum of Fine Arts, California State University and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Michael has performed and collaborated with The Montreal Symphony, Scapino Ballet, LA Ballet, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Apparel, The National Children’s Choir, and Jerome Meyer.  Additionally, he was a member of The Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company.  He has taught master classes at The University of Dayton, The University of Southern California, Point Park University, and Columbia College.  As a producer, Michael has self-produced multiple dance-theater works, performing arts events, and charitable curations. As an Assistant Professor of Dance at The University of Tampa, dance accessibility is crucial to his ethos.  Michael is also a certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst.

Instagram @michael_crotty_dance

Deisha A. King was born on traditional Seminole-Tequesta homelands (Plantation, Florida). Deisha credits the beginning of her dance education to On Your Toes in Broward County and Dance Attack Dance Studio in Miami-Dade County, where she trained in ballet, jazz, hip-hop, acro, ballroom and contemporary forms. At the age of 14, she was a semifinalist as a member of Twitch dance group on Paula’s Adul’s” Live to Dance” and also won Univisions’ “Sabado Gigante.”

Her training led her to the University of South Florida, where she received her BFA in Dance and minor in Nutrition. Deisha was awarded talent- based grants that allowed her to supplement her training during summers at Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, and the American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Deisha was chosen to be 1 of 12 representatives invited by Beijing Normal University (BNU) and Chinese government to participate in the Creative International Dance Conference and Festival in 2015.

While attending USF, Deisha has worked closely with — and performed works by — Robert Moses, John Parks, Alex Ketley, Gesel Mason, Alonzo King, Gierre Godley, and Kevin Iega Jeff, among others.

Inspired by her Senior advocacy project at USF, Deisha has developed a passion for community outreach and engagement through the arts. Upon graduating from USF in 2018, Deisha joined Tampa City Ballet for 2 seasons and partnered with the Straz Center for the Performing Arts where she teaches dance education to underserved partnership schools and community organizations.

Deisha is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and Black Dance Change Makers, an online social platform helping to sustain and connect black creatives globally. She is always looking for professional development opportunities. Currently, Deisha is exploring the intersection of holistic wellness and movement as a healing modality. Deisha is excited to see where this journey will take her as a performer, choreographer and educator. She thanks God for the gift of dance and for the unwavering support of her village of family and friends.

Instagram @memoirsofadeisha

Andee Scott is an interdisciplinary dance artist based in St. Petersburg, FL. In recent years, her focus on dance as public art has led to her creating, curating, and producing large-scale, site-specific dance performance events including Our Town and Our Trail, as well as Dance in the Time of Coronavirus, a socially-distanced dance performance series. As a choreographer, Andee is re-thinking what it means to both make a dance and watch a dance, devising innovative performance experiences for both dancers and audience. Her work has been performed nationally and internationally, most recently in Sweden, Mexico, and China, and she has been commissioned to create new works for dance companies and university programs. She was a resident artist at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in 2011.

As a dancer, Andee is deeply invested in improvisation as a physical practice, and she is currently in rehearsal with a group of nationally-based independent performers who are commissioning a new dance work from Jeanine Durning to be performed and toured post-pandemic. She has been a company member of Sharir+Bustamante Danceworks and Blue Lapis Light in Austin, TX, and Deja Donne in Italy, and she has performed with David Dorfman Dance and AlienNationCo., under the direction of Johannes Birringer.

As an educator, Andee has conducted residencies and taught master classes around the world and is currently on faculty at the University of South Florida.

Instagram @andeescott