About » PIMA
PIMA Group, co-founded by dancer and choreographer Melisa Putz and musicians Michael Barker and Thomas Clark, is interested in developing new processes and approaches to the integration of dance, music and visual art. The works range from improvisational performance art work to more formal choreographed and composed pieces. PIMA Group has performed at venues in Baltimore, Boston, New York City and Philadelphia including the Painted Bride Art Center, The Community Education Center, Mobius, The Construction Company, Joyce SOHO, 92nd St. Y, Williamsburg Art Nexus and The Red Room.
PIMA Group has also performed at dance festivals including the Improvised and Otherwise Festival in Brooklyn, NY, the 2003 Philadelphia Fringe Festival at the Table Space Gallery, the Dance On Earth Festival at University Settlement's Beacon, NY campus and the Goose Route Dance Festival in Shepherdstown, WV. As well as for the Bread and Roses Community Fund at Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia. PIMA Group has received Temple University Space Grants to assist in the development of new work. PIMA Group gratefully acknowledges support from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and Fractured Atlas. PIMA Group is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER
Melisa Putz is a dancer and choreographer based in Philadelphia, PA. She is co-founder and artistic director of PIMA Group, a music and dance performance group founded in 2001. She received her dance training through the Professional Training Program at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in New York City and received a full dance scholarship to attend the Strictly Seattle Dance Intensive in Seattle, WA. Melisa has also studied with Lisa Kraus (Trisha Brown Dance Company) and is currently performing in her newest work, The Partita Project.
Melisa co-directs Ballet Concerto, a pre-professional ballet company at the Pennsylvania Performing Arts Academy and is a certified yoga instructor through the Yoga Alliance, teaching weekly classes throughout the Philadelphia area.
During the Summer of 2007, Melisa will teach a week-long dance workshop and perform a site-specific piece in Romania as part of the Sibiu Dance 2007 Festival. This residency is made possible through support from the Dance Theater Workshop Suitcase Fund.
Melisa has been awarded a Leeway Foundation Grant Award (2002), a Rocky Dance Award (2002), and selection for the Susan Hess Choreographer's Project (2004-2005). She has been Dance Artist-In-Residence at the Community Education Center in Philadelphia during the 2006-2007 season.