ChoreoQuest

ChoreoQuest is the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza- Center for Arts and Culture dance residency program. Established in 2001 CQ provides a home for a diverse array of Brooklyn based emerging and accomplished choreographers the opportunity to create, develop and present new works while providing master-level instruction and mentorship to Youth Arts Academy dance students and studio showcases for the general public. 2014 Artist includes; James Atkinson, Germaul Barnes, Ronald K. Brown, Nadia Joseph, Jeannie Mitchell & Samirat Rivers, Nathan Trice, Chris White, Royce Zachary, and Andre Zachery. Lead by Lindia Dugué-Artistic Director and Germaul Barnes-Associate Artistic Director.
Jamel Gaines is the artistic director and founder of Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn. His work has been staged by the Actors Theater Workshop, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the Paramount Theatre and The Martha Graham School. He has worked with such distinguished artists as Jennifer Holiday, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, George Fasion, Ornette Coleman, Ossie Davis, Olatunje Babatunde, Max Roach, and Rick James, and has even been a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Over the past sixteen years Mr. Gaines has choreographed and staged over 25 repertory and concert productions. In 2004, Jamel appeared on Public Television’s American Talent in which he was presented The Teacher Recognition Award, during the Presidential Scholars in the Arts Committee at The Kennedy Center, and has been featured in publications such as Essence Magazine and The New York Times. Gaines has founded St. Paul’s Eldad Medad Danced Ministry, which seeks to find a spiritual path through movement. His work at St. Paul’s includes “He Got Up”, the commemoration of the African Holocaust, MAAFA and the acclaimed “Black Nativity” for which him and his team won an Obie Award. Jamel Gaines is dedicated to asserting the prominence of the arts in America and committed to promoting the significance of dance seen through the lens of the African American experience, as a medium for honoring the past, celebrating the present and boldly reaching into the future.