"Daniel McCusker’s ravishingly pure dances might be best described as brief epics, since they tell you a whole lot in a little time."
— Theodore Bale, Boston Herald, 2006
“Top Ten Dances of 2003”
— Christine Temin, Boston Globe
“Daniel McCusker’s long-limbed geometrical dances fairly burst with heart.… That’s because their rigorous structure, their edgy dynamics, and their idiosyncratic gestures permit them to show rather than tell their stories, as the best novelists do. … [His] creations… are abstract, nearly pristine. Their emotional content, drawn from some of the grand themes -– loss, love, hope –- arise from how the dancers use McCusker’s shapes and traffic to communicate with one another.”
— Thea Singer, Boston Globe, 2003
“Without any publicity or ideology, he has built a multi-generational company, one where teenagers he trained in Maine perform side-by-side with seasoned professionals.”
— Debra Cash, Boston Globe, 1999
Daniel McCusker makes dances for a wide variety of
performers and venues and is a Senior Lecturer in
the Department of Drama and Dance at Tufts
University. For the past five years he has curated
and produced the thISThaT Show which combines and
contextualizes the work of local choreographers,
composers, poets and visual artists doing work in
video/slide installation. He teaches modern
technique at the Boston Conservatory and he has
been a guest artist in many university dance
programs. He has taught at Attitude Performing
Arts in Singapore, At Antler Ridge Studio in
British Columbia, at ACDFA events, Harvard Summer
Dance, the American Dance Festival and Jacob's
Pillow and choreographed for a number of regional
companies. He has been involved with Summer Stages
Dance since 2006.
Interesting projects of the last several years
include a program of new work to be performed in
the spring of 2013; mentoring for the Choreography
Fellows Program at Summer Stages Dance; curating
and producing the tHiSThaT Show Numbers #s 4 & 5,
at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge; making
a dance for Tripod Dance Collective in Victoria,
British Columbia and a shared program with Caitlin
Corbett and Kelley Donovan produced by Crash Arts
at the ICA in Boston.
For seven years, Daniel McCusker directed Ram
island Dance, a community arts organization, in
Portland ME, with a repertory modern dance
company, a small presenting series, a children’s
after-school program and classes for adults. Prior
to living in Maine, he danced with the Lucinda
Childs Dance Company, performing internationally
and in New York seasons. While living in New York
he performed in the work of many of his
contemporaries.
His work has been supported by the Arnott Fund of
Tufts University, the Monk’s Trust, NYSCA and NEA
Choreography Fellowships and through the
generosity of private individuals. His work with
Ram Island Dance was supported by the UNUM
Foundation, NEA Company Grants, NEFA and the Maine
Arts Commission.
McCusker has served as a panelist for the Connecticut
Commission on Arts and Tourism, the Pew Charitable Trust,
the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Artist’s Foundation,
NEFA New Works, Maine Arts Commission and Massachusetts
Council for the Arts and Humanities. He has been a site
visitor for the NEA.
A native New Yorker, Daniel trained with Alfredo
Corvino and studied at the Cunningham Studio and
with Judy Padow. Classes with Gwyneth Jones and
workshops with Debra Bluth and Olivier Besson have
had more recent impact on his dancing.
