L'ATELIER ROBERT COANE
-
MY TOP MODELS -
An ode to the muse,
to those truly unique individuals who have inspired and driven me,
without whose quiet presence nothing would be achieved.

In deepest appreciation, THANK YOU!


t was in the model that I discovered all the strength
and splendor of muscular beauty, the equilibrium and simplcity that make the great gesture."

~

Click on artwork for enlargement

ANNE MARIE ALMIROL
Anne Marie Almirol graduated Magna Cum Laude from SUNY at Buffalo with a B.S. in Physical Therapy. She presently does evaluations and assessments and implements treatment plans at a sports medicine clinic in New York City. Anne Marie is a gifted dancer and specializes in dance injuries as well as acute and chronic pain.


VALENTINE MARTIN
Valentine Martin Amartey, a New York resident for nine years, hails from London, England. He is performer, choreographer, writer, designer and director all in one. Valentine is an alumnus of the now defunct P-cult, a small group of underground performers which included fire eaters and acrobats, where he cut his teeth for four years performing spontaneous, spectacular shows with his troupe, and also honed his skills as a first rate couture, costume designer.


ARTHUR AVILÉS
Arthur Avilés is a Newyorican dancer / choreographer raised in the Bronx. He studied theater with Peter Vercillo and Edward M. Fourrey. His infamous athgleticism in dance comes from his sports training in swimming, diving, wrestling and gymnastics. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Bard College where he studied dance under lenore Latomer, Jean Churchill, Albert Reid and Aileen Passlov. In 1987he became a member of the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company with whom he toured internationally for eight years. He has been honored wiith a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award fdor outstanding creative achievement during the Jones / Zane '88 and '89 seasons and in 1995 he received an Arts and Letters Award form his alma matter. Since founding his company, Arthur Avilés Typical Theater, He has received numerous awards from the Bronx Council on the Arts. He founded the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!) in 1998.


DAVID BLOOM
Student, Xavier High School, NYC
c. 1987


"He looked at me as if he were not seeing me, but someone else, or something else,
as if he were looking at a painting." -
Tracy Chevalier in The Girl With the Pearl Earring


JENNIFER CHIN
Jennifer Chin
is a native New Yorker who has danced
for and been inspired by many choreographers including Arthur Aviles, Yin Mei, Michael Mao, Kristin Jackson, and Alan Danielson. Her first evening of work, Echoing women and other tales, was presented at Joyce Soho in December 2001. Her choreography has also been performed in Joyce SoHo presents, Danspace Project's FOOD FOR THOUGHT series, Goose Route Arts Festival in West Virginia, and the dance series SWEAT at DeBaun Auditorium. She received her BA from Queens College and her MFA from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts.

Jennifer has been on the faculty at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Dance Space Center, Peridance Center, and the Jose Limon Institute.


BALTHASAR D'APOCALYPSO
Balthasar was born in Le Mans, France. He attended medical school in Paris where he published a book on anatomy before he finally crashed on stage reciting Moliere to Paris crowds and all over the country.

He accepted a 2-year full scholarship to Martha Graham and later switched to Merce Cunningham. Lincoln Center was a must when they asked him to design costumes for their indoors and outdoors Summer Festival.

Frustrated in acting by an indomitably strong French accent, he picked up brushes and a circular canvas to paint his first impression of New York, a clown face that he later framed with fabric, the beginning of yet another stage in this multi-faceted artist..


HSIN-HSIN (PEGGY) CHENG
Peggy (Hsin-Hsin) Cheng is a founding member of In Mixed Company and has been working with Maura since 1993. She is a Vassar College alum and has also worked with Douglas Dunn, Rachel Lampert, Omega Dance Company, Mabel Dai Chee Chang, Noel Salzman, Shigeko Suga and Carl Paris.

Her own work includes the collaboration with musician/composers Brian Nishii and Jeff Federman, "The Liminal Circle", which was created with the support of a 1997 Van Lier Fellowship, Mabou Mines' Resident Artists Program. Peggy received an MA in Dance Education from NYU, writes for DanceInsider.com and is on staff at Danspace Project in NYC.


JOHN HARBSTER
1922 - 2008
Senior Statesman of Modeldom
Born in Reading, PA, John Harbster first came to New York in 1950 to to attend Parsons School of Art and Design to study fashion design and illustration on the GI bill after 3 years in the army during WW2 serving overseas in Germany, France and Belgium. Trying to find a vocation that "turned out to be getting naked in front of strangers," art modeling, which he did for extra income. Realizing that perhaps he didn't have the required abilities and "not willing to sleep around as required" by the fashion trade, he dropped out, returning to school somtime later and becoming a Medical Technician specializing in blood chemistries. After early retirement, he went back to art modeling where he has been active for the past 50 years. Known to every figurative artist, atelier and art school in New York, John keeps active and in shape by swimming. Competitively, he has participated in the Gay Games and has won "a medal or two".


"...the relationship between the painter and his model. No doubt an artist can achieve a greater degree
of detachment than the profane might supose."
-
Kenneth Clark

YU-LING KOH HSU
Yuling Koh Hsu, a nice young lady from a small town in Ohio who came to romp in the great city of New York in 1998.... She likes surfing, dancing, music, art and new experiences. This Taiwanese gem graduated from New York University with a degree in Journalism and minors in French and Animation. She worked various jobs where she could frolick with photographers, artistes, trannies and rich old men and, though she has joined the journalism world as a headline writer, she still has the heart of a mime and yearns for more frolicking.


WAKAKO ISHIDA
Wakako Ishida is from Aizuwakamatsu City, Japan, where she danced with Star Dancers Ballet and Aizu Contemporary Dance Company, and studied English Theater and music at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.

Since moving to New York City, Wakako has worked with Pat Cremins / Wyoming, SITU/Elaine Shipman, and with Lynn Shapiro as a contemporary dancer. During this time she performed in various theaters and sites in Rome, Florens, Corsica, Mexico, Canada and
the United States.
As a ballet dancer she performed with Lavransdatter Ballet, Lumiere Ballet and the Ilya Gaft Dance theater.

Wakako has presented her own choreography in New York and Japan.


HENG-LIN (COLLEEN) KONG
Heng-Lin Kong, born in 1973 in Hawaii, grew up in Malaysia. She earned a BA in Visual Art at Smith College and an MFA in Fiction Writing at Columbia University.

Her work, both literary and visual, has been seen in exhibitions and in literary journals such as Calyx, Possibilitiis, and Grecourt Review. Since 2001. She has been a muralist for nonprofit organization New York Cares and colaborated with choreographer Jennifer Chin in a dance adaptation of her own Echoing Women narrative and in The Simple Story.


LUN-SHAN LIAO
LunShan Liao was born in Taichung, Taiwan. After graduating with a BA in dance and psychology from Hamilton College, she trained on full scholarship with Dance Theatre of Harlem and began dancing professionally with DTH's ensemble. She has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Michael Mao Dance, MorganScott Ballet, and in musicals including Liat in South Pacific at the Westchester Broadway Theatre.

"Oil paint was made for depicting flesh." - Willem de Kooning

KUN-YANG LIN
A native of Taiwan, Kun-Yang Lin’s choreographic works offer audiences a uncommon look into the collective qualities of eastern and western dance. His use of space, energy and fine hand and footwork creates a unique fusion of modern dance, Asian movement traditions and popular culture. From his signature piece Moon Dance, to the Tibetan inspired From the Land of Lost Content, Kun-Yang’s work is flowing in creativity. His latest work, the Tango-inspired Shall We..? shows us that this outstanding choreographer has no cultural boundaries.


LING YAH-WEN
Originally from Ohio,Yah-Wen Ling received her BA in English Literature and a minor in Dance from Barnard College in 1999. Since then, she has worked with several dance companies and choerographers including  Buglisi/Foreman Dance, Palindrome in Germany, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Neta Pulvermacher, Kara McMahon Cross and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Her own choreography has been presented in New York at Miller Theater, Theater Et Al, the Williamsburg Art Nexxus, and the D.U.M.B.O Dance Festival.


from
LOS MUCHACHOS

Manuel Graña and Alberto Quintairos
Acrobats


AYA OGAWA
Aya Ogawa is a performer, writer, director, translator and producer of theatre. Born in Tokyo, Aya grew up in Georgia, Texas, and various towns in Northern California. Until November 2003 she served as the Associate Artistic Director of the International WOW Company under which she was involved in the creation and performances of such productions as THE BOMB, HYPERREAL AMERICA, ALICE'S EVIDENCE and A GIRL OF SIXTEEN. She has also worked internationally in Japan and Thailand. In February 2004 she played Noam Chomsky in THE LONELINESSD OF NOAM CHOMSKY at TIXE on 42nd Street and will be creating and heading her own theatre company. In June 2004 she was named playwriting fellow at
New York Theatre Workshop.


"...the models he* always has at his studio
and whom he often allow to move freely, though 'he' watches them out of the corner of an eye
in order to learn the originality which is in nature."
-
August Rodin (*Rodin often wrote about himself in the third person)


AVIVA STONE
La Grande Dame des Ateliers
1948 - 2007

Born in Newark NJ deep in Philip Roth territory, at the time a veritable hotbed of secular Jewish culture, Aviva Stone entered the discipline of classical ballet at the age of six. She later went on to modern and folkloric dance. At the age of sixteen she went to Israel to embrace the pioneer life of the kibbutz.
Upon her return to the United States, she was privileged to study acting with the late, great Bill Hickey.

She discovered the art of posing "as a venue o expression with the power of the body and the drama of the individual spirit which has given this actor work for life."

Ms Stone passed away in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where she lived with her dear one.


GEOK TIN TAY
Tin Tay, born and raised in Singapore, arrived in New York in 1995 to study dance. She has performed with several choreographers including Joshua Bisset (Shua Group), Noemi
Lafrance, Jeanette Hempstead, Mariangela López and Edgar Cortés and is currently working on a solo choreography of her own. Tin started modeling in 1998 when she was referred to me by Heng-Lin Kong. She is also a jewelry designer & sculptor and loves to eat, especially fatty foods.


FRANCESCA TODESCO
Francesca Todesco, of Swiss Italian origin, studied dance in Switzerland, Germany and the U.S. Since moving to New York, she has studied the Humphrey-Limón style with Jim May, Betty Jones, among others, as well as Anna Sokolow technique and repertory. She is currently a member of Dances by Isadora, studying and performing the Isadora Duncan technique and repertory with Catherine Gallant and Loretta Thomas. Francesca has also been studying and practicing Reflexology and Shiatsu since 1999.

"Attitude, presence, movement." - RC.

IVÁN TORRES
Ivan Torres was a dancer, director, choreographer, costume and set designer and model for over twenty-five years. He is currently the Model Coordinator for New School University / Parsons, where he uses all of his background experience to assemble the finest modeling staff in New York City.


YOKO UMEHARA
Born and raised in Fukuoka Japan,Yoko Umehara graduated from Kyushu University with a BA in English literature in 1994.

After a corporate stint with IBM during which she first turned towards dance, Yoko quit and moved to New York City - ostensibly to further her dance career.

Trained in Japanese caligraphy at Shuken in Fukuoka when she was younger, it was perhaps only natural that her attention turned instead to painting and the visual arts.

During a six-year hiatus in New York, she studied at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design and, privately, under painters Andrew Conklin and Carlos Madrid.


NATALIA VIÑAS
Dancer - Choreographer, Barcelona, Spain

Natalia Viñas Roig received her basic training at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona and subsequently studied Modern Dance (Limón, Horton and Graham) in New York with Risa Steinberg, Milton Myers, Miguel Valdez-Mor and William Adair. She has been a member of various contemporary dance companies in Spain such as Dart, Transit and Metros and has worked as choreographer at the Gran Teatro de la Zarzuela and for the Dagoll Dagom Theater Company. She has been a teacher for more than 20 years and is a faculty member of the Institut del Teatre.


"Art is, in short, nothing but a sexual pleasure... when he creates,
the artist outwits his reproductive instinct."
- August Rodin


ZI-EN YIP
Friend and collaborator, Zi-En Ye emigrated to New York City wIth her family from their native China. She started studying dance very young and by the age of 15 had joined Elliot Feld's Ballet Tech. She put dance on hiatus to attend Hunter College and get a degree. She currently applies her physical atributes as a personal trainer and hopes to get back to dance.


SUSAN ZHENG
a.k.a.
XIAO MAON REN
"Lil' Dreamer"
The youngest of three siblings and the youngest of my models at this wrtiting, Susan Zheng (Xiao Maon Ren) was born in New York City to immigrant Chinese parents, a Leo, in 1985. And Leo she is, with a mane of black silk 40 inches long. A Business major at Baruch College, she is one of the very few L'Atelier models who is not a performer. She plans to go on to Law school and a carreer in Law.

~ AT THE MOVIES ~
"She was smart enough to leave them all wanting more, behaviour that illuminates two central tenets of musedom:
sex has relartively
little to do with it; longing, on the other hand, is key."
-
Stacy Schiff reviewing Francine Prose's THE LIVES OF THE MUSES

"The muse should be as charming as she is unobtainable."
-
Stacy Schiff
reviewing Francine Prose's THE LIVES OF THE MUSES

Bob Berkowitz interviews Robert Coane
and models
Zi-En Yip and Balthasar D'Apocalypso


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