BENNYROYCE ROYON
Bennyroyce Royon is a Filipino-American director, choreographer, and educator working and between Seattle and New York City. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from The Juilliard School. Other dance training includes Springboard Danse Montréal, Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program, and The Rock School Summer Ballet Intensive. While at Juilliard, Royon performed works by Eliot Feld, José Limón, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Ronald K. Brown, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Alan Hineline, Jill Johnson, and Jessica Lang.
As a performer and collaborator, he has worked on Broadway (The King and I), Off-Broadway (Artist of Light), at The Metropolitan Opera (Madama Butterfly, Turandot, The First Emperor), at the New York Philharmonic (The Cunning Little Vixen), and with dance companies including Armitage Gone! Dance, Sidra Bell Dance New York, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Alaska Dance Theatre, The Nilas Martins Dance Company, Collective Body Dance Lab, Cas Public, and is a founding member of Bad Boys of Dance.
Royon has been noted by The New York Times for his "keenly focused, succinct way with movement." He has worked with choreographers Aszure Barton, Karole Armitage, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Christopher Gattelli, Greg Zane, Sidra Bell, and Carolyn Dorfman, among others. He has appeared on PBS Great Performances, Good Morning America, Asian American Life (CUNY TV), and the music videos of Son Lux and My Brightest Diamond.
As a choreographer, Royon has received commissions from Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Point Park University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, American University, DeSales University, and The Joffrey Academy of Dance to name a few. His works have been praised by dance critics as "unexpected and heart-stoppingly dramatic" and "refreshingly original." He has received two CUNY Dance Initiative residencies, Velocity Dance Center’s Creative Resident Award, and The Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works Choreography Award.
Royon is an alumnus of the DanceMotion USA Follow-On Professional Development Program, a two-week partners in learning program in conjunction with BAM Education and Creative Capital. He is the Co-Chair of the Eastside Culture Coalition, a member of SoCoCulture’s Leadership Team, an Ambassador for the Renton Chamber of Commerce, and a dance consultant at the Filipino Community of Seattle.
In 2010, he founded Bennyroyce Dance, a project-based contemporary dance company. His company has performed at venues in New York City including The Joyce Theater, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, Bryant Park Presents, and more. Composed of a multicultural group of broad-minded artists, Bennyroyce Dance delivers energetic and physical contemporary works with “glimmers of ballet vocabulary and lots of edge” (BroadwayWorld.com).
Twitter & Instagram: @bennyroyce
““I am inspired by nature, people, the idea of love in its many forms, and the cosmos. A sense of playfulness and wonder motivate my work, stimulating the intellect and instinct of an individual or group. I see my work as a conversation not only between the body, space, and time, but also between artists from different fields. My body of work explores a myriad of ideas inspired by culture, identity, and a sense of belonging. As a queer POC immigrant, I center my work at the intersection of innovation, collaboration, and community building. I aspire to create fresh, energetic, and inventive works that engage diverse audiences in imagining unknown possibilities, in seeking boundless connections and meaning, and in embracing the dynamic movements of life.””
Banner photo by Kuo-Heng Huang