Choreographer

The Ailey School Faculty - Contemporary

Adam Barruch

A man is smiling in his headshot. He is wearing a black V neck long sleeve top and jeans with a belt. His hands are in his pockets.
Photo by Christopher Duggan

Adam Barruch began his career as a young actor, performing professionally on Broadway and in film and television, working with prominent figures such as Tony Bennett, Jerry Herman, and Susan Stroman. He later received dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts. After three years, he graduated early and was accepted into the dance department at The Juilliard School. As a dancer, he has performed the works of Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Susan Marshall, José Limón, Daniele Dèsnoyers, and was a dancer with Sylvain Émard Danse in Montreal. He has also worked with The Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, performing and researching Conflict Transformation as part of The Legacy Project. Based in Brooklyn, Barruch currently creates and performs work with his own company, Anatomiae Occultii. 
 

As a choreographer, Barruch's work has been presented at venues such as The Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), New York City Center, NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, The Juilliard School, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, Ailey Citigroup Theater, The 92Y: Buttenweiser Hall, Jacob’s Pillow: Inside/Out, La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, The Cedar Lake Theater, Gibney Dance Center, The Harris Theater, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Cowles Center, The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, Bates Dance Festival, and Theatre Usine C in Montreal. He was selected as a participant in the 2011 AILEY New Directions Choreography Lab, made possible by generous support from the Ford Foundation. Barruch’s short-film collaboration with filmmaker Nel Shelby, Folie a Deux, was screened at the Dance On Camera Festival in Lincoln Center in 2012. In June 2013, Barruch performed a full-length evening solo work, My Name is Adam, at Joe's Pub commissioned by DanceNOW NYC, and was a recipient of a Late Stage Production Stipend from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. In addition, he has also created works for companies such as The Limón Company, Ailey II, Keigwin + Company, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, River North Dance Chicago, BalletX, Whim W'Him Seattle Contemporary Dance, Graham II, GroundWorks Dance Theater, Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Gibney Dance Company, 10 Hairy Legs, and Daniel Costa Dance—as well as for dance icons Margie Gillis and Miki Orihara. Barruch has also choreographed two music videos for Tokyo based musical act mishmash* and created movement for Variety Worldwide, whose projects combine non-traditional theater with nightlife and dining.
 

Barruch was the recipient of a 2014 Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences, which recognizes institutions and individuals for distinguished accomplishments and exceptional talent in the arts and sciences. In September 2015, he was the choreographer-in-residence at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, California, as part of the 2015 DANCEworks Residency. Barruch was an artist-in-residence at the 92Y Harkness Dance Center in 2016-2017. He is also the developer of Dynamic Sequencing, a movement practice designed to promote expansive range, healthful coordination, and optimal awareness in motion. He has taught technique and repertory at Princeton University, The Boston Conservatory, Fordham University, Marymount Manhattan College, The Martha Graham School, The Hartt School, The Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, New York University, Hofstra University, West Virginia University, SUNY Brockport, Texas Christian University, The Hubbard Street Professional Training Program, and internationally at La Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán (EPDM), New Zealand School of Dance, and Ballet Divertimento in Montreal. Barruch is currently pursuing a master's degree in Acupuncture from Pacific College of Health and Science.