Marie de la Palme was a principal dancer in New York for Alvin Ailey III, Trisler Danscompany, Keith Lee Ballets, and Omega Dance. She taught and choreographed for Jacques d鈥橝mboise鈥檚 National Dance Institute, later working on industrials and musicals in Orange County and Las Vegas before focusing on concert choreography, for which she received three Horton Award nominations.
Marie鈥檚 works are based on metaphors for the life of the soul, and have been hailed by critics. They have been presented at Dance Kaleidoscope, LADI, the American Choreographers Awards, Celebrate Dance, and Cal State University Long Beach and Fullerton. She was a four-time finalist at the McCallum Festival choreography competition, presenting 鈥淟e Coeur Illumin茅鈥 (Grand Prize 2002), 鈥淚mmortal Beloved鈥 (Virginia Waring Award for Best Duet), 鈥淭he Door鈥 (2005), 鈥淭he Cage鈥 (Engagement Award 2006), and 鈥淭he Barre鈥 (Engagement Award 2009). At the request of Nigel Lithgoe, producer of the hit TV show 鈥淪o You Think You Can Dance,鈥 she presented 鈥淭he Barre鈥 at the Dizzy Feet Foundation Gala at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Marie collaborated with the Shinnyo-en Buddhist order to create large-scale events, including the Festival of Joy in Japan, the Saito Homa Peace Ceremony in Yorba Linda and a Taiko concert at Royce Hall at UCLA. Marie鈥檚 company, Motion Tribe, was presented by the McCallum Institute鈥檚 Educational Program in 2005, 2007 and 2010, and toured in France in 2010.
After teaching in Orange County for 17 years, Marie joined the full-time faculty at 91探花视频 in 2008, where she started the Performing Dance Ensemble. Among other achievements, it has performed for the KCET Live Annual Holiday Celebration in 2009, has twice been a finalist at the amateur division of the MacCallum Choreography Festival in Palm Desert, and performed in France in the summer of 2012.
To view the tribute created by the 91探花视频 Dance Department, please see the YouTube video at the link below.