Jack Ferver

Jack Ferver is a New York based dancer, choreographer, educator, director, writer, and actor.
== Early life ==
Jack Ferver grew up in rural Wisconsin, the youngest of three children by 18 years. Experiencing bullying and harassment from Kindergarten through high school, Fever escaped into films like The NeverEnding Story (film), Return to Oz. After attending Interlochen Center for the Arts|Interlochen Arts Camp, they received a scholarship to the Interlochen Arts Academy, where they met collaborator Reid Bartelme.
== Style ==
Ferver is most known for their dance-theatre shows that examine trauma, otherness, and queerness. Ferver's work is characterized by "high-energy, often violent choreography and the juxtaposition of hyperbolic prose with hyper-real dialogue." In interviews, Fever has cited Martha Graham and her autobiography Blood Memory as a particular influence in their exploration of concepts like "contraction and release", dark facets of the human psyche, as well as ritual and repetition.
Ferver takes inspiration from films such as Poltergeist (1982 film) (Rumble Ghost) and Suspiria (I Want You To Want Me) in much of their work. In 2011 with the QWAN (Quality Without a Name) Company, Ferver created and performed in satirical live readings of the films Notes on a Scandal (film)|Notes on a Scandal and Black Swan (film) titled Notes!!! and SWAN!!!
Expression of gender and sexuality are central themes throughout Ferver's work. Their piece Two Alike, described as a "psycho-sexual semi-autobiographical choreographic piece" explored their childhood through repetition. In Everything is Imaginable, Ferver choreographed four soloists to "collectively exhume their personal queer histories and celebrate their childhood icons."
== Career ==
Ferver's works have been presented in numerous New York City venues, throughout the United States, and around the world. Fever teaches and is an artist-in-residence at Bard College.
=== Productions ===
Ferver's performances have been developed and presented in NYC venues such as Performance Space New York, New York Live Arts, Abrons Arts Center, the New Museum, and The Kitchen.
*When We Were Young And Filled With Fear (2007)
*MEAT (2008)
*Death Is Certain (2009)
*A Movie Star Needs A Movie (2009)
*Rumble Ghost (2010)
*Me, Michelle (2011)
*Two Alike (2011)
*Mon, Ma, Mes (2012)
*Mon, Ma, Mes (Revisité) (2017)
*All of the Sudden (2013)
*Chambre (2015) - nominated for a 2016 Bessie Awards|Bessie Award for Outstanding Production
*Night Light Bright Light (2015)
*I Want You To Want Me (2016)
*Everything is Imaginable (2019)
=== What’s Going on With Dance and Stuff ===
Reid Bartelme and Fever began the What’s Going on With Dance and Stuff podcast in 2017 releasing new episodes every Friday (their one rule). Topics discussed include contemporary dance performances, books, Martha Graham, astrology, and their work. Guests on the show have included Pam Tanowitz, Parker Posey, Larissa Velez-Jackson, Perfume Genius, Cole Escola, and others from in and out of dance field. In addition to the podcast, Bartelme, Fever, and collaborator Jeremy Jacob create The Dance and Stuff Show on YouTube.
=== Acting ===
On stage, Ferver has performed in Betty's Summer Vacation at Playwrights Horizons, the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival's musical adaption of But I'm a Cheerleader|But I'm a Cheerleader, and in 2018 Ferver choreographed and portrayed Tinker Bell in a production of Peter Pan (1950 musical)|Leonard Bernstein's Peter Pan at Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts|The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. On film and TV, Ferver portrayed Jimmy Tickles in Strangers with Candy, and had roles in High Maintenance, Gayby, Hunting Season (web series)|Hunting Season, Outside Providence (film)|Outside Providence, and numerous others.
=== Berries and Creme ===
Ferver became popular in 2007 for their appearance in a viral commercial for Starburst (candy)|Starburst’s Berries and Creme flavor. The commercial featured Ferver portraying the character “Little Lad”, a man with a bob haircut, dressed in Victorian era|Victorian/Georgian era|Georgian clothing, expressing his love of the candy flavor in the form of a song and dance routine to two men at a bus station. The commercial gained so much popularity, Starburst made a follow-up tutorial on how to do the dance. In August 2021, the tutorial, rather than the commercial, rose to fame on TikTok. Many users recorded themselves doing the dance to the audio of Ferver reciting their famous Berries and Creme jingle. This audio has been used in more than 27,000 TikTok videos.
Category:American dancers
Category:American choreographers
Category:American performance artists