MOVERS & SHAPERS: A DANCE PODCAST

The personal stories, experiences, and ideas from those who shape the dance field.

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MSP 171: Stefanie Nelson

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PODCAST 171: Stefanie Nelson

Release Date: 3.11.24

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

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Finding Your Artistry Beyond Words with Stefanie Nelson

Episode 171: Show Notes

One of the beautiful things about dance is the ability to express yourself without words. You can just dance. Joining Erin on the podcast today is Stefanie Nelson, Founder and Director of Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup (SND), a contemporary dance company based in NYC. Stefanie also established Dance Italia, an international summer dance program in Lucca, Italy. Today, she shares what kickstarted her lifelong love of dance and the influence that Alice Teirstein had on her journey. She also offers insight into her college journey and what it takes to make it as an artist in New York City. Tuning in, you’ll learn how she transitioned from dancer to choreographer and how 9/11 ultimately led her to Italy. She details her time dancing and choreographing in Italy before returning to America and shares her vision for Dance Italia. To learn more about Stefanie’s career highlights, challenges, and the different projects and initiatives that keep her busy, be sure not to miss this episode of Movers & Shapers. Thanks for listening in!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • How quitting piano led Stefanie to a lifelong love of dance.
  • Alice Teirstein and what led her to become a dancer.
  • What it means to “make it work” as an artist in New York City.
  • How Stefanie eventually transitioned into creating her own work as a choreographer.
  • Running away to Italy after 9/11 and how it played out.
  • Highlights from her time dancing and choreographing in Italy.
  • Returning to America while keeping the connections to Italy with Dance Italia.
  • Details about the Dance Italia festival and the vision behind it.
  • How the organization and planning for Dance Italia have changed over the years.
  • The different projects and initiatives that Stefanie is busy with.
  • Insight into her upcoming work in 2025 and beyond.
  • Highlights, challenges, and other obstacles from Stefanie’s career journey.
  • Her hopes, aspirations, and dreams for the future.

“There’s something very beautiful about being able to express yourself without having to articulate words, ideas, thoughts, and sentences in a linear way.” — Stefanie Nelson

 

ABOUT STEFANIE

Stefanie Nelson is the Founder and Director of Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup (SND), a contemporary performance group based in NYC; DANCE ITALIA, an international summer dance festival in Lucca, Italy; and Motore 592, a bold, new, center for contemporary movement practices in Lucca, IT.

Founded in 2000, SND is a New York City-based contemporary performance ensemble producing original work in close creative partnership with performers, visual artists and composers. The company’s work is driven by a distinctly conceptual impetus and characterized by a visceral and strikingly visual approach. For over two decades, SND has evolved from an artistic endeavor into a public service-driven and education-focused organization, invested in using dance as a tool for healing, community building, and empowerment. Mission-driven community service programs include: EVERYONE DANCE: working with NYC’s disabled population in collaboration with AHRC NYC, a disability service organization, since 2014; The MOVING MEMORY PROJECT: a festival series of professional art performances and movement classes for seniors with dementia, since 2019; DANCE ITALIA, summer dance festival for pre-professional contemporary dancers since 2011, and CREATIVE MOVEMENT classes for children ages 5-7 at Hunter College Elementary School, since 2009.

Beyond community programming, SND presents work at the foremost contemporary performance venues including Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Jacob’s Pillow, LaMama Moves!; internationally in Canada, Mexico and throughout Italy at festivals such as Fabbrica Europa, Florence Winter Dance Festival, & Festival de la Ciudad. Residencies include the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Bessie Schoenberg Residency at The Yard, Indiana University, SUNY Purchase (NY), FLYING TIGER (NY Store Opening).

Entering the dance field as a performer, notably as a soloist with Anna Sokolow’s Player’s Project, Nelson is an accomplished teacher having taught at studios and educational institutions worldwide. The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) identified her as an ‘Emerging Leader’, providing a yearlong mentorship. She’s served as a Choreography panelist for NYFA’s prestigious Artists’ Fellowship awards as well as for the Joyce Theater and local NYC dance festivals. Recent company support includes funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the West Harlem Development Corporation. Independent choreographic projects include collaborations with fashion designer Terrence Zhou / Bad Binch TONGTONG’s New York Fashion Week SS23 debut and SS24 show, Plan-B, a feature film starring Diane Keaton, & the NYC store opening of Flying Tiger.

 

Connect with Stefanie Nelson

sndancegroup.org
danceitalia.com
motore592.com

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton

MSP 170: Kathy Dunn Hamrick

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PODCAST 170: Kathy Dunn Hamrick

Release Date: 3.11.24

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

    • Apple: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

    • Spotify: Follow and Listen HERE

    • Any Smartphone Podcast app: Subscribe and Listen

Creating a Modern Dance Culture and Community with Kathy Dunn Hamrick

Episode 170: Show Notes.

Establishing a modern dance company is no easy feat, but today’s guest managed to create a successful organization and build a wonderful modern dance community in Austin, Texas. Today on Movers & Shapers, we welcome Kathy Dunn Hamrick, the Artistic Director of Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance, to discuss her work and how she helps dance grow in Austin. Kathy found a love for dance at a young age and quickly decided that she needed to dedicate her life to it. In this episode, you’ll hear all about Kathy’s life and career, her decision to teach, and how her desire to be ‘in charge’ led her to start her company. We discuss the difficulty of balancing a family and career, her gorgeous piece choreographed on platforms on a lake, and starting the Austin Dance Festival. We delve into Kathy’s recent cancer diagnosis and how her community has showed up for her, and Kathy opens up about next steps of sharing her knowledge with the next generation of dancers and choreographers. Finally, we walk through Kathy’s career highlights and struggles. To hear all this and more, press play now!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • We delve into the who behind Kathy Dunn Hamrick and learn about how she got into dance.
  • The wonderful mentors Kathy has had and how they shaped her career.
  • What Kathy loves about dance and how she constantly stays interested in it.
  • Kathy tells us about her move to New York and why she decided to get her MFA.
  • Transitioning into the role of dance teacher and founding namesake company; Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance.
  • How Kathy balances her family and business while keeping her career interesting for herself.
  • The incredible dance piece that was choreographed by Kathy and performed on a lake.
  • Kathy outlines all of the things her dance company does.
  • The modern dance culture in Austin and why Kathy started her dance festival.
  • How COVID affected Kathy’s business and festival.
  • Kathy’s diagnosis with stage four cancer and what’s next for her and the organization.
  • Why finances have always been Kathy’s biggest business struggle.
  • The highlights of Kathy’s career and the wonderful dance community she’s built.

“From a very young age I knew I wanted a family and I knew I wanted to dance and I’ve achieved both of those [things] so I’m living my best life honestly.” — Kathy Dunn Hamrick

Kathy Dunn Hamrick is the Artistic Director of Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, an award-winning modern dance company based in Austin, Texas. Kathy has happily committedher professional life to dancing, teaching, choreographing, presenting, mentoring, andadvocating for modern dance and dancemakers. She has created over 50 dances that have been described as “strikingly athletic and wonderfully expressive,” “heavenly,” “smart” and “masterly,” and garnered numerous recognitions for the dance company, including Austin CriticsTable awards for Best Choreographer, Best Dance Concert, Best Dancer, Best Duet, Best Lighting Design, and Best Ensemble. The company has performed throughout Texas as well asin New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Toronto, and her “Lake Dances” were featuredin Arts + Culture Texas, Arts Journal, and Dance Magazine. Kathy holds a BA in Modern Dancefrom The University of Texas and an MFA in Performance, and Choreography from Florida State University. She has taught at Florida State, Stephen F. Austin State University, St.Edwards University, The University of Texas, and Austin Community College. She currentlyteaches modern dance for both recreational and professional dancers at Café Dance; providesprofessional development for educators; directs artist residencies for high schools anduniversities; and served as a mentor for Austin Emerging Arts Leaders. In 2015, Kathy founded Austin Dance Festival, an annual modern dance event that hosts professional danceshowcases, master classes, and a Youth Edition that includes non-competitive showcases forteens 13-18, a Pro Chat Q&A, and a college fair. In 2018, Kathy was inducted into the AustinArts Hall of Fame as “a model for the artist who approaches each project in a spirit of experimentation and reinvention.”

 

Connect with Kathy Dunn Hamrick

Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance

Austin Dance Festival

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton

MSP 169: Julie Lemberger

By Podcast

PODCAST 169: Julie Lemberger

Julie Lemberger, photographer. Photographed by Miguel Anaya, December 2020.

Release Date: 2.26.24

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

    • Apple: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

    • Spotify: Follow and Listen HERE

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Enjoying the Art, Expression, and Freedom of Dance with Julie Lemberger

Episode 169: Show Notes.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Movers and Shapers podcast, where today we’re delighted to welcome our guest, Julie Lemberger. Julie is a multifaceted individual — she’s had a life as a dancer, dance photographer, and educator. She has dedicated over 15 years to capturing the ephemeral beauty of concert dance. Her lens has encapsulated the essence of New York City’s dance scene at the turn of the 21st century. Julie’s stunning dance photography has graced the pages of prestigious publications like The New York Times, Dance Magazine, and numerous national and international journals and websites since 1993. Join the conversation to hear about what sparked her interest in dance, why she was initially turned off of modern dance, and how her ballet journey led her to places like The Netherlands, Germany, and New York.  We delve into her diverse dance ventures and then pivot to hear about her transition to Plan B: starting college. Julie shares the fascinating intersection of her worlds; photography and dance, and articulates the emotions she experiences when capturing dance through her camera. Don’t miss out on this intriguing discussion! Tune in now to hear all this and much more. Thanks for listening!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • We discover how The Nutcracker sparked Julie’s interest in dance.
  • Her thoughts on being more of an artist and enjoying ballet for the artistry of it.
  • Why she decided to stick to the discipline of ballet while growing up.
  • She delves into a side story of why she became turned off from modern dance.
  • Julie highlights her other interests as a kid.
  • She shares her ballet journey and her aspirations to become a ballerina after school.
  • How Julie ended up in New York City.
  • She tells the story about lying on her application.
  • Julie shares a turning point, and realization, in her dance career.
  • She delves into her time in Europe (The Netherlands, Germany, England).
  • We are transported forward, back to New York, and her other endeavors at the Graham School, Jacob’s Pillow, and more.
  • Her Plan B: starting college.
  • Why starting college was the saddest day of her life.
  • She recalls the time she got her first camera, at age 23.
  • Julie shares the journey to becoming an art major.
  • When the two worlds collide: dance and photography.
  • What Julie enjoyed most about dance photography: her master’s degree experience.
  • She expresses what taking photos of dance makes her feel.
  • Julie highlights what she’s excited about, and what gives her energy, these days.

“I realized that having my photographs judged was so much easier than having my body and my dancing judged.” — Julie Lemberger

 

Originally from Berkeley, CA, Julie Lemberger is a former dancer, who photographs dance in N.Y.C. for 30 years. She received a fellowship from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to study historic dance photography. She earned two BA degrees in fine art, and dance studies, and an MA in dance education. She is certified to teach dance in public schools in New York State. Since 2020, Lemberger has been a member of the School of Hard Knocks. Her photographs have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Dance Magazine and many national and international journals, websites and books including Yoga Bones. Additionally Lemberger’s work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions at Norte Maar, Micro Museum, 92NY and Dance Theater Workshop. Notable dance collaborators include: Molissa Fenley, Edisa Weeks/Delirious Dances, Jody Sperling/TimeLapse Dance, Jody Oberfelder, Esme Julien Boyce, Cori Kresge, Eiko Otake, Sean Curran, Stephen Petronio, Yoshiko Chuma, and Carlos Fittante/Balam among others. She created, along with editor and consultant Elizabeth Zimmer, the coloring book Modern Women: 21st Century Dance, whose illustrations are based on her photography of living women, the largest and often least recognized population of the dance community, available HERE.

Connect with Julie Lemberger

Julie Lemberger

Julie Lemberger on Instagram

Julie Lemberger on Facebook

Julie Lemberger on LinkedIn

Julie Lemberger’s Coloring Book

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton

Movers & Shapers: Jeanne Ruddy

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PODCAST 167: Jeanne Ruddy

Release Date: 11.20.23

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

    • Apple: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

    • Spotify: Follow and Listen HERE

    • Any Smartphone Podcast app: Subscribe and Listen

Acrobats of God with Jeanne Ruddy

Episode 167: Show Notes.

While dance is often underfunded and under-recognized, leaders in the field acknowledge the incredible talent that lives within every dancer, reminding them that they are, in fact, ‘Acrobats of God’. Today’s guest embodies the purpose of the Movers and Shapers Dance Podcast; to share insights from those who shape the dance field, and create an archive that preserves rich, personal experiences across generations. During this episode, Jeanne Ruddy shares what it was like to be a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and to work with Martha herself. You’ll also hear how she forged her own unique role in dance, how she encourages other artists to flourish, and her passion for nurturing future generations of dancers in Philadelphia. Tuning in, you’ll learn all about Jeanne’s journey as a dancer, and finding her way to creative expression thereafter. Join us to hear all about the highs and lows of our guest’s incredible career today.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • An introduction to guest, Jeanne Ruddy, and the topics covered in this conversation.
  • Her first experiences of dance and her lifelong love of music.
  • The changing dance scene of the 1960s.
  • Jeanne’s relationship with the dramatic aspects.
  • The pivotal period of time for a dancer between 16 and 21.
  • Her experience at North Carolina School of the Arts and Utah Repertory Dance Theatre.
  • Traveling to New York and starting a company with no capital.
  • Getting a huge break with Yuriko Kikuchi after auditioning with Getting to Know You. 
  • Being chosen to be in the Martha Graham Dance Company and enjoying a ten-year career.
  • Why Martha would sit in the second wing, stage right, in a director’s chair, during performances.
  • Martha’s relationship with the artists.
  • Learning choreography from horrible 8mm film.
  • The eventual decision to leave the company due to pain.
  • Teaching at Sarah Lawrence, Connecticut College, and Florida State University.
  • Why meeting Victor Keene at 39 changed Jeanne’s life.
  • The birth of the Performance Garage.
  • How her husband has facilitated the amazing work she has been able to do.
  • Three phases of renovation that led to the Performance Garage’s current HQ.
  • The program Jeanne currently facilitates for dancers.
  • Reflections on the underappreciation for the art form of dance.
  • What Martha Graham taught: dancers are acrobats of God.
  • Upcoming events with the Moving Company.

“I walked out of Deaths and Entrances, I was definitely a child of the 60s, and I didn’t like it. Seven years later, I was playing one of the sisters in that very piece in Lincoln Centre. I loved it.” — Jeanne Ruddy

 

Jeanne Ruddy is a dance professional whose career has spanned six decades. Primarily a modern contemporary dance artist, her work has encompassed sacred dance, contemporary dance, Broadway, film, teaching, writing and choreography. Her work has influenced and touched generations of dancers and choreographers through her performances, her choreography and her teachings in the United States as well as in Germany, Russia, Brazil, and Cuba. She has established three dance companies over her career: Raintree Dance Harvest in Bloomington, Indiana, Jeanne Ruddy & Dancers in New York City, and Jeanne Ruddy Dance in Philadelphia. Her choreography combines compelling narratives about a variety of social issues such as abuse of women, climate change, navigating personal relationships and the universal voyage of life. 

Her first professional job in New York was on the Bicentennial Tour of The King and I with Yul Brenner, where she later performed in the Broadway cast. Fulfilling a dream, she was chosen to become a member of the Martha Graham Company where she worked with Ms. Graham for a decade when Ms. Graham choreographed two new works a year for the Company’s New York seasons. Ruddy rose to Principal Dancer and was featured in the PBS Great Performances series in Graham’s Cave of the Heart. She also performed leading roles in such Graham works as Andromache’s Lament, Diversion of Angels, Deaths and Entrances, Seraphic Dialogue, Clytemnestra, Cortege of Eagles, Embattled Garden, Herodiade, and Appalachian Spring. At that time, the Graham Company toured four months of each year throughout the US, Europe, Mexico, and Canada playing the world’s most important stages. After leaving the Graham Company Ruddy was a guest professor at Connecticut College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Florida State University as well as accepting invitations for international congresses of dance and summer festivals in Brazil, Cologne, Germany, Moscow, Russia, and later Cuba. In the American Dance Festival in Moscow, Ruddy was the first to introduce the Graham Technique to Russian dancers at the Bolshoi and across Russia. Ruddy was invited to join the faculty of the Juilliard School Dance Division teaching the freshman and 2 senior classes while also serving as the scout for hopeful dancers auditioning across America. Concurrently, Ruddy taught at the Alvin Ailey School of American Dance and was promoted to Chair of the Contemporary Dance Department and was involved in the initial concept of the partnership with Fordham University for the creation of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program. 

Ruddy relocated to Philadelphia through marriage and founded Jeanne Ruddy Dance, a contemporary dance company that grew to eleven dancers performing and creating new work by Ruddy and other invited top-tier choreographers over thirteen years. The need for a rehearsal space to house the JRD Company created the Performance Garage. Co-founded by Ruddy, with her husband, Victor Keen, it is now Philadelphia’s home for dance with a 110-seat dance theater. It is a non-profit where Victor has served on the Board since its inception. Now, twenty-thousand people enjoy either classes, rehearsals, auditions, video shoots, or performances each year. Ruddy considers the creation of the Performance Garage her most important contribution to the field by supporting burgeoning dance companies and emerging independent choreographers to develop and further the art form. For her work with her company, Jeanne Ruddy Dance, and her work developing the Performance Garage, Ruddy received The Independence Foundation Fellowship Award in 2000. Other awards and grants include the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America as well as the NEA’s Artistic Excellence award, three Pew Foundation Dance Advance awards, three William Penn Foundation grants, six Fels Foundation awards, nine years of support from the Independence Foundation, the Dolfinger McMahon, PECO—an Exelon Company, Land Services Inc,

Independence Blue Cross, and twenty years of support from the Suzanne F. Roberts Cultural Fund, among others. Ruddy received an endowed fund—the Martha LaVallee-Williams Community Outreach Fund for her Company’s work with their youth engagement program. To re-open the Performance Garage after the pandemic most essential were the Shuttered Venue Grant, and the Covid Relief Fund.



Connect with Jeanne Ruddy

Jeanne Ruddy Dance

Performance Garage

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton

Movers & Shapers: Rukhmani Mehta

By Podcast

PODCAST 166: Rukhmani Mehta 

Release Date: 10.30.23

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

    • Apple: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

    • Spotify: Follow and Listen HERE

    • Any Smartphone Podcast app: Subscribe and Listen

Creating a Vision for Kathak with Rukhmani Mehta

Episode 166: Show Notes

Today on Movers & Shapers, we are joined by Rukhmani Mehta (previously Rina Mehta). Rukhmani is a choreographer, dancer, educator, Artistic Director of Leela Youth Dance Company, and the Co-Artistic Director of Leela Dance Collective, which brings together leading artists from around the world to advance a collective vision for kathak, a classical North Indian dance. In this episode, Rukhmani speaks about her love for creating community through dance and her deep interest in and curiosity for collaborative projects and processes. What stands out most is Rukhmani’s resounding passion for her work and art form, despite the struggles she has had along the way, as well as the thoughtfulness with which she has built her life in dance, from co-leadership of her company to teaching to creating the first-ever endowment to support kathak dance and music in the US and more. Tune in today for an inspiring conversation about the power of collaboration, community, and preserving culture!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • How Rukhmani started dancing and when she fell in love with kathak.
  • What she learned about the art form from kathak master, Pt. Chitresh Das.
  • The profoundly transformational experience that studying kathak afforded her.
  • How she learned to follow her heart and commit to starting a professional dance company.
  • Steps Rukhmani took to build a life in dance, including teaching and the Leela Foundation.
  • Audience development and creating a future for kathak as an educator.
  • Unpacking Rukhmani’s belief in the power of collaboration.
  • Where the name Leela comes from and how it speaks to spontaneous creativity.
  • Insight into Rukhmani’s love for creating communities of young women through dance.
  • The process of building Leela as a collective and how it was impacted by COVID.
  • Joys and challenges of a dance career and what you can look forward to from Leela!
  • The heartwarming story of why Rukhmani changed her name from Rina.

“My work is about being an artist and putting the art form out in the world but – it has also become about creating the infrastructure that the artists who are carrying these traditions forward need.” — Rukhmani Mehta

About Rukhmani Mehta

Rukhmani Mehta (previously Rina Mehta) –pronounced RUUKH-muh-nee – brings a singular voice and vision to the art form of kathak, classical dance of North India. She is a senior disciple of the legendary kathak master, Pt. Chitresh Das, and was a principal dancer in his company, the Chitresh Das Dance Company, for over a decade. As Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Leela Dance Collective, Mehta has created numerous original works that bring kathak dance to contemporary audiences. These works include SPEAK, a kathak-tap collaboration; Son of the Wind, a dance drama based on India’s epic, the Ramayana; and Encounters with Beauty, a collaboration between kathak and contemporary chamber music. She has performed at prestigious venues across the United States and India such as NC State Live, The Broad Stage, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Green Music Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai, and more. Her artistic works have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, California Arts Council, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and more. She has received the ACTA Apprenticeship Grant and has been twice nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Mehta is also Artistic Director of Leela Youth Dance Company, a pre-professional performing group that empowers young women to develop their voices and be artists and leaders. The Leela Youth Dance Company has been featured at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia Youth Festival, and LA County’s Annual Televised Holiday Celebration.

 

Connect with Samantha Géracht

Leela Dance

Leela Dance Collective on Instagram

Leela Dance Collective on Facebook

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

 

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton

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