Providing communities original female-centric collaborative dance works, educational movement programming for all ages, and public discourse via our popular podcast.
About Us
Founded In 2007
The Moving Architects Story
Erin Carlisle Norton founded The Moving Architects on New Year’s Day, 2007. Her fascination with the history held in physical spaces began in the nooks and crannies of her father’s Neo-Gothic Church and her Victorian childhood home. TMA is guided/driven by Norton’s determination to center the female voice and form and her interest in the histories held by physical spaces. TMA is a female-centric dance company known for creating highly visual, architectural, physically dynamic, and innovative dance works. The company has toured extensively across the United States from Washington to North Carolina, and internationally in Central Asia with the US Department of State and throughout Morocco and Guatemala. Norton has received choreographic accolades and awards including two NJ State Council on the Arts Choreographic Fellowships. The company regularly collaborates on projects praised by colleagues as “brave and bold and fearless” and by critics as a “fresh and daring aesthetic”. Norton’s work is grounded in collaboration and her physical research in Laban Movement Analysis, modern and postmodern dance techniques, and improvisational study.
Female-Centric Dance Company
Who We Are
The Moving Architect connects people intimately to dance, focusing on creating female-centric collaborative dance works and community-based projects. We do this through performance of original works, educational movement programming for all ages, and public discourse via our popular podcast.
We are dedicated in our projects to creating diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible environments where all voices are heard and valued. We work collaboratively and embrace the diversity of our community and the communities we serve, ensuring our programming and partnerships reflect this commitment. We believe in ongoing learning and listening, continually enhancing our practices and processes to share the transformative power of dance.
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From Artistic Director Erin Carlisle Norton
Vision and Values
Led by deeply collaborative processes, my dance works focus on feminist narratives and ideologies. With an expansive definition of the feminine, we dive into complex relationships and roles as mothers/caretakers, partners, and friends, and social dynamics that examine power and varied qualities and traits of gender. Our work embodies current and historically lived approaches to the female experience.
At the heart of my work are the dance artists. Their relationships to each other and their trust, thoughtfulness, and risk form the backbone of my work. Physical and emotional power are central to my movement grammar; I am drawn to experiences of time through stillness, speed, and overexertion, and effects of weight through force, conflict, and strength.
Collaboration with artists in dance, visual arts, and sound is integral to my creative process. We collaborate with visual artists, incorporating textiles and interactive costumes and objects to create architectural and physical landscapes. We work with composers and musicians to integrate textures of sound, instrumentation, and rhythm into the work.
When I lead our collaborative community processes, I facilitate as choreographer and director, guided by values of experimentation and trust. Each group’s perspectives drive the creation of multi-faceted worlds for viewers to enter, experience, relate to, and reflect on.
Meet The Team
The Artists
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Erin Carlisle Norton
Erin Carlisle Norton (she/her) is a choreographer, dancer, movement educator, and Artistic Director of The Moving Architects...
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Nicole Arakaki
Nicole Arakaki is a freelance artist from New York/New Jersey area. She recently collaborated on an original evening-length dance installation...
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Mariah Anton-Arters
Mariah Anton-Arters is a New York based artist who graduated in 2019 from UNC School of the Arts with a BFA in contemporary dance...
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Karma Chuki
Karma Chuki is an independent artist thriving in the dance scenes of New York City and New Jersey. With extensive experience, she has performed...
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Emily Cicio
Emily Cicio is a New England and Brooklyn based performer. Emily graduated from The University of Massachusetts Amherst in May of...
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Kelly Guerrero
Kelly Guerrero (she/her) holds a BFA in Dance and a minor in Business Administration from Montclair State University...
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Cecilia Mitchell
Cecilia Mitchell, a Montclair, NJ native, cultivated her dance foundation at Sharron Miller's Academy for the Performing Arts, where she...
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Grace Liu Anderson
Grace Liu Anderson is a musician, violinist, photographer, and Director of Marketing at New Jersey Symphony. Artistically inclined...
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gwen charles
(Shapes of Movement) Multi-disciplinary artist gwen charles (she/her) creates site-specific, collaborative live performances and choreographed actions...
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Kathy Imlay
(Shapes of Movement) Kathy Imlay is an independent curator whose focus is on the power of the visual arts to reshape society. Working predominantly with...
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Crystal Gregory
(Shapes of Movement) Crystal Gregory is a sculptor whose work investigates the intersections between textile and architecture...