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MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.94 –

Christine Dakin

Release Date: 1.16.20

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

• • iTunes: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

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ABOUT CHRISTINE

Dancer – teacher – director, a foremost exponent of the Martha Graham repertory andtechnique, Dakin is known for her performance of Ms. Graham’s roles and for those created for her by Martha Graham and artists such as Robert Wilson, Twyla Tharp and Martha Clarke.  She has performed recent work created for by Brice Mousset, Alejandro Chávez and Jaime Blanc in festivals in Mexico and the US and has been guest artist with the American Dance Guild, the Sokolow Theater/Dance Ensemble and since 2015 has produced and performed in programs at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater with guest musicians and choreographers.

Performing in the principal theaters of the world, partnered by renowned artists such as Rudolf Nureyev and filmed in the repertory, Dakin was chosen by Graham for the company in 1976.  She became Associate Artistic Director in 1997 and was named Artistic Director with Terese Capucilli in 2002.  Leading the company to its rebirth, they are credited with bringing the artistic excellence and repertory of the Company to a level not seen since Martha Graham’s death and were named Artistic Directors Laureate.

She was awarded the Evelyn Green Fellowship at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, developing her film project La Voz del Cuerpo(2007/08), was Visiting Lecturer for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (2006, 2009), offering the University’s first credit courses in dance, and was the “Learning from Performers” guest artist (2001).  Educated at the University of Michigan, Ms. Dakin is the recipient of the University of Michigan Alumni Award (2001), an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Shenandoah University (2001), and an Honorary Doctorate from the Universidad de Colima, Mexico (2007).

Dakin has directed and written La Voz del Cuerpo / The Body Speaks; the personal poetics of a Martha Graham dancer. The film was created in collaboration with dancers and musicians from the United States and Mexico,  exploring the work and creative life of a dancer and was official selection in 2013 of New York City Independent Film Festival and Golden Door International Film Festivals, NewFilmmakers New York 2014, and has been shown at the 92Y in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Oaxaca, Mexico and for International Day of Dance UNESCO in Barcelona.  Her filming, and commentary on fundamental sequences of Martha Graham’s technique, Terpsikon, Vol. 1, is available by subscription on Vimeo on Demand.

On the faculty of The Juilliard School, (1993 – 2003) , she is currently faculty at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and the Ailey School in New York, and is guest teacher for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She is known internationally as a teacher and guest artist from Russia to Latin America; since 1981 maintaining a special relationship with the Mexican dance community as teacher, choreographer, performer: guest performer with Compañía Ciudad Interior, Invernadero Danza Oaxaca , ‘choreographic guide’ at Encuentro de Creación Coreográfica EnTiempoReal2017,  teacher, choreographer with the Ballet Nacional de México, Universidad de Colima’s Ballet Folklórico (Dir. Rafael Zamarripa) and contemporary company Univerdanza,Universidad de Veracruz, Xalapa, Centro de las Artes in Sn. Luis Potosí and Querétaro, and Compañía de Danza Contemporánea de Yucatán. Her choreography in collaboration with Mexican composers and scenic designers premiered in Mexico City and the International Festival Sn. Luis Potosí.

Dakin was honored by the dance community with a “Bessie” New York Dance and Performance Award (2003) and the Dance Magazine Award (1994), and the 14^thannual Labat Loano Grand Prix “Giuliana Penzi” 2015 Career Award. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar (1999), recipient of a grant from CEC ArtsLink for performance in Vladivostok, Russia (1996), the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (2000) and two Rockefeller-US-Mexico Fund for Culture grants (1998, 2001) for choreography, research and teaching.

On film Ms. Dakin represented contemporary dance in the WNET production “Young Artists in Performance at the White House”, was a featured performer in the 1993 French documentary Les Printemps du Sacre.  In Japan (NHK) she was filmed in “Night Journey” and “Rite of Spring” for release on Bravo, and at the Paris Opera in “Herodiade”.  Other film credits include “Clytemnestra” and “Acts of Light” (WNET).

She is collaborating with Francesca Schironi, classics scholar, on a book/website project: “Dancing Myth”,  studying Martha Graham’s ‘Greek’ works.   She is dancer and founding member of Buglisi Dance Theatre (1993), of danz.fest(Italy 2008), guest teacher for “Tecniche Di Danza Moderna”(Italy 2017) and is honored to serve as a Creative Advisor for Robert Battle’s New Directions Choreographic Lab ( 2015/16 and 2016/17).  At the Radcliffe Institute with colleague, physicist Jane Wang, Dakin has investigated with artists and scientists: “Locomotion/Emotion; perception of complex movement and the dynamics of beauty” (2009); and “The Dynamics of Beauty: Human Perception of Complex Movement” (2011)

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.93 –

Jessica Chen

Release Date: 12.5.19

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

• • iTunes: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

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ABOUT JESSICA

JESSICA CHEN is a freelance theater choreographer, Gyrotonic® instructor and Artistic Director of J CHEN PROJECT, a 501c3 non-profit modern dance company based in NYC.  She holds a B.A. in Global Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara and continued her dance training at The Ailey School and Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts.  Her work has been supported by LMCC, Taiwan Ministry of Culture, Gibney Dance Center, and Jerome Foundation. 

In 2013, Jessica made a miraculous journey back to the stage after suffering a horrific car accident, which rendered her in a coma for 13 days after 8 hours of brain surgery. She shares her story and fight to live through her work as a choreographer, speaker, and Artistic Director of J CHEN PROJECT.

Her choreography credits include The Portal at Minetta Lane Theater (Off-Broadway), INTERSTATE at New York Musical Festival (Off-Broadway), Cliché at The Cutting Room (NYC), Fiddler on the Roof at Timberlake Playhouse (IL), Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (NYC), and Ai Weiwei: The Seed for Brooklyn Museum (NYC).

She has taught master classes, workshops and seminars at institutions such as Semester at Sea, Yale, Boston University, Rosie’s Theater Kids, Do-One (Japan), Jazz DU Funk (China), Mt. Holyoke, and Orange County School of the Arts, as well as her alma mater.

Cornell University honored Chen as Keynote Speaker of their 2011 Celebration of Asian American Women, for her work empowering female leadership within the community. She presented “If I Can Dance It, Then It’s Possible” at the 2014 TEDx organized by Semester at Sea. International and National credits include 2010 World Expo USA Pavilion in Shanghai, China, and the Amnesty International Arts Festival in Washington D.C. Chen includes her thoughts on “Identity and Marketing in the World of Social Media” as a featured chapter contributor to a new book called A Life In Dance: A Practical Guide.  Jessica trains people privately as well as teaching group classes in the Gyrotonic® Expansion Method at Body Evolutions West 72nd Street.  Jessica is a Proud Member of SDC. 

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.92 –

Vangeline

Release Date: 11.21.19

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

• • iTunes: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

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ABOUT VANGELINE

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute (as well as the New York Butoh Institute Festival). She is a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography.

Vangeline’s work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”), Los Angeles Times, (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) and LA Weekly to name a few. Time OUT Chicago named Vangeline’s, “one of the best Dance Visits of 2011.”  More recently, her solo Hijikata Mon Amour received critical acclaim in New York Butoh Institute Festival 2019.

With her all-female dance company, Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism. Her performances have dealt with subjects as varied as feminism, climate change, war and perceptions of gender. Vangeline was the recipient of a six-month artist residency at PS122 Performance Space (“New, New Stuff”); since 2006 she has received 32 prestigious awards from Puffin Foundation, Japan Foundation, New York Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York Council on the Arts, Asian American Arts Alliance, Brooklyn Arts Council, and the Robert Friedman Foundation.

She is the founder of the 12-year running, award-winning program “Dream a Dream Project”, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State. Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has lectured about butoh at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). She has taught and performed internationally  Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, UK, and Taiwan.

Vangeline is the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance’s Beth Silverman-Yam Social Action Award. Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, ‘The Letter” (2012-Lionsgate). She has performed with/for Grammy Award Winning artists SKRILLEX and Esperanza Spalding, and her work is the subject of CNN’s Great Big Story – “Learning to Dance with your Demons”. She is the author of an upcoming book about butoh.

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.91 –

Michelle Manzanales

Release Date: 11.7.19

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

• • iTunes: Subscribe, Listen, Rate Us HERE

  • Stitcher: Subscribe and Listen HERE

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ABOUT MICHELLE

Michelle Manzanales is a choreographer and dance educator originally from Houston, TX. Michelle is the Director of the Ballet Hispánico School of Dance, but lends her artistic voice to all facets of the organization. She began working with Eduardo Vilaro, in 2003 as a dancer for his company Luna Negra Dance Theater of Chicago where she also served as Rehearsal Director in 2006 and as Interim Artistic Director from 2009-2010. Ms. Manzanales has created works for professional dance companies, universities, and schools across the nation including a commission for Ballet Hispánico’s main Company for their 2017 season at The Joyce Theater. Her 2010 homage to Frida Kahlo, Paloma Querida, and 2007 piece, Sugar in the Raw (Azucar Cruda) have been praised by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times. “This dance isn’t just about one girl’s experience; it applies to everyone, of any gender, and of any culture,” said CriticalDance of Manzanales’ Con Brazos Abiertos (2017).