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MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.90 –

Melissa Riker

Release Date: 10.24.19

TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST OR LISTEN:

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ABOUT MELISSA

Melissa Riker is Artistic Director and Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is a New York City dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong performance and creative voice as the NYC dance and circus worlds combined during the 90s. Riker’s dances and aesthetic layer her training as a classical dancer, martial artist, theatre choreographer and aerial performer. She creates dances on site – and in context. Riker invents large-scale outdoor performances and spontaneous moments of dance for individuals and corporate clients. Audiences and critics have called Riker’s work “a Marx Brothers’ routine with soul,” “A movable feast.” And from The New York Times, her choreography is: “comically acrobatic, gracefully classical, visually arresting.”

Kinesis Project is a dance organization that produces dance concerts, facilitates educational programs and creates site-specific performances with diverse communities. A company at the forefront of the international discussion of placemaking, art engagement and the cultural imperative of art in public space, Kinesis Project dance theatre invents large scale, space-changing, breath-taking experiences.

Since 2005, Kinesis Project’s work has been experienced in San Francisco, San Diego,Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Vermont, Florida and in New York City at such venerable venues as Danspace Project, Judson Church, Joyce Soho, The Minskoff Theatre, The Cunningham Studio, West End Theatre and Dixon Place.  In 2019, the company’s work will be experienced in Seattle, Brooklyn, NY, Riverside Park, supported by New York City Parks, and in Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. 

The company dances outside in sculpture gardens, universities, public parks, as well as hosting more than 30 surprise performances all over New York City and the tri-state area as an element of the company’s earned income and outreach programming with volunteer populated flashmobs. Residencies include: Earthdance 2006, Omi International Arts Center 2008, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center 2011, TheaterLab 2014, Adelphi University 2014, John Jay College Rooftop, 2016 and 2017, Seattle Waterfront Park, 2018 & 2019, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 2019, Riverside Park South, 2019.

Ms. Riker is a 2016, 2017 and 2019 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency Fellow, 2015 LMCC Community Arts Fund grantee, 2019 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Grantee. She has been commissioned by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden for a surprise large-scale work and performances of her work Secrets and Seawalls at Omi International Arts Center, Long House Reserve, Gateway National Park in partnership with Rockaways Artist Alliance. Ms. Riker has received commissions from Carson Fox and the Ephemeral Festival in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for large-scale outdoor events, NYU in 1998, for an outdoor work long before “flash mob” was coined, 2006 and 2008 grants from the Puffin Foundation for her work Community Movements, a dance work with community volunteers, Fellowships from the Dodge Foundation, Space Grant Residencies from 92nd St Y, The New 42nd St Studio, Gibney Dance Center, Velocity Dance Center, Seattle and The Joyce Theatre Foundation, and grants from The Bowick Family Trust and John C. Robinson to support the continued work of Kinesis Project dance theatre.

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.89 –

Lucy Sexton

Release Date: 10.10.19

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ABOUT LUCY

Lucy Sexton is a Brooklyn born choreographer, producer, and administrator who works in the fields of dance, theater, film, and advocacy. She is currently Executive Director of the cultural advocacy organization New Yorkers for Culture and Arts, working for equity and support for culture for all New Yorkers. Beginning in 2009, she has served as Executive Director of the NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, building them for the first time into an independent organization. From 2013-16 she worked as a Consulting Associate Artistic Director of the planned performing arts center at the World Trade Center, conducting field-wide outreach and developing the center’s artistic mission and plan. As a dance artist she works with Anne Iobst; together they create and performe the dance performance duo DANCENOISE which was founded in 1983, had a retrospective exhibit and performance at the Whitney Museum in 2015, and premiered a new piece at NY Live Arts in 2018. In theater, Sexton directed the off-Broadway plays Spalding Gray; Stories Left to Tell and Tom Murrin’s The Magical Ridiculous Journey of Alien Comic; served as dramaturge for Heather Litteer’s Lemonade, and Nora Burns’ David’s Friend; and she produced the Charles Atlas films The Legend of Leigh Bowery for the BBC and TURNINGwith Ahnoni (formerly Antony) and the Johnsons, and Associate Producer for Madeleine Olnek’s Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same.

Sexton serves on the boards of Tuesday’s Children, formed after 9/11 and now serving family members of those impacted by terrorism and war worldwide; and the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, the city’s largest emergency food provider. She has been honored by Performance Space NY and Danspace Project for her contributions to arts in the city.

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.88 –

Ivy Baldwin

Release Date: 9.19.19

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ABOUT IVY

Ivy Baldwin is a New York-based choreographer, performer, teacher, and founder of Ivy Baldwin Dance. Since 1999, she has created 17 works for her company, including, most recently, commissions from BAM (Next Wave Festival), Philip Johnson Glass House, the Joyce Theater, Abrons Arts Center, the Chocolate Factory, and the Wooden Floor. Baldwin’s work Keen [No. 2] was nominated for a 2018 Bessie Award for Outstanding Visual Design. Baldwin has received many awards and fellowships, including from the Guggenheim Foundation, Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, MacDowell Colony, Bogliasco Foundation, Yaddo, and Marble House Project, among others. Baldwin has been an Artist-in-Residence with BAM, Movement Research, ArtistNe(s)t (Romania), Manitoga and CPR (currently), and the 92nd Street Y (upcoming). Ivy Baldwin Dance has also been presented in Germany and Romania, and nationally at the American Dance Institute (MD), New Museum of Contemporary Art (NY), the Painted Bride (PA), and REDCAT (CA). In 2020, Baldwin will choreograph and premiere a new work for Same Planet Performance Project (Columbia College Dance Center, Chicago). Baldwin teaches throughout the U.S., including at Barnard College, Rutgers University, The New School, and Bard College, among others. Baldwin holds degrees from North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA) and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (MFA).

Ivy Baldwin Dance has been presented in New York City by BAM, Abrons Arts Center, the Chocolate Factory, the Joyce Theater (Joyce Unleashed), Dance Theater Workshop, New York Live Arts, La MaMa, the New Museum for Contemporary Art, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival/Danceoff!, Dixon Place, 92nd Street Y, Symphony Space, P.S. 122 (Coil and Catch), Danspace Project, Dance New Amsterdam, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and Barnard College, among others; and nationally and internationally at American Dance Institute (MD), Philip Johnson Glass House (CT), REDCAT (CA), Irvine Barclay Theater (CA), Appel Farm Performing Arts Center (NJ), the Painted Bride/Philadelphia Fringe Festival (PA), Tanz im August (Danceoff!) (Germany), and Dans Contemporan International Dance Festival (Romania). The company has enjoyed creative residencies at BAM, MASS MoCA, Mount Tremper Arts, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.87 –

Jennifer Muller

Release Date: 9.5.19

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ABOUT JENNIFER

JENNIFER MULLER (JMTW Artistic Director and Founder) has been an influence in the dance world for over 50 years, is known for her visionary approach and innovations in dance/theater, multi-discipline productions incorporating the spoken word, live and commissioned music, media, artist-inspired decor and unusual production elements. Muller has created over 118 pieces, including seven full evening productions, collaborating with such artists as Keith Haring, Keith Jarrett, Yoko Ono and Jeff Croiter. Muller is recognized as a “seminal influence on dance/theater.” Her prolific career has led to recent honors: Fortaleza’s 2010 Trophy of Cultural Responsibility and a 2011 American Masterpieces: Artistic Genius Grant, UCSB conference and exhibit and the publication Transformation & Continuance: Jennifer Muller and the Reshaping of American Modern Dance, 1959 to Present. An internationally renowned teacher and mentor of creative talent, Muller has developed a personalized technique informed by Eastern philosophy. TanzPlan Berlin chose Muller Polarity Technique as one of seven unique contemporary dance techniques for its publication/ DVD Tanztechnik 2010. Creating and re-staging pieces for 26 international repertory companies in nine countries, her commissions include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Tanz-Forum Köln, Lyon Opera Ballet, Bat Dor, Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Contemporaneo, Nederlands Dans Theater, NDT3 and Introdans in The Netherlands. An award-winning choreographer, Muller’s choreography for theater/opera productions include The Public Theater, 2nd Stage Theater, NY Stage & Film, and the New York City Opera. In 2011, she choreographed the new musical The Spiral Show in China. Muller is currently re-staging her 2015 piece Miserere Nobis on both Introdans in The Netherlands and UC/Santa Barbara, both to be premiered in early 2020. Her most recent work The Theory of Color, which premiered at New York Live Arts this past June, received overwhelming acclaim: “a dynamic, riveting work.” 

Above all, dance has been Ms. Muller’s passion and creative voice since she was a child. Creating pieces since age seven, she danced professionally at age 15 with the Pearl Lang Dance Company followed by nine years as Principal Dancer with the José Limon Company [while graduating from the Juilliard School] and seven years as Associate Artistic Director of the Louis Falco Dance Company. Now, as a result of years of productive creativity, her work has been seen on stage and television in 45 countries.

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.86 –

Jonathan Hollander

Release Date: 7.31.19

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ABOUT JONATHAN

Jonathan Hollander is a trailblazer in the field of dance beginning with his founding of Battery Dance in Lower Manhattan in 1976 at a time when the area was devoid of culture. Six years later he founded the Battery Dance Festival which is now New York City’s longest-running public dance festival. Widely recognized as one of the outstanding choreographers of his generation, his works have been presented in major theaters and festivals across five continents. In June, 2018, he was awarded the Federal Order of Merit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in honor of his“great commitment and leadership in bringing young people together across borders through cultural exchange”.   He was the Selma Jeanne Cohen Lecturer at the Fulbright Conference in Puebla, Mexico and served as a panelist for the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at George Washington University in November, 2018.  He established arts education residencies at the primary, middle and high school levels in New York City public schools.  He served as Fulbright lecturer on dance in India in 1992, and Fulbright Specialist in Malaysia in 2011. Hollander’s work has been supported by the U.S. Department of State on multiple occasions and by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ford Foundation and many others. Hollander received the Silver Mask of the Silesian Dance Theatre (Poland), the USable Award (Germany) and the Arts & Business Council’s Encore Award. Under Hollander’s leadership, Battery Dance Company actively supports the commissioning of new musical scores and the inclusion of live musical performance in its productions. Hollander regularly lectures at the university level in the U.S. and overseas on Arts Management and Arts Education.  He collaborated in the creation and launching of the Cape Town International Dance Festival in South Africa and has facilitated U.S. tours by many of India’s leading dance companies over the past 25 years.  He co-founded the Indo-American Arts Council in 2000 in New York City and served on its Board until 2018. Jonathan was named Associate Professor by the Indian Institute of Finance and represented the U.S. performing arts field at the Inaugural Conference on Soft Power in New Delhi in December, 2018.

MOVERS & SHAPERS:

PODCAST No.85 –

photo: Jessie Young

Stephanie Acosta

Release Date: 7.17.19

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ABOUT STEPHANIE

Stephanie Acosta is a interdisciplinary artist who places the materiality of the ephemeral at the center of her practice, questioning meaning-making and manufactured limitations.

Acosta blends performance with practice-based research, making work in response to, while also creating, site and space. Engaging ensembles in facilitated processes, she creates fleeting performance works that challenge site, space, and perception to bring about shared experiences.

Acosta has produced and presented works with and for Museum of Art and Design, Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Knockdown Center, the Current Sessions, Miami Performance International Festival, Anatomy Collective, IN>Time Symposium, the Chicago Park District, the Performance Philosophy conference, High Concept Labs, Read/Write Library, No Media, and Radius. In her continued commitment to the experimental voices of New York and Chicago’s performance art communities, Acosta has also collaborated with artists such as Miguel Gutierrez, Daviel Shy, Mark Jeffery and Judd Morrissey of ATOM-r, as well as performance artist Robin Deacon, sonic artist Jeff Kolar, and lead discourse at American Realness 2018. 

A Cuban American born and raised in Miami, Florida, and currently residing in Brooklyn, Acosta works extensively with unseen histories, performance, experimental radio, and film. Acosta continues an ongoing collaborations with Intrinsic Grey Productions including on experimental feature film The Ladies Almanack, which recently had its world premiere at Outfest LA and is currently screening at national and international film festivals. Currently, Acosta heads up the monthly performance series Sunday Service with co-creator Alexis Wilkinson. She can also be found working on a new publication with longtime collaborator Rory Murphy under the name NO ONE IS ANYWHERE, as well as on the upcoming premiere of her multi-platform performance Good Day God Damn at the Chocolate Factory Spring 2020 with artists Leslie Cuyjet, Miriam Gabriel, Jessie Young, Angie Pittman, and touring nationally and internationally  with This Bridge Called My Ass created alongside collaborator Miguel Gutierrez and featuring an all Latinx cast of performance misfits.