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Nov 17
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Movers & Shapers Podcast: Pat Graney

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:

Pat Graney

Photo by Marina Levitskaya, courtesy of Peak Performances at Montclair State University

Podcast No.13 – Pat Graney

Release Date: November 17, 2015

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join the Movers and Shapers Facebook Community HERE
Follow on Twitter @ShapersPodcast HERE

 

ABOUT PAT GRANEY: CHOREOGRAPHER

Seattle-based choreographer Pat Graney received Choreography Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts for 11 consecutive years, as well as from Artist Trust, the Washington State Arts Commission, the NEA International Program, National Corporate Fund for Dance and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2008, Ms. Graney was awarded both the Alpert Award and a US Artists Award in Dance.

In 2011 Ms. Graney was the recipient of the ‘Arts Innovator’ Award from Artist Trust and the Dale Chihuly Foundation. In 2013, Ms. Graney was one of 20 Americans to receive a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.

Ms. Graney hails from St. Augustine, Florida, where she spent her seminal years after the Graney family relocated there from Chicago. In 1969, with her family, Pat moved to Mechanicsville, VA and Philadelphia, PA, before returning to St. Augustine to finish high school. Starting her college career at Tallahassee Community College, Ms. Graney eventually went on to The Evergreen State College, then transferred to University of Arizona where she graduated with a BFA in 1979. While at U of A, Pat studied extensively with Dr. John M. Wilson. In the fall of 1979, Graney moved to Seattle, which has been her home for the past thirty years.

In 1981, Graney presented her first full evening of work entitled ‘go red go red, laugh white,’ set to the writing of Gertrude Stein. She went on to choreograph more work to Stein’s writing as well as the writing of Julio Cortazar and Raymond Carver. Departing from the written word, Graney started exploring the use of music combined with American Sign Language to create Colleen Ann, a work commissioned for the French/American Dance Exchange in 1986.

In 1987, with Beliz Brother, she created a work for 7 gymnasts on 7 sets of uneven parallel bars, set against the backdrop of Marymoor Park, and in 1988 Graney created an original work for Pacific NW Ballet. Seven/Uneven toured to the Serious Fun Festival at Lincoln Center and went on to appear at MayFest in Glasgow in 1991. Following the gymnastic works, Ms. Graney began to create a body of work related to women with Faith (1991), Sleep (1995), and Tattoo (2001). In between creating this Triptych of works, Ms. Graney created the full evening work Vivaldi, choreographed 150 gymnasts for the Goodwill Games, and worked with 130 female martial artists for the Movement Meditation Project in 1996. Following the 12 city national tour of Tattoo, Graney created the Vivian girls (set to the artwork of Henry Darger) with music by Martin Hayes and Amy Denio. In 2008, Graney created House of Mind, an installation performance work set in a 5000 square foot raw space featuring an eighteen foot high wall containing 4000 miniatures, a wall of 100,000 buttons with water flowing over it, a closet of giant little girls’ dresses, hundreds of gold shoes, a 50 x 4 foot-long room covered with 1940’s police reports and a large scale video installation by Ellen Bromberg.

Ms. Graney’s interest in working with incarcerated women began in 1992 after a conversation with Rebecca Terrell, then head of Florida Dance Festival. This conversation later morphed into what has become Keeping the Faith/The Prison Project. KTF is an arts-based residency program that features dance, expository writing and visual arts, and culminates in performances. This project has been conducted at FCI Lowell & FCI Broward in Florida, MCI Framingham in Massachusetts, Excelsior Girls School in Denver, Houston City Jail, Echo Glen Children’s Center & King County Juvenile Detention in Washington, Red Rock Juvenile Center in Maricopa County, AZ, Shakopee Women’s Prison in Minnesota, Estrella Jail in Phoenix, AZ, River City Correctional Center in Cincinnati, OH, Tokyo Girls Detention in Japan, Bahia Women’s Prison in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Munich City Jail in Munich, Germany, the Dochas Centre/MountJoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland and Washington State Corrections Center for Women and Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women in Washington State.

Keeping the Faith/The Prison Project is one of the longest-running prison arts programs in the US.

Ms. Graney’s latest work, a peformance/installation project called girl gods, will premiere at On the Boards in Seattle in 2015. With National Dance Project Production and Touring support, the work will tour nationally and internationally through 2016.

MORE ON PAT GRANEY

Facebook Page

#GIRLGODS Blog

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Tallahassee Community College

Evergreen State College

Anna Halprin

On the Boards

John Wilson

Repertory Dance Theater

Margaret H’Doubler

Steve Paxton

Nancy Stark Smith

Pina Bausch

Bill Evans Dance

Gertrude Stein

Laurie Anderson

Robert McGinley

12 Minutes Max

DTW Fresh Tracks

David White

National Performance Network

Ann Carlson

Bebe Miller

Sharon Gannon 

“Childrenz Muzeum”

Elizabeth Zimmer

NDP

“Girl Gods”

 

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Intro Music: “Singing Distance” by Elijah Aaron

Nov 03
Love4

Movers & Shapers Podcast: Leslie Anderson-Braswell

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:FullSizeRender copy
Podcast No.12 – LESLIE ANDERSON-BRASWELL

Release Date: November 3, 2015

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join the Movers and Shapers Facebook Community HERE
Follow on Twitter @ShapersPodcast HERE

 

ABOUT LESLIE ANDERSON-BRASWELL: BALLET INSTRUCTOR

Leslie Anderson-Braswell’s love for dance began at the three years of age, continued through early childhood at Pittsburgh’s Kingsley House, with Mr. Miller (Jack), and becoming her love, destiny and ultimate life’s journey at the age of twelve when she joined the children cast of the newly forming Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, under the direction of choreographer Nicholas Petrov in 1969. In 1971, Leslie became one of the youngest members of the corps de ballet, training under renowned ballet masters / choreographers such as Edward Caton, Vitale Fokine, Leonide Massine, Fredrick Franklin, and many others, dancing in a variety of renowned classical ballets for three seasons. During the summer of 1972, Leslie was encouraged by teachers / resident principal dancers of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Kenneth Johnson and Patricia Kleckovic. to spend the summer at Arthur Mitchell’s newly forming Dance Theater of Harlem in New York, which she did, and immediately, her goal was to one day return as a dancer for Arthur Mitchell’s African-American ballet company. In 1973, Leslie auditioned for John Cranko, director and choreographer extraordinaire of the Stuttgart Ballet, and was accepted into the exclusive pre-professional Stuttgart Ballet School, in Stuttgart, West Germany. While in Stuttgart, Leslie performed with the Stuttgart State Opera, in addition to the assigned roles with the Stuttgart Ballet School and Company. In 1975, Leslie auditioned, and was invited to join the Geneva Ballet, in Geneva Switzerland, by artistic director Patricia Neary, former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet; however, Leslie longed to return to the United States to work with Arthur Mitchell, the first Black principal dancer of George Balanchine’s, New York City Ballet, who is founder and director of the internationally acclaimed Dance Theater of Harlem in New York City. With Ms. Neary’s assistance, the audition was arranged, and Leslie was asked to join Dance Theater of Harlem in 1975. Prior to arriving in New York, Leslie underwent foot surgery, at home in Pittsburgh, for an injury that occurred in Stuttgart. Upon returning to New York as a member of The Dance Theater of Harlem, Leslie performed, touring extensively throughout America and Europe. Unfortunately, the results of the previous surgery were unfavorable, which led Leslie to make a decision to leave Dance Theater of Harlem, and professional ballet, much earlier than anticipated. Leslie returned home, beginning the most amazing journey of her life; teaching, imparting the wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated through the magnificent opportunities she experienced early in her life, to a multitude of exceptionally talented students that, she feels very blessed, have crossed her path.

In 1979, Leslie was the first dance teacher hired by Dr. Harry Clark, founding principal, and Dr. Marilyn Barnett, first Dance Department Chair to teach ballet at the newly forming, Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, originally located in Homewood, the neighborhood where she grew up. Currently, CAPA 6-12, is located prominently in downtown Pittsburgh’s growing cultural district, Leslie and has been a member of the Dance Department faculty for 36 years, where she has inspired a generations of aspiring dancers. In 1980, Leslie was selected to serve as the second artistic director of the well established, professional performing group in the Black tradition of dance, Pittsburgh Black Theater Dance Ensemble, by artistic director/ founder, the late Bob Johnson, a position she held until the company folded in 1983. Equally prominent teaching credits include Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Academy of Musical Theater, where Leslie taught for 16 years with Buddy Thompson, with whom she shares a kinship and bond, nurtured in the early years of the high school, to inspire excellence and greatness in every serious student of dance that crossed their paths, which is a shared on-going commitment. As a result of working together at the Academy, many former students have reached the pinnacle of success in their artistic careers; they include McArthur Genius Recipient, choreographer/ dance artist Kyle Abraham, “Kinky Boots” star and Tony Award Recipient, Billy Porter, Jason McDole, former dance artist with the David Parson and Lar Lubovitch dance companies, Quela Clancy, principal dancer and instructor with Lula Washington Dance Company, Brandon Cowles, former dance artist with the Merce Cunningham Company, Erin Carlisle-Norton, choreographer/ founder/ artistic director, The Moving Architects, Sarrah Strimmel, Broadway dancer/ actress/ singer, Courtney Mazza-Lopez, Broadway dancer/ actress/ singer, Lauren Morelli, Orange is the New Black, writer, to mention a few.

Throughout the years, Leslie has been a guest teacher for many schools, dance organizations and professional dance companies throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. Leslie has served as a guest master class teacher for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Philadanco Dance Company, International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference, Dance Masters of America (PA Chapter), Checchetti Ballet Council (PA Chapter), Lee’s School of Dance, Roger’s School of Dance, Dance Arts Academy. Leslie served as principal ballet teacher and consultant for the former August Wilson Dance Ensemble in Pittsburgh, PA., for founder and artistic director, Greer A. Reed, whom Leslie has proudly mentored throughout her successful journey and career in dance. Greer A. Reed’s AWDE was named, “25 to Watch in 2012” by Dance Magazine. August, of 2012, during the 5th annual, RDI, Reed Dance Intensive, Founder/ Director, gave the 1st annual award, named in honor of Leslie, The Brazzy Award, for her lifetime achievement in providing outstanding excellence in dance education and mentorship. Since 2012, the award has been given annually, presented during the concluding performance to two outstanding dance artist from the Pittsburgh area, selected by a panel of judges, headed by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dance Critic, Jane Vranish. Likewise, Leslie has been available for successful former student, Ayisha Morgan-Lee Smith, MAM, founder and director of HDAT, Hill Dance Academy Theater, a successful, innovative arts education institution, located in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA. Through the years Leslie has been available for HDAT workshops, conferences, master classes and the annual HDAT Summer Intensive. Recently, Ayisha Morgan-Lee Smith and the HDAT organization honored Leslie with their 2015 Bold Vision Shona Sharif Award, for outstanding artistic excellence, at their 10th Anniversary, Diamond Gala Celebration. Leslie, Ayisha and HDAT were commended with an official letter from Charon Battles, of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, whom is a dear friend and someone that Leslie looked up to, as the only soloist, Black ballerina, in the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. Charon commended Leslie as a Pittsburgh legend in dance for the life-long love,commitment and promotion of the art of dance. Leslie is eternally grateful for Charon’s acknowledgement of her work.

Life long mentor and consultant, the late Jeraldyne Blunden, Founder/ Director of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, constantly encouraged and urged Leslie to continually grow and share the wealth of accumulated knowledge. As a result, throughout the years, Leslie has been commissioned for choreographic works for a variety of organizations, dance companies, dance schools and individuals. Leslie received a choreography fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Association of Regional Ballet Choreographic Development Workshop/ Phyllis Lamhut, Director, and the Ann Vachon Choreographic Development Workshop. Leslie was commissioned for choreography for the AWDE/ Pittsburgh Symphony Collaboration, and in the past has choreographed for several northeastern performing arts groups, as well as an episode of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. She was also a recipient of a choreography fellowships from the Heinz Endowment, the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Council on the Arts. In 1986 Leslie was awarded an Outstanding Distinguished Teacher Award, for 1st place female dance award recipient, Janeen Elliott, of the Young Arts Scholarship Program, presented at the White House by President Ronald Reagan. She was honored with an Outstanding Woman of America Award in 1982, and, Outstanding Artist Award from the Pittsburgh’s Greater Legacy Council, in celebration of African-American Artists.

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Kingsley House

Pittsburgh Ballet TheaterNicolas Petrov

Natalia Makaravo

Point Park College

Charon Battles

Jon Cranko

Ruth Page

Joyce Cuoco

Maxine Sherman

Dance Theatre of Harlem

Arthur Mitchell

Janet Collins

Stephanie Dabney 

Keith Saunders

Greer Reed

Misty Copeland

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Intro Music: “Singing Distance” by Elijah Aaron

Oct 20
Love0

Movers & Shapers Podcast: Heidi Latsky

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:Heidi 2
Podcast No.11 – HEIDI LATSKY

Release Date: October 20, 2015

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join the Movers and Shapers Facebook Community HERE
Follow on Twitter @ShapersPodcast HERE

ABOUT HEIDI LATSKY: ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER, PERFORMER

HEIDI LATSKY, originally from Montreal, first received recognition as a celebrated principal dancer for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1987-1993). Her experience there profoundly influenced her style and her philosophy of dance as she developed a reputation in her own right as a choreographer for stage, theater, and film.

In 1993, she received a commission from the Cannes International Dance Festival. Three years later, she was chosen to represent Canada at the Suzanne Dellal International Dance Competition in Tel Aviv and at Danse a Lille in France. Since then, Latsky has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe with her own company and as part of Goldhuber & Latsky (with former partner Lawrence Goldhuber) [1996-2000].

Latsky headed the Movement Department at The School for Film and Television from 1998-2005, where she developed her teaching practice: The Latsky Method. She has taught internationally throughout her career and her “Movement Portraits in Action” program has been implemented at the AIDS Service Center and The Creative Center in NYC.

While working with Theater Director Mary Fulham, she received two Innovative Theater Award nominations. She served as choreographer on Academy Award nominated Katja Esson’s film “A Season of Madness” and as director and choreographer on Susan Murphy’s GIRL/GROUP at the Marquee, NYC (2003).

In 2001, she founded her own company, Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD). During the fall of 2006, Latsky began an intensive period of creation with bi-lateral amputee, Lisa Bufano. This marked a significant shift of focus for HLD and a period of immense growth, during which she more fully developed the company’s mission and vision. HLD received an ARC grant through Pentacle that included mentoring Latsky for a period of 18 months, and in 2009 she was chosen by Creative Capital Foundation as one of four choreographers nationally to receive a three-year award for her evening-length work, GIMP. In 2014, she was selected as the first participant in “Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University,” a three-year short film series underwritten by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The film will premiere as part of the company’s live show at Peak Performances in April 2015.

Her range of work is as varied as guest lecturing at Harvard University, performing with other Bill T Jones’ alumni in “SUMMER REUNION,” restaging a piece of Arnie Zane’s at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee, creating a work at the Aaron Academy for high school students with learning disabilities, directing workshops in performance skills, performing in 2012’s TEDxWomen, and developing new works for her contemporaries like Li Chiao Ping as featured in several films by Douglas Rosenberg, including Seven Solos in 2012.

Latsky has continued her work as an adjudicator of the American College Dance Festival Association’s (ACDFA) and serves on the Artist Advisory Board of Danspace Project. She has a BA in Psychology with Honors from Carleton University (1979), receiving the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement and The Ottawa Ladies College Scholarship.

MORE ON HEIDI LATSKY

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Les Grands Ballets

Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal

York University

Twyla Tharp

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

Ligamentous Laxity

Sean Curran

Donald Byrd

Keith Young

Lawrence Goldhuber

Lisa Bufano

Jeremy Alliger

The Gimp Project

Bob Fosse

25th Anniversary Americans with Disabilities Act

Jerron Herman

Meredith Fages

Lawrence Carter-Long

Creative Capital

Abrons Arts Center

Simi Linton

Janet Wong

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Intro Music: “Singing Distance” by Elijah Aaron

Oct 06
Love0

Movers & Shapers Podcast: Elizabeth McPherson

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.10 – ELIZABETH MCPHERSON

Release Date: October 6, 2015

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join the Movers and Shapers Facebook Community HERE
Follow on Twitter @ShapersPodcast HERE

 

ABOUT ELIZABETH MCPHERSON: PROFESSOR, WRITER, HISTORIAN, NOTATOR

Elizabeth McPherson is an associate professor and coordinator of the BA in Dance (with teaching concentrations) at Montclair State University. She received her BFA from Juilliard, followed by an MA from The City College of New York, and a PhD from New York University. Dr. McPherson is the author of The Bennington School of the Dance: A History in Writings and Interviews and The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, 1900-1995, as well as a contributor of articles and reviews to Ballet Review, Dance Teacher Magazine, Attitude: The Dancers’ Magazine and The Journal of Dance Education. She worked as a historical consultant on the film Miss Hill, Making Dance Matter and is the Executive Editor of the journal Dance Education in Practice, produced by the National Dance Education Organization. The focus of her research is teaching and learning in dance education with an emphasis on history. She has particular expertise in oral interviews, which make up significant portions of both of her books.

Dr. McPherson has staged numerous 20th century dance works from Labanotation and other sources. Recent projects include Antony Tudor’s Continuo and excerpts from Anna Sokolow’s Rooms. She is a board member of the Martha Hill Dance Fund (since 2005) and on the professional advisory committee of the Dance Notation Bureau. Performance credits include: Ernesta Corvino’s Dance Circle Company, Avodah Dance Ensemble, and the Louis Johnson Dance Theatre.

MORE ON ELIZABETH MCPHERSON

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Nashville Metro Parks

Balanchine’s “Nutcracker”

Petipa’s “Sleeping Beauty”

Nashville Ballet

Burklyn Ballet Theatre

La Sylphide

Ellen Robbins

Lawrence Rhodes

Alfredo Corvino

Journal of Dance Education

Donald McKayle’s “Games”

Nijinksky’s “Afternoon of a Fawn”

Murial Topaz

Tina Curran

Labanotation

Avodah Dance Ensemble

Doris Humphrey’s “Invention”

Anna Sokolow

Martha Hill

BJ Sills

Helen Tamaris

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Intro Music: “Singing Distance” by Elijah Aaron

Sep 22
Love1

Movers & Shapers Podcast: Karen Love

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.9 – KAREN LOVE

20030221_KarenLoveHeadshot_210x265

Release Date: September 22, 2015

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join the Movers and Shapers Facebook Community HERE
Follow on Twitter @ShapersPodcast HERE

 

ABOUT KAREN LOVE:  CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCE EDUCATOR

Born in Montclair, NJ,  Love earned her MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and her B.F.A. from Montclair State University where she was awarded the Excellence in Choreography Award and the Outstanding Senior Award. She received The New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant, and the Harkness Choreographers Space Grant at SUNY Purchase. In 1997, Love was invited to The Bates Dance Festival in Maine as an Emerging Choreographer and later returned to teach for the Young Dancers Program. She was selected as a choreographer for the Choreographer/Dancer residency at the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, recognized in Who’s Who Among American Teacher’s 2004 and 2005 and was honored as one of the “50 Women You Should Know in Montclair, NJ”. Most recently she was recognized as a “Women of Distinction” by The YWCA of Essex and West Hudson.

Presently, Love is the director of the Dance Department at Hillside High School, director of the After School Dance Program for the Hillside Public Schools District and an adjunct professor at Montclair State University. She is a former faculty member in the Junior Division at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Love is a certified Pilates Mat Instructor and a certified Yoga instructor.

In 1996 Love created the Wofabe African Dance and Drum Festival. Wofabe is New Jersey’s only African dance and drum festival. The festival consists of African dance and drum classes, panel discussions, free children classes, and an evening dance concert. The festival has been presented at Newark Arts High School, Science Park High School and for the past three years the Historic Newark Symphony Hall.

She traveled to Australia as a representative for the dance department of Montclair State University where she both performed and taught classes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.  She has performed with Urban Bush Women, Gellman’s Newark Dance Theatre, and The VonHoward Project. Love has studied West African dance for the past 16 years and was awarded two consecutive Folk Artist Apprenticeships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts to study Guinean Dance with Master Teacher M’ Bemba Bangoura. Love has traveled to Guinea, West Africa, Mexico and Bermuda under the tutelage of Bangoura. Love has traveled to Morocco, Senegal and the Gambia, West Africa under the direction of Baba Chuck Davis.

Love is a former Visiting Artist in Residence at Kent State University in Ohio. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, DTW Freshtracks, Aaron Davis Hall, The Yard, Symphony Space, Danspace, Joyce Soho, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, Bates Dance Festival, Duke University, Northern Illinois University, Montclair State University, NYU, and Newark Arts High School.

MORE ON KAREN LOVE

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Montclair High School

Lori Katterhenry

International Association of Blacks in Dance

Umoja Dance Company

Chuck Davis

Dance Theater Workshop

New York University

Kathy Grant

Kay Cummings

Gus Solomons Jr.

Kent State University

Shapiro and Smith

Victoria School of the Performing Arts

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Intro Music: “Singing Distance” by Elijah Aaron

Sep 08
Love0

Movers & Shapers Podcast: Caitlin Trainor

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.8 – CAITLIN TRAINOR

Paul B Goode_Caitlin Trainor x

Photo: Paul B. Goode


Release Date: September 8, 2015

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join the Movers and Shapers Facebook Community HERE
Follow on Twitter @ShapersPodcast HERE

 

ABOUT CAITLIN TRAINOR:  DANCER, CHOREOGRAPHER, AND DANCE INSTRUCTOR

Caitlin Trainor lives and dances in New York City. Originally from Rhode Island, Trainor holds degrees from Skidmore College (B.S. in Dance Performance and Choreography) and Mills College (M.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography). Caitlin is a member of the dance faculty at Barnard College/Columbia University and delights in sharing dance with students.

Before founding Trainor Dance, Caitlin danced for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Sean Curran, Amy Marshall and others.  She was assistant choreographer to Mr. Curran and site-specific choreographer Stephan Koplowitz, and has taught at Dance City (Newcastle, England), Montclair State University, American College Dance Festival, and Sarah Lawrence College.  During her recent tenure in the U.K., Caitlin co-founded Fresh, an ongoing forum for the development, sharing and discussion of new work for regional dance artists and audiences, and presented The Magic Behind the Movement, a lecture/demonstration, in conjunction with Northumbria University and Darlington Arts Center.  Trainor recently received a generous grant from New York Foundation of the Arts, and is grateful to Barnard College for ongoing production support.

MORE ON CAITLIN TRAINER:

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Cyndi Lauper “She’s So Unusual”

Providence College

Barnard/Columbia University

Skidmore College

Deborah Fernandez

Laban Center

The Place

Mills College

Green Tortoise

Urban Bush Women

Mary Cochran

The Metropolitan Opera

Zvi Gotheiner

Sean Curran

“The Art of Making Dances” by Doris Humphrey

Green Space

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Intro Music: “Singing Distance” by Elijah Aaron

Sep 06
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Triskelion Arts presents The Moving Architects

By Events

Saturday, March 5, 2016 / 8pm
Sunday, March 6, 2016 / 8pm
Triskelion Arts presents The Moving Architects newest evening-length work “Americana”

The Muriel Schulman Theater at Triskelion Arts
106 Calyer St.
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Tickets: $16 purchased in advance, $20 at the door
Purchase Tickets:  triskelionarts.org

Performers:  Caitlin Bailey, Maggie Beutner, Léla Groom, Jenny Gram

The Moving Architects’ Americana continues Artistic Director Erin Carlisle Norton’s focus of embodying past and distant spaces in the heightened present of live performance.  Americana looks to the iconic images and interpersonal struggles of the migrating American family during the Great Depression era.  Through exactingly rhythmic movement, tornadoes of meaningful interaction, and heartfelt gentleness, this women-centric work exemplifies the expansiveness of the Midwest prairies, fragility of the weathered spirit, and grit needed to survive rough times.

Sep 04
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Objective I: A Split Bill Exploring Editing in Dance (Pittsburgh, PA)

By Events

Friday-Saturday, December 4-5, 2015 / 8pm, doors open 7.30pm
Objective I: A Split Bill Exploring Editing in Dance
with Shana Simmons Dance and The Moving Architects

The Dance Alloy Studios
5530 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Tickets: Coming Soon!
More info on Shana Simmons Dance: shanasimmonsdance.com

This performance has been made possible by the Heinz Small Arts Initiative and the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater.

“Objective I” is a split bill performance and editing collaboration between Shana Simmons of Shana Simmons Dance (Pittsburgh, PA) and Erin Carlisle Norton of The Moving Architects (NYC/NJ).  Each will each develop a new work, both exploring the ideas of “placement” and “displacement.”  Despite coming from the same root, this will manifest into two completely separate conceptual works.  After the development of the works, each choreographer will edit the others’ piece.  All four pieces will be presented at Gibney Dance, NYC in November 2015 for a public showing to discuss the process of editing, to receive feedback from a panel, and ultimately to choose which versions will be presented in a December 2015 full production performance through Kelly Strayhorn Theater at Dance Alloy in Pittsburgh, PA.  Along with the “Objective I” portion of the program, repertory works from both companies will be presented.

EDITING IN DANCE

Editing in dance is a new idea springing from an article written by Judith Mackrell of The Guardian.  She states, “In dance however there’s no real equivalent, no institutional version of an outside eye to spot a weak narrative, a slack structure or an idea that’s not quite working.” Refering to books and theater plays, there seems to be a successful pattern to having an objective eye edit text and delivery method, a process to which some of literature’s greatest authors can attribute their successes.  Mackrell goes on to comment, “Personally I think the art form [dance] is suffering needlessly from this lack of systematic editorial input.”

THE CHOREOGRAPHERS

Shana Simmons and Erin Carlisle Norton have had a personal connection since the start of their careers. Both are originally from Pittsburgh and have a strong passion for boosting their hometown artistic community. Each choreographer is familiar with the other’s artistic works and style of choreography and feel a collaborative effort would culminate in an interesting and thought provoking split bill performance. A trust has been developed to edit each other’s works stemming from their shared history, training, similar professional lives, and both would aim to keep the integrity of the works.

“Objective I” marks an important creative milestone for both Shana Simmons and Erin Carlisle Norton by supporting the creative process and public engagement activities of an editing-based partnership between choreographers. With a strong reputation for high-quality, engaging dance performances, SSD and TMA are excited to present side by side.

 

Sep 03
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Objective I: A Split Bill Exploring Editing in Dance (New York, NY)

By Events

Saturday, November 21, 2015 / 8pm
Objective I: A Split Bill Exploring Editing in Dance
with Shana Simmons Dance and The Moving Architects

Gibney Dance Center, Studio C
280 Broadway (enter 53a Chambers)
New York, NY 10007
Suggested Donation: $15, includes wine reception (cash, check, charge)
Space is limited! To reserve a seat email tmareservations[at]gmail.com

More info on the project:  Objective I

“Objective I” is a split bill performance and editing collaboration between Shana Simmons of Shana Simmons Dance (Pittsburgh, PA) and Erin Carlisle Norton of The Moving Architects (NYC/NJ).  Each will each develop a new work, both exploring the ideas of “placement” and “displacement.”  Despite coming from the same root, this will manifest into two completely separate conceptual works.  After the development of the works, each choreographer will edit the others’ piece.  All four pieces will be presented at Gibney Dance, NYC for a public showing to discuss the process of editing, to receive feedback from a panel, and ultimately to choose which versions will be presented in a December full production performance through Kelly Strayhorn Theater at Dance Alloy in Pittsburgh, PA.  Along with the “Objective I” portion of the program, repertory works from both companies will be presented.