Podcast

Lauren Grant, honored with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” award for her career with the Mark Morris Dance Group, has danced with MMDG since 1996, appearing in over 60 of Morris’ works. In addition to staging Morris’ repertory on his company and at universities, Grant teaches ballet and modern technique for numerous professional dance companies and schools around the globe and is an adjunct faculty member at Montclair State University. Her writing has been published in the journal Dance Education in Practice, Ballet Review, Dance Magazine, and InfiniteBody. She also serves as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts. Grant earned her MFA in Dance from MSU (where she was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda Honor Society) and her BFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is a recipient of the prestigious American Association of University Women Career Development Grant, the Sono Osato Scholarship for Graduate Studies, and the Caroline Newhouse Grant—all in support of her scholarly pursuits. Originally from Highland Park, IL, she lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband David Leventhal (former MMDG dancer and current Dance for PD® Program Director) and their son, born in 2012.

MORE ON LAUREN

Website:  MarkMorrisDanceGroup

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Chicago City Ballet

Marjorie Tallchief

Ginny Siano

Svetlova Dance Center

NYU Tisch School of the Arts

David Leventhal

“The Hard Nut”

White Oak Dance Project

“L’Allegro”

Kate Johnson

Dance for PD

“Capturing Grace”

Marjorie Mussman

Dance Education and Practice (Journal)

Sarabande

Montclair State University – Dance

Douglas Dunn has been dancing and making dances for fifty years. His lineage includes: an outdoor California upbringing full with self-invented, physically challenging games; a wide range of athletic pursuits; years of ballet classes; a summer at Jacob’s Pillow; five years as a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; and work with Yvonne Rainer leading to the founding and six-year career of Grand Union, the daring, no-rehearsal collective that included Steve Paxton, David Gordon, Barbary Dilley, Nancy Green, Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown. Douglas Dunn first presented his work in Manhattan in 1971. After a number of years of solo and duet work, he formed Douglas Dunn + Dancers in 1978. He likes to collaborate with poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, composers and playwrights to offer a multifaceted theatrical experience. He has set pieces for many companies besides his own, including the Paris Opera Ballet, and has composed numerous outdoor and site-specific events. He is renowned as a teacher of Technique and of Open Structures, with a long tenure at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Awards include a Guggenheim, a Bessie, and Chevalier in the Ordres des Arts et des Lettres. He receives fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, and the Creative Arts Public Service Program, among others. Douglas produces Salons at his studio in Soho and is Board Member Emeritus of Danspace Project/St. Mark’s Church since 2005. His collected writing, Dancer Out of Sight, is available at Amazon.com.

MORE ON DOUGLAS

Website:  DouglasDunn.com

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Jacob’s Pillow

Ted Shawn

Henry Moore

Rudolf Arnheim

The Gunnery 

Margaret Jenkins

Merce Cunningham

Sara Rudner

Twyla Tharp

Yvonne Rainer

Pat Catterson

Judson Dance Theater

Barbara Dilley

Grand Union

“Gestures in Red”

Paris Opera

Diane Frank

Deborah Riley

John Discoll

Edwin Denby

Rudy Burckhardt

Mimi Gross

Charles Atlas

“Secret of the Waterfall”

Joanna Harris

NYU Steinhardt 

Gus Solomons

Wendy Perron

Jennifer Stahl is Dance Magazine‘s editor in chief. A former senior editor of Pointe, she has also written for The Atlantic, Runner’s World and other publications. She holds a BFA in dance and journalism from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she danced work by such choreographers as Karole Armitage and David Dorfman. As a dancer, she’s performed for Peninsula Ballet Theatre, Israeli choreographer Gali Hod and Cirque du Soleil’s 25th-anniversary celebration. She has also served as a judge for the Capezio A.C.E. Awards, on the panel of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation and as an adjudicator for the American College Dance Association. She was recently an invited speaker at the Women in Dance Leadership Conference.

MORE ON JENNIFER

Website:  dancemagazine.com

Instagram: @dancemagazine

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Sam Weber

Dianna Agron

NYU Tisch School of the Arts

“Roman Holiday”

Dance Teacher Magazine

Wendy Perron

William Forsythe

Virginia Johnson

Pointe Magazine

Hanna Rubin

Wendy Whelan

Alessandra Ferri

“This is America” by Childish Gambino

Theresa Ruth Howard

“25 to Watch”

Akram Kahn

Kyle Abraham

World-renowned photographer Lois Greenfield has been photographing dance for over 40 years. Starting her career as a photojournalist, Lois worked for the Village Voice capturing the experimental dance scene from 1973 to the mid 90’s. She developed  a unique photographic style not based in capturing choreographed movements. Instead, Lois inspired the dancers to improvise expressly for the camera.  With her split second timing Lois revealed moments beneath the threshold of perception. Radically redefining the dance photography genre, Lois has influenced a generation of young photographers.

She has created signature images for most of the contemporary dance companies, from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to American Ballet Theatre. Many of these photos have appeared in her two bestselling books- Breaking Bounds, (1992), and Airborne (1998), both published by Thames and Hudson LTD, UK and Chronicle Books US.

Her latest book, Lois Greenfield: Moving Still, from the same publishers, was released in 2015, and the accompanying exhibit has been on tour within the US and to Russia, China, and Colombia. Commercial clients have picked up on the metaphorical potential of her vision. She has created ads and campaigns for clients including Disney, Orangina, Proctor & Gamble, Pepsi, AT&T, Sony, Hanes, Raymond Weil, and Rolex.

Since her first show at New York City’s International Center of Photography in 1992, her work has been exhibited in many museums and galleries, such as the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Israel; the Venice Biennale, Italy; the Musée de l’Elysée, Switzerland; the Erarta Contemporary Art Museum, Russia; and the Southeast Museum of Photography, Florida.

Lois has been fascinated by non-traditional forms of photographic presentation. Invited to participate in “Le Printemps de Cahors” in France, she projected her images onto a 30-foot high water screen in the Lot River. Set against the night sky, the water turned her crystal sharp photographs back into ephemeral moments, making the live experience seem like a product of the imagination.

Lois pioneered the use of live photography as an integral part of a dance performance. She collaborated from 2003 to 2007 with the Australian Dance Theatre on HELD, a dance inspired by her photography. Lois was onstage shooting the live action and her images were projected real-time as part of the performance. This award-winning dance was performed to sold-out audiences around the world, from the Sydney Opera House to Sadler’s Wells in London, the Joyce Theater in NYC to Theatre de la Ville, Paris.

In 2014/2015 Lois was an Artist in Residence at NYU/Tisch Department of Dance and New Media. In 2015, she was honored with the Dance in Focus award given by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Dance Films Association, and in 2016 she received a lifetime achievement award from The McCallum Theatre Institute in recognition of her ground-breaking contributions to the field.

MORE ON LOIS

Website:  loisgreenfield.com

Instagram: @loisgreenfield

Twitter: @lois_greenfield

Facebook: Lois Greenfield Photography

Workshops with Lois Greenfield

Moving Still Exhibit

Press

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Sara Rudner BA Barnard College, MFA Bennington College, participated in the development and performance of Twyla Tharp’s modern dance repertory; was a founder and director of the Sara Rudner Performance Ensemble; and has produced marathon dances as well as short forms.  Her collaborators have included Mikhail Baryshnikov Dana Reitz and Christopher Janney; she has participated in theater and opera productions at the Public Theater, the Salzburg Festival, and the Paris Opera.  Awards include a Bessie a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial fellowship, a Dance Magazine award, and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts.  Sara is the former Director of Dance at Sarah Lawrence College.

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Inbal Oshman’s dance works find inspiration in diverse cultural sources. Her movement and artistic vision offer a unified compound of mythical, historical and cultural elements from different worlds. Oshman creates dance for stage, public spaces and screen. Her pieces are shown and performed in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, India, Portugal, Serbia, Cyprus and other countries.

In 2013 Oshman was a resident choreographer at Attakkalari Dance Company, Bangalore, India where she created M to Stabat Mater by Pergolesi for the company’s 4 senior dancers. In 2015 she was a resident choreographer in Kyoto Art Center, Japan, where she created the dance film The Cuckoo’s Cry. This film has been shown in a variety of festivals around the world and is part of Ikono TV repertoire. Since 2016 M is performed in Europe with the prestigious Camerata Geneva. In 2018 M will premier in the US as part of Peak Performance program in Montclair State University with the New York Baroque Incorporated.

As of January 2016, Oshman is a resident artist in Fest’Factory, Bat-Yam, Israel. During her residency, she has created and performed Homeless Lullaby, a dance piece inspired by lullabies from around the world. Homeless Lullaby will be performed in Dresden, Germany in 2018.

Constantly researching theory of the choreographic act, Oshman is also a graduate of the Philosophy and History Department of Tel-Aviv University.  Other dance pieces by Oshman: Fitting Room, Yellow Bride, Gradation, Rising Down and Border Lines.

CONNECT

Inbal Oshman Website

Yannets Levi Wikipedia

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Valerie Green, Artistic Director, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, has been an active dancer, choreographer and teacher in the New York City dance community since 1995. To date Ms. Green has created 29 dances and 9 evening length works. Her choreography has been presented at festivals and venues throughout New York City including St. Marks Church, La Mama, Dance Theater Workshop, Judson Church, Queens Theatre, to name a few. Additionally the work has toured to various festivals throughout the United States including the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival.

Valerie has worked extensively on the International circuit, teaching and performing in Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Canada, Croatia, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, India, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Cuba.

As a guest artist, Valerie has also taught and received commissions from Texas State University, BITEF Theater in Belgrade, Serbia, and Theater Alternativa in Tirana, Albania. She has also been a guest artist at UNLV, Texas State, LaGuardia Community College, University of Nanterre, France, the Belgrade Dance Institute and the Faculty of Drama & Art in Serbia and The Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia. As a teacher she has worked with all populations including children, young adults, aspiring and professional dancers, actors, teachers, the handicapped, trauma survivors, and senior citizens.

In order to pursue this work, Valerie created Dance Entropy’s company home Green Space, a 1800 sq. foot studio located in Long Island City, Queens in 2005. Valerie’s choreographic work and teaching style is influenced by her formative years working with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, her certification in Body/Mind Fitness and her undergraduate work at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

CONNECT

Dance Entropy

Green Space Studio

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Heather Bryce is the artistic director and founder of Bryce Dance Company.  Heather started the company in 2006 in Boston, MA.  Heather is a two time recipient of The Emerging Artist Award (Green Street Studios, Cambridge, MA), a recipient of the Creation Grant through the VT Arts Council, the Vermont Artists Space Grant through the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, an Alumni Arts Award through Goddard College, and a Ben & Jerry’s Foundation Community Action Grant.  Heather’s work has been presented at various venues across New England, the tri-state area, and beyond. In addition to running the company, Heather currently works as a Teaching Artist and administrator for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and a Teaching Artist for Lincoln Center Education, The Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase, and The Center for Arts Education. She holds her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

CONNECT

Website: Bryce Dance Company

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Tom Pearson, recently named among the 100 most influential people in Brooklyn culture by Brooklyn Magazine, is an artist that works primarily in visual and written media. He is best known for his movement-based theater works, including the long-running immersive theater hits Then She Fell and The Grand Paradise. He is the co-founder/co-artistic director of Third Rail Projects and the director of the Global Performance Studio, an international program for cultural listening and exchange. He has received two New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) awards, a Ford Foundation and National Museum of the American Indian IllumiNation award for his work in native theater, The Kingsbury and Cody Harris Allen writing awards, as well as numerous commissions from Lincoln Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, La Mama E.T.C., and Danspace Project, among many others. Tom holds an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. All of Pearson’s works draw from depth psychology, archetypal studies, and deep dream practices as well as the medicinal and ceremonial traditions of his native Tsalagi (Eastern Band Cherokee) heritage and its focus on right relationship and story as medicine. His first book, The Sandpiper’s Spell is published in spring 2018 by Buen Parto Press, and will be available in soft cover from on Amazon and E-Book on Kindle, iBook, Kobo, and Nook. More information at: thirdrailprojects.com | globalperformancestudio.com | buenparto.com

Bringing the dynamic freedom of American modern dance together with the elegant splendor of Asian art, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is one of the most visible Asian American dance companies in America. Ms. Chen’s unique choreography transports audiences beyond cultural boundaries to the common ground between tradition and innovation, rising beyond form into the spirit.

One of the few Asian American professional dance company with an extensive season of touring and performing around the world. Nai-Ni Chen has also developed Arts in Education residency programs in school districts to bring culture and arts into educational settings. It’s colorful and engaging programs and workshops has reached over one million young audience in NY/NJ area. The Company is currently in-residence at New Jersey City University and has been a Principle Affiliate of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center since its inception.

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has the honor of having received more than fifteen awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous Citations of Excellence and grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Other funders include the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation; the Hyde and Watson Foundation; Horizon Foundation, The Irving and Laurie Blanchard Foundation; the E.J. Grassman Trust; PSE&G; the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; Verizon; Sony; New Music/USA; Chase Manhattan Bank; the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and others.