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Movers & Shapers: Teresa Fellion

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:

Teresa headshot by Jaqlin MedlockPodcast No.39 – Teresa Fellion

Release Date: February 28, 2017

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 BODYSTORIES: TERESA FELLION DANCE
BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance is a contemporary dance company that captures and communicates universal human encounters through dynamic, purposeful movement. We are a multifaceted, highly physical company laced with provocative, emotional, political and humorous edges. Our mission is to examine depths of society in their darkest and brightest moments and to inspire audiences to physically sense emotional and psychological aspects of the human condition on stage. Our work is intellectual and highly choreographed in every moment. It is intricately technical and controlled in every nuance, with a look that is not controlled. Live music is an important factor in many of our works. We also consistently work via in-depth collaborations in lighting, costume, video and set design. In addition to creating and performing innovative works, our company is committed to reaching diverse populations through outreach and education and maintaining a stable business model to sustain our work. Valuing international exchange, we collectively speak nine languages and research, perform, and collaborate with artists from five continents.

BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance has shown work at Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jacob’s Pillow, The Public Theater, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, University of Florida, ENTPE University (Lyon, France), NYU, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Bryant Park Summer Stage, BDF Edinburgh at EICC, Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center at Gibney Dance Center, NY City Center, Dixon Place, UME, ICA Boston, 92nd St. Y, Naropa University, Franco-American Cultural Center, CPR-Center for Performance Research, 14th St. Y, Merce Cunningham Theatre, MMAC, Ashawagh Hall, Triskelion Arts, GAP, and in concerts with Phish, among others. Collaborations on original music under the direction of our Musical Director, John Yannelli, are vitally integrated into our productions. Music collaborators include Yannelli, Trey Anastasio, Phish, Ryan Lott, Ryan Edwards, Kevin Keller, and Carver Audain. We have also enjoyed in-depth collaborations with costume designers Nina Katan, Ljupka Arsovska, and Elena Comendador, set designer, Robert Gould, and video artists Nel Shelby, Jacob Hiss, and Charles Dennis.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Teresa Fellion
 founded BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance in late 2011, after working as an independent choreographer since 2004. Fellion’s work has been positively reviewed by The New York Times, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Scotsman, Oberon’s Grove, NYTheatre.com, The Skinny Magazine, World Dance Reviews, Edinburgh Festivals Magazine, Edinburgh Spotlight, Southampton Press, Stage Buddy, East Hampton Press, The Sun Journal, Broadway Baby, and Earth Press, among others. She has received the Choreographic Fellowship from SummerStages Dance Festival and ICA Boston and the American Dance Guild Fellowship for Jacob’s Pillow’s Choreographers’ Lab. Teresa has received grants for her work from The National Endowment for the Arts Window Award, O’Donnell Green Foundation for Music and Dance, Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Fund Grant, and space grants from ITE-Inception to Exhibition, MANA Arts/Armitage Gone! Dance, Mount Tremper Arts, Field FAR Space, and at Triskelion Arts and Mark Morris Dance Center through the Mellon Foundation. Teresa’s choreography has been commissioned by NYC Department of Transportation’s Summer Streets, chashama, Marigny Opera Contemporary Ballet, and The Hudson River Museum via the Jordan Matter Dancers Among Us exhibit. She has led workshops and master classes, and been commissioned to set work at University of Florida, Gainesville, NYU, Pace University, Castleton State College, University of Maine, Farmington, Jacob’s Pillow, Wilson College, and at several NYC and national performing arts schools. She has taught regularly at The Ailey School, Sarah Lawrence College, DreamYard Project, and Marquis Studios, and she is a faculty member and director of the Summer Dance Program at The Ross School.

Teresa was named Artistic Liaison between Cameroon & U.S. by president Paul Biya, while performing with National Ballet du Cameroun and at the National Soccer Cup Finals. She has performed for Lucinda Childs, Sarah Skaggs, Kimberly Young, M’Bewe Escobar, Skip Costa, and Martha Bowers, and she has performed works by Twyla Tharp, Deganit Shemy, Liz Lerman, and Megan Boyd, among others. Teresa completed a Dance MFA from Sarah Lawrence under Bessie Schonberg Scholarship, Certificate from the Ailey School under scholarship, and BA in French & English Literature, with a minor in dance from NYU as a merit scholar.

MORE ON TERESA:

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

National Ballet of Cameroon

Broadway Dance Center

Certificate Program, The Ailey School

Phish

Sara Rudner

Sarah Lawrence College

Dreamyard Project

ICA Boston

Summer Stages Dance at Concord

“Mantises are Flipping”

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

Movers & Shapers: Sara Wookey

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_MG_5452MOVERS & SHAPERS:

Podcast No.38 – Sara Wookey

Release Date:

February 14, 2017

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 SARA WOOKEY:

Sara Wookey is based in London as a dancer, choreographer and creative professional on a Tier 1 Visa endorsed by Arts Council England. She holds an MFA from the Department of World Arts and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently researching the intersections of dance and visual arts institutions, developing her project reDANCE and lecturers at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She has been a guest artist and researcher at, among others, TATE, Tanzfabriek Berlin, Cal Arts, and Yale-NUS. Sara is a certified transmitter of Yvonne Rainer’s iconic work “Trio A” and a square dance caller.

MORE ON SARA:

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Links Hall

Marjorie Jones School of Dance

BalletMet

University of Illinois Dance Program

Terry Creach

Renée Wadleigh

Bebe Miller

Lawrence Goldhuber

Ohio State University Dance Program

Vickie Blaine

School for New Dance Development

“Being Pedestrian”

Yvonne Rainer

Susan Foster

“Trio A”

“Open Letter to Artists” Blog Post

Sara at Tate

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

Movers & Shapers: Tomer Heymann

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Director Tomer Heymann photo by mari murPodcast No.37 – Tomer Heymann

Release Date: January 31, 2017

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE

 

ABOUT TOMER HEYMANN

Tomer Heymann was born in Kfar Yedidia in Israel in 1970 and has directed many documentary films and series in the past ten years, most of them long-term follow-ups and personal documentations. His films won major awards at different prestigious film festivals including his first film “It Kinda Scares Me”. “Paper Dolls” won three awards at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival and the audience’s award at the Los Angeles Festival. The film and TV series “Bridge over the Wadi”, co-produced with the American ITVS, won the Israeli Documentary Film competition, participated in IDFA Festival’s prestigious competition and won many awards around the world. Tomer’s new 8-part series “The Way Home” was recently broadcasted by the Yes Doco Channel in Israel and won the best documentary series award at the 2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival.

MORE ON TOMER HEYMANN

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

“The Queen Has No Crown”

Batsheva Dance Compnay

Ohad Narahin

Israeli Folk Dancing

“Kyr” (1991)

“Anaphaza”(1993)

“Paper Dolls”

“Bring Over the Wadi”

DV8

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet “Out of Focus”

Toni Morrison

Martha Graham

“Last Work” at BAM

Mari Kajiwara

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

Movers & Shapers: Diane Grumet

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.36 – Diane Grumet

diane-grumet

Release Date: November 22, 2016

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE

 

ABOUT DIANE GRUMET

Diane Grumet is the Co-Artistic/Managing Director of Steps on Broadway, the world-renowned dance studio that has been training and supporting the professional dance community for almost 40 years.  For over 23 years, Ms. Grumet has been building and developing programs, business plans, and hiring the stellar faculty for this New York institution.  Prior to joining Steps, she was an instructor, company teacher, International Student Advisor, and the business manager for the Ailey School. In 1986, she created the Contemporary Masters Program at Studio 400, the first professional dance program at the Joy of Movement in the East Village.  Hiring artists such as Donald Byrd, David Parsons, Bill T. Jones, and Elisa Monte, all emerging directors and choreographers at the time, the Contemporary Masters Program provided a workshop arena bringing together young artists and aspiring dancers to create and experiment within the art form.  This program continues today at Steps on Broadway.

Her earliest artistic strengths were honed at the Joffrey and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Schools in New York City.  While completing a degree program at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, she performed as a member of the Cincinnati Ballet Company, Cincinnati Opera Ballet, Contemporary Dance Theater, and at Edgecliff Summer Theater. Upon graduation, Ms. Grumet toured extensively throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada with Walt Disney Entertainment.  Returning to New York City in 1973, she was a founding member of the Joyce Trisler Danscompany and performed with the New York City Opera Ballet.  In 1975, she joined the Bat-Dor Dance Company of Israel as a soloist, appearing in works by choreographers Alvin Ailey, Anthony Tudor, Hans Van Manen, Lar Lubovitch, John Butler and Paul Taylor.  Once again returning to New York she rejoined the Trisler Danscompany and was a guest artist with Jose Limon and Ailey companies.  An artist on New York Foundation for the Arts’ roster, Ms. Grumet went on to create, produce and perform “Time Pieces,” a narrated program honoring the legacy of American dance artists, which included reconstructed works by Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey and Lester Horton.

Ms. Grumet frequently served as a master teacher, with residencies and master classes across the globe.  She served on the faculties of The New School and Parsons School of Design, The Ailey School, Steps on Broadway, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, The University of South Florida, and Sarah Lawrence.  Overseas teaching included Menagerie du Verre (Paris),  Groupe Emile Dubois (Grenoble), Ballett Akademien (Stockholm), and L’ecole de Dance de Quebec. Ms. Grumet sits on Dance Magazine’s Advisory Board, Buglisi Dance Theater’s Board of Directors, is on the Bessie Awards adjudication committee, and is the Artistic Director for the Steps Beyond Foundation.

MORE ON DIANE GRUMET

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

University of Cincinnati, Dance

Humphrey-Weidman Technique

James Truitte

Thelma Hill

Alicia Markova

Joyce Trisler

Bat-Dor Dance Company

Maggie Black

Carol Paumgarten

Denise Jefferson

American Dance Machine

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

Movers & Shapers: Eva Yaa Asantewaa

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.35 – Eva Yaa Asantewaa

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Photo: D. Feller

Release Date: November 8, 2016

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE

 

ABOUT EVA YAA ASANTEWAA: Critic, Educator, Curator 

For over four decades, Eva Yaa Asantewaa has worked as a freelance arts writer, specializing in dance and performance. A 1974 graduate of Fordham University (Rose Hill), Ms. Yaa Asantewaa has contributed writing on dance to print and online publications such as Dance Magazine, The Village Voice, SoHo Weekly News, Gay City News, The Dance Enthusiast and Time Out New York since 1976. She served as a member of the New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards committee for three years and as a consultant or panelist for numerous arts funding, awards or presenting organizations, including the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2007, Ms. Yaa Asantewaa founded her arts blog InfiniteBody, a resource for news, commentary and criticism especially trusted by the dance community.  With students from the annual Writing on Dance workshop series she taught for several years at Dance Theater Workshop/New York Live Arts, she created Dancer’s Turn, a blog devoted to longform profiles of dance artists. She has also interviewed dance artists and advocates as host of Body and Soul podcast and will launch a new dance interview podcast, Serious Moonlight, this fall.  As a WBAI radio broadcaster (1987-89), Ms. Yaa Asantewaa worked with the Women’s Radio Collective and the Gay and Lesbian Independent Broadcasters Collective (producers of OUTLOOKS) and co-hosted the Tuesday Afternoon Arts Magazine with Jennifer Bernet as well as producing her own specials. She is also a published poet and has read her work at numerous venues including the Brooklyn Museum, the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, A Different Light Bookstore, Bowery Poetry Club and Cornelia Street Cafe.

Beginning in the 1990s, Ms. Yaa Asantewaa created, produced and facilitated workshops and special events sponsored by over sixty arts, health and social service, spiritual, feminist, people of color, and GLBTQ organizations in the New York metropolitan area. Among these are Gibney Dance Center, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New York University Tisch School of the Arts Dance Program, Hunter College Dance Program, Queensborough Community College, the New York Open Center’s Womanspirit Journey program, New York Theosophical Society, College of New Rochelle, Healing Works, New York State Conference on Women’s Health, Riverside Church Wellness Center, Women’s Health Education Project and the Women’s Rites Center.

A native New Yorker of Afro-Caribbean heritage, Ms. Yaa Asantewaa lives in the East Village.

MORE ON EVA YAA ASANTEWAA

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Serena Wilson

Fordham University

Marcia Siegel

Deborah Jowitt

Village Voice

Dance Magazine

Tobi Tobias

Bert Supree

The Bessie’s

Gay City News

Body and Soul Podcast

Madame Blavatsky

Annie Besant

New York Open Center

Platform 2016 at Danspace Project

WBAI 

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

Movers & Shapers: Shannon Hummel

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.34 – SHANNON HUMMEL

Photo: Kamau Ware

Photo: Kamau Ware

Release Date: October 25, 2016

Download Episode on iTunes, Subscribe, and Rate Us HERE
Download Episode on Stitcher HERE
Join our Facebook Community HERE
Twitter follow @ShapersPodcast HERE

 

ABOUT SHANNON HUMMEL

Shannon Hummel is a choreographer, arts educator and Founding Artistic Director of Cora Dance. Driven to create access to the arts for all people, she opened The Cora Studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn in 2009 as a home for her professional company and their education programs. The space strives to create exceptional dance experiences while addressing the impediments that restrict many people from the art-form. Equal parts professional choreographer and community artist, Hummel’s work has been seen as much in church basements, public parks and community spaces as on some of the country’s finest stages. She has been repeatedly critically acclaimed by Style Magazine, Village Voice, Richmond Times Dispatch, and The New York Times where she has been a Top 10 Critics Pick for Dance and had her “finely wrought dances” called “poignant, funny, vivid and true, remarkably assured and perceptive” and most recently “a rare gem.” While her choreography has been presented in over 30 NYC venues (including the 92nd Street Y, BAM, BAX, Brooklyn Museum of Art, DTW, Danspace Project, La MaMa, LMCC, among others) she is also known for creating accessible grassroots performances in off-the-beaten-path places in KY, NY, NJ, OK, VA, VT and WV. She has been an educational advisor, mentor or faculty member for hundreds of institutions including her alma mater James Madison University; enjoyed significant residencies in support of her choreography from Vermont Performance Lab, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange among others; and guest taught and lectured widely for ADF’s January Intensive, American College Dance Festival’s Mid-Atlantic Conference, NYLA’s Fresh Tracks Program, and dance programs at Rutgers, William & Mary, Marlboro College, Virginia Commonwealth University, Washington & Lee, among many others.  She is most proud to be the mom of a lively, lovely, hilarious dancing boy named Henry.

MORE ON SHANNON HUMMEL

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Scott Smith

James Madison University

Donna Costello

Peggy Peloquin

DTW – Fresh Tracks

BAX – Brooklyn Arts Exchange

Marya Warshaw

Rebekah Windmiller

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

Movers & Shapers: Your Move Dance Festival and Heather Warfel Sandler

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MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.33 – Your Move Dance Festival and Heather Warfel Sandler

Release Date: October 11, 2016

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 YOUR MOVE DANCE FESTIVAL FOUNDERS: MORGAN HILLE REFAKIS AND MEAGAN WOODS

Morgan Hille Rebakis

Morgan Hille Refakis

Morgan Hille Refakis, originally from Indiana. graduated from Rutgers University with degrees in Dance and Journalism, where she received a Jerome and Lorraine Aresty Research Scholarship for choreography. After college, Morgan studied choreography with Ballet Prelocaj in France. Representing Northeast Indiana, she performed in Mexico on a Performing Arts Cultural Exchange with Rotary International. Morgan has performed professionally with Liz Lerman, Nancy Nowacek, Dance Exchange, Isabel Lewis, The Dancing Georgina Project, Daniel Flores Dance, Insurgo Stage Project, and Meagan Woods & Co. She has presented work at Movement Research Judson Church, Your Move Dance Festival, Lowe’s Theatre STAGEfest, Museiam Showcase, Amalgamated Artist Series and Erarta Gallery. Morgan is an Area Pilates Manager and Instructor for Equinox Health Clubs and a founding Co-Producer of Your Move Dance Festival.

Meagan Woods

Meagan Woods

Meagan Woods graduated with a BFA in dance from Rutgers University, earning the Margery Turner Award for choreography. She has performed professionally with Liz Lerman, Sarah Skaggs, Orit Ben-Shitrit, SHUA Group and Insurgo Stage Project. Meagan Woods & Company has presented original work at NJPAC, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Grounds for Sculpture, George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theater, Scheide Hall, and The Historical Loew’s Theater. She has performed for TEDx, and her worked can be viewed at TED.com. Meagan is the originator of Dance Within the Art at the Zimmerli Art Museum. She is choreographer for the musical theater program STAGES! at Art House Productions. Meagan choreographs, costume designs, and guest lecturers for Rutgers University and choreographs for St. Peter’s University. meaganwoodsandcompany.com

 

MORE ON YOUR MOVE DANCE FESTIVAL:

ABOUT HEATHER WARFEL SANDLER: 

Heather Warfel Sandler

Heather Warfel Sandler graduated cum laude with a BA in Modern Dance from Point Park University, and has continued to study dance/education at the American Dance Festival, VCU, Dance Education Laboratory at 92 St.Y, and studios throughout NYC. Ms.Warfel served as Adjunct Professor of Dance at NJCU, and is also a certified yoga instructor and member of Dance NJ/NDEO.She has shown her choreography throughout the NY/NJ area, including the Outlet Dance Project and Your Move Modern Dance Festival. In her performance career Ms.Warfel has worked professionally as a tap, West African, and modern dancer, most recently with SHUA Group. Locally she co-wrote and performed the lead role in Heavy Craft, Soft Landing at ArtHouseProductions, enjoyed many years as a professional clown, and is proud to be an active member of the Jersey City artist community as both performer and visual artist.  She was a founding member of an inter-disciplinary improvisation company, and continues to perform regularly in dance, theater, and music – most often with her fun-fabulous band The Ukuladies. Because of these varied artistic experiences, Ms.Warfel strongly values creativity, individuality, and open-mindedness as both a dancer and a teacher.  She founded the dance program at County Prep High School in Jersey City 16 years ago. Her students have since won numerous awards, and gone on to study at renowned colleges such as Rutgers/Mason Gross, Virginia Commonwealth University, and NYU.  In addition to directing the dance program at County Prep, Ms. Warfel produces school performances, and moderates the CP Artist Collective, where she demonstrates the importance of creative play in education and personal development.

MORE ON HEATHER WARFEL SANDLER 

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Luigi Jazz 

Virginia Commonwealth University – Dance

Point Park University – Dance

Judith Leifer-Bentz

Kevin Quigley

Maureen Glennon

JC Fridays

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

Movers & Shapers: Christian von Howard

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cvh-fall_cp2-2MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.32 – Christian von Howard

Release Date: September 27, 2016

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 CHRISTIAN VON HOWARD: Choreographer, Dancer, Dance Educator

Christian von Howard is the Artistic Director of the VON HOWARD PROJECT, a contemporary dance company based out of New York City. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and nurtured in the Big Ole state of Texas, Christian is an international performer, teacher and choreographer. His professional career began as a teenager at Ballet Concerto, under the Artistic Direction of Margo Dean. He would later become a founding member and Assistant Director of JAADE Dance Theatre (A sister company to Fort Worth’s Jubilee Theatre) under the direction Keisha Breaker-Haliburton. In Texas, Christian also worked with Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, Darryl B. Sneed (Former Assistant Director of Dallas Black Dance Theater), Dancers Unlimited, Mary Kay Industrials, Dian Clough West, NOVA Dancing Company and many others.   Overseas in the mid 90’s, he graced the stage with the Trier Ballet (Germany) and Let’s Dance/Teatro de Reggio (Italy). In 1997, Christian co-founded 1*4*8 The Collective, a collaborative dance and theater company of seven artists creating work in the NYC area. From 2000-2003 he served as the Artist in Residence at Columbia College (SC) and the Associate Director of The Power Company, South Carolina’s leading contemporary dance company under the Artistic Direction of Martha Brim. As a concert performer, Christian has worked with such artists as Doug Varone, Fernando Bujones, Douglas Becker, Mark Dendy, Randy James, and he currently dances with the Fred Benjamin Dance Company, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company and the Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company. In 2006, Christian was awarded a Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts. In 2010, his choreographic work was selected to represent the Mid-Atlantic Region at the 2010 National Conference of the American College Dance Festival Association at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  His choreography has been produced in various venues across the globe including Germany, Japan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Chile, South Korea and in the states at Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), Joyce SoHo, Dixon Place, DanceNow/NYC Festival, d.u.m.b.o. arts festival, the Ailey School and the Spoleto Festival (SC). He has also set work on various colleges and universities, which included University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Columbia College (SC), Jacksonville University, Texas Christian University, Winthrop University and various other schools of dance across the country. Christian has also been a member of the dance faculties of the Texas Christian University, Morris County Academy of Visual & Performing Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts – Rutgers University, Columbia College (SC), and the Interlochen Arts Academy. Christian is a 2013/2014 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Teaching Award from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts where he was part of the teaching faculty in the Department of Dance & Choreography from 2008 to 2014. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Montclair State University and concurrently teaches at the Alvin Ailey School in NYC where he has been on faculty since 1998. Christian serves as the Northeast Regional Director of the American College Dance Association. He holds advanced degrees in Performance and Choreography from the School of Classical and Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University and from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

MORE ON CHRISTIAN

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Ballet Concerto

Texas Christian University, Dance

New York University, Tisch School of the Arts

Columbia College South Carolina

Susan Kirchner

Randy James, 10 Hairy Legs

Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts

The Power Company, Martha Brim

Barefoot Brigade

Virginia Commonwealth University, Dance

Alvin Ailey School

Montclair State University, Dance

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

Movers & Shapers: Joanna Kotze

By Podcast

jk-solo-1-2MOVERS & SHAPERS:

Podcast No.31 – Joanna Kotze

Release Date: September 13, 2016

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 JOANNA KOTZE:

Joanna Kotze received the 2013 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer. Her choreography has been presented at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Baryshnikov Arts Center, American Dance Institute (ADI), Danspace Project, Bard College’s Fisher Center, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, New York Live Arts Studio Series, Dance New Amsterdam, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Roulette, Dixon Place, 92nd Street Y, WAXworks, Lu Magnus gallery, Soho20 gallery, Show Room Gowanus gallery, Industry City and the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts (WI). Joanna recently created new works on Toronto Dance Theatre, Zenon Dance, Ririe-Woodbury and the James Sewell Ballet as well as on students at Eugene Lang College (The New School), Barnard, Purchase College, Southern Utah University and Miami University (OH).

Her next evening-length work is being commissioned by New York Live Arts and is set to premiere in the spring of 2018 with a work-in-progress showing May 12-13, 2017.

Joanna has received support from the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) BUILD, Brooklyn Arts Council, Yellowhouse, and two Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants. She was a 2013-2015 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and a recipient of a 2014 Process Space residency through Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). She has had residencies at The Camargo Foundation, Marble House, Jacob’s Pillow, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Djerassi and the Bogliasco Foundation. Joanna was a 2012 Fellow for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, a 2011 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space resident and has worked in residence at Mount Tremper Arts. She was the Fall 2012 boo-koo space grant recipient at Gibney Dance Center and has participated in Sarah Maxfield’s One-Shot, a web-based solo performance relay.

She danced with Wally Cardona from 2000-2010, performing throughout NYC (including twice at BAM’s Next Wave Festival) the United States, Canada, Europe and Mexico. She is currently working with Kimberly Bartosik/daela, Stacy Spence and Kota Yamazaki. She has also danced for Netta Yerushalmy, Sam Kim, Sarah Skaggs, Christopher Williams, the Metropolitan Opera ballet, Daniel Charon, Nina Winthrop and others.

Joanna is on faculty at Movement Research and Gibney Dance. She has taught at Barnard College, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Eugene Lang College – The New School for Liberal Arts, Long Island University and the American Dance Festival. She has studied Klein technique with Barbara Mahler since 2003, is originally from South Africa and has a BA in Architecture from Miami University (’98).

 

MORE ON JOANNA:

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Indiana University- Bloomington

Miami University of Ohio – Dance

American Dance Festival

Betty Jones

Ron Brown

Risa Steinberg

Wally Cardona

Kimberly Bartosik

Danspace Project

Bogliasco Foundation

The Bessies

Baryshnikov Arts Center

American Dance Institute

NYLA

Klein Technique

Barbara Mahler

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

Movers & Shapers: Christine Jowers

By Podcast

CJFAVORITE_4MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.30 – Christine Jowers

Release Date: August 30, 2016

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 CHRISTINE JOWERS:

Christine Jowers is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Dance Enthusiast an extension of the non-profit company, Moving Arts Projects www.movingartsprojects.org. Prior to devoting her efforts to The Dance EnthusiastJowers worked as professional dancer, teacher, and producer. She performed solo works and principal roles by the early masters of modern dance: Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, Eleanor King, Jean Erdman, Anna Sokolow, Paul Sansardo and Murray Louis, as well as dancing in work created by contemporary choreographers and performance artists such as: Larry Keigwin, Rebecca Rice, Kun Yang Lin, Charles Moulton, Jerry Pearson, Ann Carlson, Janis Brenner, BJ Sullivan, and Margie Gillis.

In 1997 she began creating solo performance projects, dancing and producing evenings that celebrated the voice of women in dance history.  Her first productionThe Singular Voice of Woman at The Place in London, was noted for “exceptional solos” and Judith Mackrell, dance critic for The Guardian UK, hailed Jowers as “not only a remarkable performer but an important dance historian…” Other original productions, Revealing Isadora and The Dance Goddesses of NYC were performed in New York City, staged as full concert evenings and excerpted at such venues as:The World Financial Center, The New Jersey Center for Performing Arts, The Joyce Soho, Joes Pub, OK Harris Dance Gallery, DanceNowNYC, The Henry Street Settlement, The University Settlement, The Culture Project, The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and The 14th Street Y. Jowers‘ revival of The Singular Voice of Woman was performed in 13 concerts during the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was particularly noted for her interpretation of Isadora Duncan “She brings just as much emotion, albeit a very different kind, to Isadora Duncan’s Revolutionary. Although this short piece consists of a small set of repeated movements, those movements are passionate, powerful, dramatic and despairing — thanks to both Duncan and Jowers — making this piece one of the highlights of the programme.”- Amanda Grimm, TheSkinny.co.uk

Christine started writing about dance at Sarah Lawrence College, later graduating from Goucher College with honors in Dance History/Criticism and Communications. In addition to her writing and videography for The Dance Enthusiast, she has been published by Dance/USA’s e-journal, From The Green RoomThe Dance Insider, The Johns Hopkins University’s Literary Journal :The Hopkins Review, and The Huffington Post. Her writing has been highlighted by Thomas Cott, in his respected newsletter for arts administrators: You’ve Cott Mail.

As the editor of The Dance Enthusiast, Christine has been priviledged to lead talk backs on performance and writing, and coach interested groups of young writers from the Pentacle Internship Program, Arts Connection/High 5 Tickets to the Arts Program, and Columbia University. She has been delighted to work with interns from Florida State University, Hofstra, Pace, and Trinity/LaMaMa. Concerned with bridging the gap between audiences and performance, she designed The Dance Enthusiast’s Dance Up Close Series, a journalistic video program, to bring web audiences intimately into the working processes of New York City artists. Dance Up Close was awarded an Engaging Dance Audiences grant administered by Dance/USA through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in 2013. In 2014, Christine developed the offline audience engagement program Enthusiastic Events!, a project designed to address the problem of shifting attention spans, differing knowledge bases, and available free time in dance audiences. This program is supported by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Christine created a place for Audience Reviews on The Dance Enthusiast to encourage new voices in writing, and to develop dance literacy and advocacy. Read more about this in Lynne Conners, We The Audience on ArtsJournal.

As an artist, Jowers has been on the faculty of the Jose Limon Institute in New York City,  The Laban Centre for Movement and Dance Studies, and Danceworks in the UK, a guest teacher at the Islington Arts Factory, The Liverpool School of Performing Arts, and Roehampton College in the UK, as well as Goucher College, Kean College and various educational institutions in the USA.

Her particular interest in introducing young audiences to the beauty and inspiration of dance led her to foster outreach programs in communities throughout the east coast and Virgin Islands. She gave dance workshops, taught choreography, and performed for children and teenagers under the auspices of Artists in The Schools programs, Teen Arts, Young Audiences, and Very Special Arts programs. In 1991, Christine created a dance program for children and adults at the YWCA in Summit, NJ, directing the program from 1991-1996, and founding the highly regarded Free Community Dance Series there. Christine’s work in community dance was funded and commended by the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and the New Jersey State Arts Council. In 1999, established cj/MOVING ARTS PROJECTS’ MOVING KIDS SALON to sponsor workshops for kids and “their grownups” in New York City.

Originally from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, where she grew up in a West-Indian family dedicated to the arts, community, and service, Christine caught the journalism bug as a college intern for New York Public Television’s MacNeil/ Leher Report. Christinelives in NYC with her extremely supportive husband, two enthusiastic sons, and a delightful, but skittish cat, named Gracie.

MORE ON CHRISTINE

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Sarah Lawrence College

Maryland Dance Theater and Larry Warren

Pittsburgh Dance Alloy

Diane Jacobowitz

Goucher College

Dance Critics Association

Robert Johnson

Doris Humphrey/José Limón

Eleanor King

Janet Eilber

University Settlement

Ann Carlson

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