Movers & Shapers: Samantha Géracht

By October 17, 2023Podcast

PODCAST 165: Samantha Géracht

Release Date: 10.16.23

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Continuing a Modern Dance Legacy with Samantha Géracht

Episode 165: Show Notes.

There are many legends in modern dance that are responsible for making the art form what it is today. But how do we continue their legacy? Today we hear from one of the people responsible for continuing the legacy of Anna Sokolow, Samantha Géracht. Samantha is the artistic director at the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble and in this episode, she tells us all about her incredible career, the multitude of amazing dance practitioners she has learned from and worked with, the difference between a Sokolow dancer and a Sokolow director, the challenges she faces in continuing Anna’s legacy, and so much more! From ballet to modern dance, Samantha has experienced it all as student, performer, and teacher. You don’t want to miss this one so tune in now!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Introducing today’s guest, Samantha Géracht.
  • Samantha tells us about her upbringing and what made her interested in dancing. 
  • What made her switch from ballet to modern dance and breaking the stigma about modern. 
  • Samantha shares her experience at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab and who taught her.
  • Samantha’s early marriage and family life. 
  • Joining the Sokolow company and the teaching jobs she had while she was a dancer. 
  • Becoming a Sokolow artistic director and how it differed from being a Sokolow dancer. 
  • The legacy that Anna Sokolow left and Samantha’s special Sokolow choreography. 
  • Samantha shares the biggest struggles and challenges throughout her career. 
  • The support system Samantha has to help her continue Anna’s legacy. 
  • Some of the highlights of Samantha’s career and what she’s working on now. 
  • Where she sees the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble in the future. 

“Being a dancer and a modernist in an era that’s not that interested in modernism is it’s own struggle…..[I’m] giving myself a voice and figuring out what it is I want to do with Anna’s legacy and what that means.”” — Samantha Géracht

 

About Samantha Géracht

Samantha Géracht, MFA (Artistic Director) performed with Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Project for eleven years and is a founding member of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble. In 2017 Ms. Géracht was appointed the ensemble’s artistic director. She has toured and taught Sokolow’s repertory nationally and internationally, setting Ms. Sokolow’s works on professional companies, university dance programs, and solo dance artists, including the Centre de Danse Nationale de Paris, the Boston Conservatory, Williams College, The Ailey School/Fordham University, Loyola Chicago, Franklin and Marshall College, Barnard College, Clarence Brooks, Jennifer Conely, Sandra Kaufman, Kanopy Dance Company and Academy, and Christine Dakin.

Ms. Géracht studied technique and composition with Alwin Nikolais and Murry Louis, Humphrey/Limon with Jim May, Betty Jones, Fritz Luden, and Gail Corbin, and Weidman with Deborah Carr. She has taught in the Professional Studies program at the Limon Institute, the Herbert Berghoff (‘HB’) Studio, and is on the faculty of the Hoboken Charter School. Ms. Geracht performed the Humphrey/Weidman repertory with Deborah Carr Theater Dance Ensemble and Gail Corbin. She has appeared with Rae Ballard’s Thoughts in Motion, and as a guest artist with David Parker and The Bang Group. In 2016 she choreographed Shadowbox Theatre’s The Earth and Me, a critically acclaimed climate change puppet/dance opera created for NYC public schools and community centers. Ms. Géracht served as a panelist for the Library of Congress opening of the “New Dance Group” archives. She holds an MFA in dance from Montclair State University (NJ) and a BS in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Géracht is committed to the preservation of early American Modern Dance, making the works of modern dance pioneers more accessible to dance education programs, young artists, and new audiences.

 

Connect with Samantha Géracht

Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble

In the Eye of a Dream, November 9-19, 2023 @ Theaterlab

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

 

Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
Interviewer: Erin Carlisle Norton