MOVERS & SHAPERS: A DANCE PODCAST

MOVERS & 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

• VON HOWARD PROJECT WEBSITE

• VIMEO

• FACEBOOK

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:

Podcast No.31 – Joanna Kotze

Release Date: September 13, 2016

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

ABOUT JOANNA KOTZE:

MORE ON JOANNA:

• Joanna Kotze

• Joanna Kotze, Facebook

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:
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 Enthusiast, Jowers 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 Room, The 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

• The Dance Enthusiast

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

MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.29 – Crystal Michelle Perkins

Release Date: August 2, 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 CRYSTAL MICHELLE PERKINS:

Crystal Michelle is a choreographer, dancer, and intermedia artist. She was named Associate Artistic Director of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) in 2014. Previous to her appointment, she was a dance artist with DCDC’s professional company for nine seasons, became Resident Choreographer, and appointed Arts Curriculum Coordinator in 2010 for DCDC’s education programs.

As coordinator, Ms. Michelle became integral to the design of Dancing to the Curriculum, a highly recognized arts-integration dance residency for elementary and middle grade students in Dayton Public Schools. Over the years, she has taught dance master classes and was teaching artist for the company’s outreach services.

As a choreographer, performer, and researcher she has traveled nationally and internationally, including Ougadougou, Burkina Faso and Port of Spain, Trinidad where she researched African Diaspora movement styles and began her newest venture: The Beautiful Archive Project. Ms. Michelle collaborated with Dayton’s Blackbird String Quartet, The University of Dayton’s Department of Music, the Khalid Moss Jazz Trio for the creation of Unrested and Unfaithful.

The creation of her site specific work The Descent of this Water: Rain (2014) was commissioned by the Dublin Arts Council and performed in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio. Her evening length contemporary work for DCDC, The Littlest Angel, premiered in December 2014. She set choreography to The King of the Magi and Martin Luther King from Duke Ellington’s, Three Black Kings performed by DCDC and accompanied by Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in collaboration with The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance’s production of American Mosaic in 2015.

Ms. Michelle has created dance works for Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Cutno Dance, SMAG Dance Collective, and Stivers School for the Arts Dance Ensemble. She has been a guest artist for the New Orleans Ballet Association/NOLA, the Augusta Ballet Company, Compton Dance Theatre, The Moving Architects, and SMAG Dance Collective.

In 2014, she received the Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council and was honored with the Josie Award, which recognizes individual excellence in the art of dance for performers in Dayton, Ohio. Ms. Michelle holds a MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University and a BFA in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University. She is a member of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Inaugural Class of Leadership Fellows.

MORE ON CRYSTAL:

• DAYTON CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Augusta Mini Theater

Southern Methodist University, Dance

Augusta Ballet

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Denise Vale

Dance Spirit Magazine

Sheri “Sparkle” Williams

DeShona Pepper Robinson

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

The Ohio State University – Department of Dance

Julius Brewster Cotton

Ulysses Dove “Vespers”

Bebe Miller

Norah Zuniga Shaw

“Boxing Up Beautiful”

Camille A. Brown

“The Littlest Angel” 

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

MOVERS & SHAPERS:
Podcast No.28 – MITCHELL ROSE

Release Date: July 19, 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 MITCHELL ROSE:  PROFESSOR AND DANCE-FILMMAKER

MORE ON MITCHELL ROSE

• Mitchell Rose Website

PODCAST INTERVIEW LINKS

Tufts University: Department of Drama and Dance

Alwin Nikolais

Merce Cunninghum 

David White 

CETA

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

Trisha Brown “Water Motor”

American Film Institute

UCLA National Dance/Media Project

“Deere John” (and other films)

Pew Charitable Trust

Ashley Roland

Jamey Hampton

BodyVox

CalArts, Dance

Department of Dance – The Ohio State University

David Hinton “Birds”

Bebe Miller

Exquisite Corps 

Ellen Maynard

Robbie Shaw

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