MOVERS & SHAPERS: A DANCE PODCAST

Elizabeth Yilmaz-Dobrow is a professional dancer, teacher and producer in New York City. She received her B.A in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College where she now serves on the Dance Advisory Board as the Nominating Chair. She is a former company member with Ballet Hispanico of New York.  This is Elizabeth’s ninth season dancing with The Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Productions at the Metropolitan Opera include Bluebeard’s Castle, Eugene Onegin, Turandot, Le Nozze De Figaro, Meistersinger, Werther, Die Zauberflöte, Parsifal, Manon, La Traviata, Aida, The Magic Flute and Tannhäuser. The last five of which have been transmitted live in HD to over 70 countries across the globe.  Elizabeth is a co-producer of the salon series Art Bath NYC. Art Bath is part art party part immersive concert, featuring world renowned artists in the historic Blue Building on East 46th St.  Elizabeth toured internationally with “Angelina Ballerina, The Musical", danced at Walt Disney World, and is a proud member of the American Guild of Musical Artist Union.  Elizabeth teaches dance throughout the United States and is on faculty with the 92nd Street Y and the Joffery Ballet Trainee Program in NYC. She has also taught ballet and musical theatre for Regional Dance America, Mile Square Theatre, Marymount Girls School, the Passport to learning project in New Jersey, the National Choreography Intensive and private lessons in Manhattan, Metro-Atlanta, and virtually.

Carmen Caceres is a dance artist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received a BA in Dance and Education at SUNY Empire State College and deepened her studies in dance, performance, and choreography at the former Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. In her native city, she graduated from the National School of Dance and studied Dance Composition at the National University of the Arts UNA. Caceres has been creating and presenting dance works in Argentina and NY since 2009. In 2012, she founded DanceAction, a creative platform composed of artists from multiple disciplines to produce performing artworks in collaboration and provide educational opportunities. Her works have been presented in several venues, such as Dixon Place, Green Space Studio, Triskelion Arts Center, Teatro Sea, The Mark Morris Dance Center, the Center at West Park, and the Center for Performance Research. As a performer and collaborator, she has worked with Ines Armas, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Isabel Lewis, Jillian Peña, Lisa Parra, Elia Mrak, Jody Oberfelder, and Sarah Berges, among other artists. Carmen also works as a dance educator and program director for different art education programs in New York City, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. www.carmencaceres.com

DanceAction is a contemporary dance company based in New York, led by Argentinian choreographer Carmen Caceres. The company’s culturally diverse team is comprised of artists from several disciplines, such as dance, music, drama, media, and visual arts. Together, they create dance works that reflect social realities that concern people, relationships, and social justice with the purpose of interpreting these issues and using the works to propel change. DA participated in numerous festivals, and performance series in New York, and their works have been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Fund Community Grant, the Dance/NYC Emergency COVID-19 Grant, and most recently, the City Artist Corps Grant. DA has also been invited to numerous international dance festivals. Its first full-length work, Game Night, was part of the 2016 International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City (FIDCDMX). In 2018, the company participated at the International Contemporary Dance Festival and Campus “Ticino in Danza” in Ticino, Switzerland, performing 2 Minutes Hate. The same year, this thought-provoking piece was also presented in NYC at Women Center Stage Festival – Directors Weekend II, organized and curated by Culture Project.

The Hard Nut

National University of the Arts, Argentina

SUNY Empire

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Robert Swinston

“Revelations” by Alvin Ailey

Dixon Place

CPR

“Game Night”

“Art of Loving” Eric Fromm

Alessia Della Casa

“Blindspot”

“Welcome to ImagiNation”

Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education 

The Center at West Park

“Open Veins of Latin America”

Amanda Selwyn (Artistic Director/Choreographer) founded Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre/Notes in Motion in 2000 and in 23 seasons, has directed over 85 productions, developed a network of artists, and created the curriculum for Notes in Motion’s dance education programs. Amanda’s choreographic works include: Threads, Hindsight, Crossroads, Refuge, Renewal, It’s a Game, Detour, Five Minutes, Passage, Undercurrent, Hearsay, Interiors, Disturbance, Salut, Tilt, Tidal, Shift, Siren, Contradicting Unity, Save My Spot, Hold On, Momentum, and Behind Us. Amanda recently taught workshops at New Women, New York, the New York Gender Conference, and a Choreography Master Class at Temple University. Her 20th Anniversary Season was presented at Baruch Performing Arts Center as part of the CUNY Dance Initiative.  She has choreographed dance for Chicago’s Motivity; for theatre productions including House on Mango Street, Free to be You an Me, Once Upon a Mattress, The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory; and for her original theatre productions which include Herland, Yellow Feather, and Slitting the Clouds. In addition to her choreographic work, Amanda has directed off-broadway theatre in NYC at John Houseman Studio, 30th Street Theatre, Grove Street Theatre, Kraine Theatre, Center Stage, and the Producer’s Club. Amanda teaches dance and theatre to New York City children and has been on faculty at The Brearley School, Brooklyn Friends School, Beit Rabban School, Solomon Schechter School, and the New Acting Company. She has taught dance composition and technique at the Berkshire Institute for Music and Art and taught dance and theatre in Israel at the Israel Museum, English Village, and the Arad Community Center. Amanda led the workshops “Accessing Inspiration for Dance-Making” and “Teaching a Choreographic Process” at the 3 NYC Arts-in-Education Roundtable’s Face to Face conferences. She has also presented her choreography at NYU’s Women and Theater conference and at Dance Teacher Summit. She is the recipient of grants from the NY State Council on the Arts, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Friars Foundation, Dizzy Feet Foundation, Bronx Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Development Fund, NY City Council Members Bill DeBlasio, Andy King, Carlina Rivera, Margaret Chin, and Rosie Mendez, Manhattan Borough President, Met Life, City National Bank, Credit Suisse, and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation. Amanda participated in the Choreographer’s Lab program at Jacob’s Pillow. Her work has been presented twice on Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Stage, at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, in the DUMBO Dance Festival, APAP Conference, COOL NY Dance Festival, Wassaic Dance Festival, WestFest Dance Festival, Movement Research’s Performance Series, Earth Celebrations, Dixon Place, and Pushing Progress at Peridance. Amanda has a 500-hour yoga teacher’s certification from Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC and teaches yoga privately and at Crunch Gym in NYC. She has a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in performance studies and a B.S. from Northwestern University in theatre, women’s studies, and dance.

McClaine is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Contemporary Dance Choreography Festival (CDCFest). She is an awarded choreographer, Nationally Certified Pilates instructor, business owner, and dance educator.

McClaine received her MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine and her BA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago. Prior to receiving her degrees, she trained with Orlando Ballet School/Company and North Carolina School of the Arts in the ballet program. Post graduate school she held the position of Assistant Director of Dance and Adjunct Faculty at Sacred Heart University for 3 years.

Her choreography has been awarded “Best Choreography” in regional and national competitions, presented in the “New Grounds” Choreography Festival at University South Florida, the “EAST meets WEST” International Dance Festival at University California Irvine, the ‘Dance-Forms’ 72nd International Choreographer’s Showcase in Scotland, and the WHITE WAVE Solo/Duo International Choreography Festival in NYC, adjudicated in the ACDA Baja Regional Conference in Torrence CA, and competed in the 19th Annual McCullum Theater Education Choreography Festival as a finalist in Palm Desert CA. She was also a guest choreographer for the US International Ballet Company.

Palm Desert Choreography Festival