Today's guest is Hannah Kahn, founder and artistic director of the Hannah Kahn Dance Company. Hannah is a master teacher with fifty-two years of experience creating over one hundred and forty dances. Some of the strongest influences on her choreography were her childhood classes in Ithaca, New York with Iris Barbura, her studies of the techniques of Jose Limon and Martha Graham, and her performance of dances by Doris Humphrey and Anna Sokolow. The practice of Tai Chi has also influenced her move...
Feb 21, 2022•53 min
Today's guest is Lisa La Touche. As a proud Canadian and former New Yorker, Lisa’s credits are world renowned. She was an original cast member in Broadway’s Shuffle Along, choreographed by Savion Glover and Directed by George C. Wolfe, where she received both the Fred Astaire Award and the Actor’s Equity Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. Her TV credits include the 70th Annual Tony Awards and Amazon’s Original “Z, The beginning of everything”. Previous highlights have also included touring w...
Jan 23, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Today's guest is veteran choreographer and dance educator, JoAnna Mendl Shaw. JoAnna has been devising performance works for stage, rural and urban landscapes since the 1980’s. Her body of interspecies work initiates visceral engagement with the natural and cultural environment. Redefining the possibilities for dance-making, Shaw’s research into the human-equine dialogue began in 1998. Her company, The Equus Projects, tours throughout the States and Europe creating site-specific works through im...
Jan 09, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Today’s podcast is a re-airing of an interview with Nai-Ni Chen on Movers & Shapers from February 2018. Nai-Ni passed away unexpectedly on December 12, 2021 in a swimming accident in Hawaii. Since starting her dance company Nai-Ni Chen Dance in 1998, her choreography has brought the dynamic freedom of American modern dance together with the elegant splendor of Asian art. Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has been one of the most visible Asian American dance companies in America, touring nationally a...
Dec 26, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Today's guest is Loni Landon. Loni is a Dancer, Choreographer, and Movement Consultant based in New York City. In addition to creating dances for her own collective Loni Landon Dance Project, her work is commissioned by dance companies and film directors across the country. Born and raised in New York City, Loni performed with Aszure Barton and Artists, Ballet Theater Munich, Tanz Munich Theater, and The Metropolitan Opera, and is a Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Winner. As a sought afte...
Dec 12, 2021•57 min
Today's guest is Margaret Jenkins. Margaret Jenkins , founder and artistic director of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, celebrating the 50th anniversary of her Company in 2022, is a choreographer and mentor to many artists as well as a designer of unique community-based dance projects. In the 1960's, Margaret moved to New York to study at Juilliard, continued her training at UCLA and returned to New York to dance in the companies of Jack Moore, Viola Farber, Judy Dunn, James Cunningham, Gus S...
Nov 14, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Today’s guest is Rosie Herrera. Rosie is a Cuban-American dancer and choreographer working within the fields of modern dance, opera, cabaret, theater and film. She is the artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in Miami. Rosie has been commissioned by such groups as The Miami Light Project, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ballet Hispanico, Jose Limon Dance Company, and the American Dance Festival (ADF) in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. Her company, Rosie Herrera Dan...
Oct 17, 2021•1 hr
Today's guest is Ali Kenner Brodsky. Ali makes gesturally rich and emotionally driven dance-theater works that ask the viewer to indulge in a world of reflection, remembering, and connection. Her dance company, ali kenner brodsky & co., produces, presents, and tours original works of choreography and dance films. Ali was recently accepted into NEFA’S New England Regional Dance Development Initiative, was a 2019 artist-in-residence at the Croft: Ground for Art, a 2018-19 Catalysts artist at t...
Oct 03, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Today's guest is Colleen Thomas. Colleen is a New York-based choreographer, scholar, teacher, and performing artist. She is the director of Colleen Thomas Dance, co-director of Bill Young/Colleen Thomas Co., and co-curator for LIT (loft into theater). She began her professional career with the Miami Ballet and went on to work with renowned contemporary choreographers such as The Kevin Wynn Collection, Nina Wiener Dance Company, Donald Byrd/The Group, Bebe Miller Dance Company, and Bill T. Jones/...
Sep 18, 2021•49 min
Today's guest is Daniel Gwirtzman. A Rochester, NY native, Daniel is a producer, choreographer, educator, filmmaker, and dancer, and directs the New York City-based Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, celebrating its 23rd Anniversary and operating with the belief that everyone can join the dance. Gwirtzman was a member of Garth Fagan Dance, toured internationally as a guest artist for multiple years with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and co-founded Artichoke Dance Company, for which he choreographed ...
Aug 22, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Today's guest is Tina Fehlandt. Tina Fehlandt was a founding member and integral part of the Mark Morris Dance Group for twenty years, performing in over 50 works choreographed by Mark Morris. With the Group she toured the world and appeared in several television specials, most notably as “Louise” in Mr. Morris’ production of The Hard Nut. In Ballet Review, she was hailed as “one of the most beautiful dancers anywhere.” Tina has staged Mark Morris’ work at San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet T...
Aug 08, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Today's guest is Melanie George. Melanie is a dance educator, choreographer, scholar, and dramaturg. She is the founder and director of Jazz Is… Dance Project and an Associate Curator and Scholar-In-Residence at Jacob’s Pillow. As a dramaturg, she has contributed to projects by David Neumann & Marcella Murray, Raja Feather Kelly, Ephrat Asherie, Susan Marshall & Company, Machine Dazzle, Kimberly Bartosik/daela, and Urban Bush Women among others. A highly sought after teacher and choreogr...
Jul 25, 2021•57 min
Today's guest is Duke Dang. Since 2006 Duke has served as the General Manager of Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim (NYC), where he oversees nonprofit administration and manages the logistics of the artistic programming. He and Producer Caroline Cronson collectively curate the organization’s programs and commissions that traditionally take place in the theater of the Guggenheim, but in recent years have expanded to include works commissioned and made in and for the...
Jul 10, 2021•46 min
Today's guest is Kathryn Alter. Kathryn a choreographer, teacher, and dancer living in New York City. She danced with the Limón Dance Company for 15 years and is currently the Associate Program Director of the Limón Professional Studies Program. She teaches the Limón Company and students of the Limón Institute, has reconstructed the works of José Limón for the Ballet Nacional de México in México City in 2018 and Ballet am Rhein en Düsseldorf in 2020, and leads Limón workshops nationally and inte...
Jun 20, 2021•1 hr 7 min
We are taking a podcast pause...listen in to hear why. Podcasts: Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast Due May 21: Call for Submissions: From the Field And catch the company behind the podcast! LONELAND, an evening of dance cinema, on June 3 @ 7.30pm ET. Ticket info at The Moving Architects....
May 16, 2021•3 min
Today's guest is Stefanie Batten Bland. Jerome Robbins awardee, Stefanie is an interdisciplinary global artist who interrogates contemporary and historical culture. She situates her work at the intersection of dance-theatre and installation. She is a 2021 commissioned artist by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Duke Performances, 2021 Toulmin Creator fellow Center for Ballet Arts at NYU, and 2019-2020 choreographer for American Ballet Theatre's inaugural Women's Movement Initiative. She created Company S...
Apr 25, 2021•47 min
Today's guest is Megan Williams. Megan is an independent dance artist, choreographer, teacher and repetiteur. She performed and toured internationally in the 1980’s with the companies of Laura Glenn, Ohad Naharin, and Mark Haim, among many others. In 1988, she joined the Mark Morris Dance Group, dancing for 10 years, touring worldwide, teaching, and appearing in several films. She is in demand as a master class teacher and guest lecturer, and founded Megan Williams Dance Projects in the summer o...
Apr 11, 2021•1 hr 17 min
Today's guest is Kimberly Bartosik . Choreographer, performer, educator, and essayist, Kimberly creates viscerally provocative, ferociously intimate choreographic projects that are built upon the development of a virtuosic movement language, rigorous conceptual explorations, and the creation of highly theatricalized environments. A member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for 9 years, Kimberly is a 2020 Bessie Honoree for Outstanding Performance & Outstanding Performer (Burr Johnson) for...
Mar 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Today's guest is Deborah Damast . Deborah is Associate Professor and Program Director of Dance Education at NYU Steinhardt where in addition to teaching, she is Artistic Director of concerts, Kaleidoscope Dancers, and the Uganda study abroad program. She is also a Doctoral student at Columbia Teachers College and on faculty at Little Red Schoolhouse, the Dance Education Laboratory in Manhattan, and the Yard in Martha's Vineyard. Deborah has recently received the 2020 Dance Teacher Magazine Award...
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Today's guest is Dr. Carla Stalling Walter. Carla teaches and writes about dance, spirituality, and wellbeing. A former professor with a PhD in Dance History and Theory, she is also a Certified Somatic Psychotherapist, and a Certified Spiritual Counselor. Her company, Dance in the Spirit, LLC provides personal and corporate retreats, classes, and workshops on sacred dance meditation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. She is a member of The Sacred Dance Guild, the Dance Studies Asso...
Feb 21, 2021•46 min
Megan Slayter is a dance educator, administrator, historian, and lighting designer at Western Michigan University where she is the Acting Associate Director of the School of Theatre and Dance with a research focus on the reconstructions of works by modern dance pioneer, Loïe Fuller. Her ongoing collaborative research with dance historian Jessica Lindberg Coxe has resulted in the reconstruction of Fuller's “Fire Dance”, “Night”, “Lily of the Nile”, and “La Mer” that have been reconstructed and co...
Feb 07, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Today's guest is Alana Marie Urda. Alana is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Amalgamate , where she pursues using dance for a purpose through her choreographic works, documentaries and company events. Alana has envisioned and produced a range of distinguished dance events, charity projects, and educational workshops with Amalgamate. Her repertoire has been celebrated in renowned NYC venues and tours both nationally and internationally. Commissioned for numerous projects, she has set chore...
Dec 20, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Today's guest is Diane Coburn Bruning. Diane is an award-winning choreographer who has worked with ballet, dance, opera and theatre companies throughout the US and abroad. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and multi-year National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and grants among many others. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Dance Project, dancers and musicians. For more on this podcast with episode show notes: Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast...
Dec 06, 2020•56 min
On this special episode of "Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast" you will hear from an array of artists working in the dance field, each uniquely navigating what COVID-19 means to them and the work they do. On this episode, hear from Melissa Riker with Dance Rising (NYC), Crystal Michelle Perkins with The Landingplace Project (Ohio), Shana Simmons with Shana Simmons Dance (Pittsburgh), and Erin Carlisle Norton with The Moving Architects (NJ/NYC) who launched new programs or initiatives during ...
Nov 15, 2020•42 min
Today's guest is Denise Saunders Thompson. Denise is the President & CEO of the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD). She has extensive experience in non-profit and for-profit, established or start-up organizations. She has advised organizations on administrative, programmatic and fundraising issues including strategic plans, policy and procedures, communications programs, budgeting and contracts. In April 2015, Denise completed 17 years of service at Howard University in the ...
Oct 17, 2020•52 min
Today's guest is Staycee Pearl. Staycee is the co-artistic director of PearlArts Studios and STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos (SPdp&SS), where she creates artful experiences through dance-centered multimedia works. Debuting in 2010 at Kelly Strayhorn Theater (Pittsburgh) and serving as the theater's resident company for 3 years, the Pearls opened their dance/art/sound space, PearlArts Studios in 2012, initiating project-generating programs including the Charrette Series, the In The ...
Sep 19, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Today's guest is Robin Staff. Robin is the Founder, Executive Director, and Producer of DANCE NOW. DANCE NOW offers an interdependent network of performance, creative development, and educational opportunities, serving a diverse roster of multi-generational artists. DANCE NOW provides dance makers with paid performance, commissioning, teaching and residency opportunities through five programs - DN Joe's Pub (NY), DN Raw (NY), DN SteelStacks (PA), DN Silo (PA), and DN Boston (MA). 2020 Celebrates...
Sep 06, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Today's guest is Erin Pride. Erin is an online business coach for dance educators and host of the Dance Boss Podcast. Erin helps dance educators niche down, build an online business, and bring in additional revenue for them and their families. Erin began her coaching journey as a dance education coach, providing resources and training to help dance educators run more successful classrooms. Now Erin helps her fellow dance educators pursue their dreams and start an online business that impacts the...
Aug 21, 2020•44 min
Today's guest is Preeti Vasudevan. Preeti is an exponent of classical Indian dance ( Bharatanatyam) creating new provocative contemporary works from the Indian tradition questioning the role of identity in contemporary lives. She is the first artist of Indian descent to receive recognitions from top institutions in the US for her outstanding contribution to dance. Some highlights include: 2019 Dance Lab New York / Joyce Theater Foundation Creation Grant; 2019 Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for W...
Aug 02, 2020•58 min
Today's guest is Alejandra Duque Cifuentes. Alejandra is an immigrant activist, artist, producer, educator, and Executive Director of Dance/NYC. With more than 10 years of production and stage management experience in theatre and dance, she has toured nationally and internationally with Zaccho Dance Theatre, Bandaloop, Dancing in The Streets, and The Foundry Theatre, among others. As a teaching artist, she has taught children and adults in over 100 New York City public schools and through commun...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr 2 min
