Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast

Today’s guest is award-winning filmmaker Alla Kovgan. Born in Moscow, Alla has divided her time between Europe and the U.S., bringing two decades of experience working with dance and film on screen, virtual reality, and in theatre, as well as a strong record as a documentary writer and editor. Her latest film Cunningham traces Merce Cunningham's artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery (1944–1972), from his early years as a struggling dancer in post-war New York to his emergence as one of the world’s most visionary choreographers. The documentary weaves together Merce's philosophies and stories, creating a visceral journey into his innovative work. A breathtaking explosion of dance, music and never-before-seen archival material, Cunningham is a timely tribute to one of the world’s greatest modern dance artists. For more info on this podcast: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts More info on Cunningham: www.cunninghammovie.com

On this special episode of "Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast" we have for you a wide array of artists working in the dance field who are each trying to navigate what the coronaviris crisis means to them and the work they do. Inspiring, honest, hopeful, hear from Megan Mizanty, Ariel Grossman, Eduardo Villaro, Anabella Lenzu, Stephanie Acosta, and Eva Yaa Asantewaa.   For more on Movers & Shapers: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Let's Share. How are you responding to this time? Record it. Send it. Let's hear your voice.   For more info and guidelines: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts  

We are taking a podcast pause....listen in to hear why. For more info Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts   And catch the company behind the podcast in March! March 3-9: Spring/Break Art Fair (NYC) March 14: Second Saturdays at Central (family friendly event, NJ) March 26: An Evening with The Moving Architects (Montclair, NJ)

Today's guest is Pavel Zuštiak. Pavel is a director, choreographer, performer, and founder/artistic director of the New York-based performance company Palissimo. Born in communist Czechoslovakia and trained at Amsterdam's School for New Dance Development, Pavel's staged performances tour nationally and internationally, merging dance with multidisciplinary and multi-sensory theatrical experiences. He was awarded both a Guggenheim Fellowship and the New York "Bessie" awards, among others. This podcast was produced in conjunction with the MFA in Dance at Rutgers University, a program that establishes students as creatively literate world citizens who can develop interdisciplinary solutions to address complex contemporary issues. Now accepting applications for the Summer 2020 cohort:  masongross.rutgers.edu For more info on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Sondra Fraleigh. Sondra is professor emeritus of the State University of New York at Brockport, a Fulbright Scholar, SUNY Faculty Exchange Scholar, and a significant writer in the field of dance philosophy.  She is an award winning author of nine books including most recently: Back to the Dance Itself: Phenomenologies of the Body in Performance (2018); Moving Consciously: Somatic Transformations through Dance, Yoga, and Touch (2015); BUTOH: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemy (2010); and Land to Water Yoga (2009). Fraleigh was chair of the Department of Dance at SUNY Brockport for nine years and later head of graduate dance. Her innovative choreography has been seen in the USA, Germany, Japan, and India. Sondra is the founding director of Eastwest Somatics Institute. This podcast was produced in conjunction with the MFA in Dance at Rutgers University, a program that establishes students as creatively literate world citizens who can develop interdisciplinary solutions to address complex conte

Today's guest is Christine Dakin. Christine has spent more than four decades in Martha Graham’s deep tradition, exploring the physical and intellectual practice of dance as principal dancer, artistic director of the company, and teacher. She shares the language of dance collaborating with choreographers, musicians, and teachers, and continuing to perform from Russia to the US, maintaining a special connection to the Mexican dance community since 1981. She has been awarded a “Bessie”, the Dance Magazine Award, and a fellowship from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She has brought her personal poetics of dance to film in her “La Voz del Cuerpo / The Body Speaks” and “Terpsikon”. For more info on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Jessica Chen. Jessica is a choreographer, teacher and Artistic Director of J CHEN PROJECT, a 501c3 non-profit modern dance company based in NYC. In 2013, Jessica made a miraculous journey back to the stage after suffering a horrific car accident, which rendered her in a coma for 13 days after 8 hours of brain surgery. She shares her story and fight to live through her work as a choreographer, speaker, and Artistic Director of J CHEN PROJECT. As a freelance choreographer, her work has been seen Off-Broadway, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and TEDx. For more info on this episode: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Vangeline. Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute. She is also the founder of the 12-year running, award-winning program “Dream a Dream Project”, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State.   For more info on this episode: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts  

Today's guest is Michelle Manzanales. Michelle is a choreographer and dance educator originally from Houston, TX. She is the Director of the Ballet Hispánico School of Dance, but lends her artistic voice to all facets of the organization led by CEO and Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro (MSP podcast no. 77!). She began working with Eduardo in 2003 as a dancer for his company Luna Negra Dance Theater of Chicago where she also served as Rehearsal Director and as Interim Artistic Director. Michelle has created works for professional dance companies, universities, and schools across the nation. www.ballethispanico.org For more info on Movers & Shapers and this episode: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Melissa Riker.  Melissa is based in NYC and is the director and choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. The company dances outside in sculpture gardens, universities, public parks, as well as hosting more than 30 surprise performances all over New York City and the tri-state area. Recently Ms. Riker is a 2016, 2017 and 2019 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency Fellow, 2015 LMCC Community Arts Fund grantee, and 2019 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Grantee.    For more info on Movers & Shapers and this episode: http://themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Lucy Sexton. Lucy is a Brooklyn born choreographer, producer, and administrator who works in the fields of dance, theater, film, and advocacy. She is currently Executive Director of the cultural advocacy organization New Yorkers for Culture and Arts, working for equity and support for culture for all New Yorkers. Beginning in 2009, she has served as Executive Director of the NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, building them for the first time into an independent organization. As a dance artist she works with Anne Iobst; together they create and perform the dance performance duo DANCENOISE which was founded in 1983. Come to The Bessies! Monday, October 14 at NYU Skirball: https://tickets.nyu.edu/10398   For more info on Movers & Shapers and this episode: http://themovingarchitects.org/podcasts/  

Today's guest is Ivy Baldwin. Ivy is a New York-based choreographer, performer, teacher, and founder of Ivy Baldwin Dance. Since 1999, she has created 17 works for her company, including, most recently, commissions from BAM (Next Wave Festival), Philip Johnson Glass House, the Joyce Theater, Abrons Arts Center, the Chocolate Factory, and the Wooden Floor. Baldwin has received many awards and fellowships, including from the Guggenheim Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and New York Foundation for the Arts, and has been an Artist-in-Residence with BAM, Movement Research, ArtistNe(s)t (Romania), Manitoga and CPR (currently), and the 92nd Street Y (upcoming). For more info on this episode and Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Jennifer Muller.  Jennifer is the Artistic Director/Founder of Jennifer Muller/The Works, and has been an influence in the dance world for over 50 years. She is known for her visionary approach and innovations in dance/theater, multi-discipline productions, incorporating the spoken word, live and commissioned music, artist-inspired décor, media and unusual production elements. Muller has created over 125 pieces, including seven full evening productions, collaborating with such artists as Keith Haring, Keith Jarrett, Yoko Ono, David van Tieghem, Burt Alcantara, Marty Beller and Jeff Croiter.   For more info on this episode: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Jonathan Hollander. Jonathan is the founder, artistic director, and president of Battery Dance. He is creator of the Company’s renowned Battery Dance Festival and Dancing to Connect arts education program. Widely recognized as one of the outstanding choreographers of his generation, his works have been presented in major theaters and festivals across five continents and 70 countries. In June, 2018, he was awarded the Federal Order of Merit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in honor of his “great commitment and leadership in bringing young people together across borders through cultural exchange”.       38th Annual Battery Dance Festival 30 Companies, 10 Countries, August 11-17 more info:  batterydance.org       For more info on this episode: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts 

Today's guest is Stephanie Acosta.  Stephanie is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist who blends performance with practice-based research, making work in response to, while also creating, site and space. Engaging ensembles in facilitated processes, she creates fleeting performance works that challenge site, space, and perception to bring about shared experiences. A Cuban American born and raised in Miami, Stephanie works extensively with unseen histories, performance, experimental radio, and film. Acosta continues an ongoing collaborations with Intrinsic Grey Productions including on experimental feature film The Ladies Almanack, which recently had its world premiere at Outfest LA and is currently screening at national and international film festivals. Currently, Acosta heads up the monthly performance series Sunday Service with co-creator Alexis Wilkinson. She can also be found working on a new publication with longtime collaborator Rory Murphy under the name NO ONE IS ANYWHERE, as well as on the upcomi

Today's guest is Zvi Gotheiner.  Born and raised in kibbutz Mesilot in northern Israel, Zvi began his artistic career as a violinist and began dancing at age seventeen, joining the Bat-Sheva Dance Company after serving in the army. Zvi arrived in New York in 1978, and founded ZviDance in 1989, creating more than twenty-five works for his company.  Zvi is a highly regarded ballet teacher, described by the New York Times as the “Zen Dance Master of New York.” Most recently, Zvi received distinguished teaching awards from the American Dance Festival and the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center’s Playing Field. For more info on this episode: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Francesca Harper. Francesca is an internationally acclaimed, multifaceted artist. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Francesca Harper Project and former principal dancer with Ballet Frankfurt under William Forsythe. Francesca has choreographed works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Tanz Graz, Hubbard Street II, and Dallas Black Dance Theater, and enjoys her appointment as an adjunct professor at New York University and the Juilliard School. Francesca was awarded a two-year choreographic fellowship with Urban Bush Women, providing support toward her latest dance-theater work An Unapologetic Body. She is committed to works rooted in artistic expression, empowerment, and social awareness. For more info on this episodes and other interviews on Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast: http://themovingarchitects.org/podcasts/

Today’s guest is Jacqulyn Buglisi. Choreographer, dancer, educator and advocate, Jacqulyn Buglisi co-founded Buglisi Dance Theatre in 1993 following an illustrious career as a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. She leads the annual Table of Silence Project 9/11, a site-specific performance ritual for peace performed at Lincoln Center by 180 dancers, six musicians and chorus of nine, and seen via live stream across the U.S. in all 50 states and worldwide in 129 countries. Buglisi Dance Theatre will be performing as part of the upcoming Women/Create! A Festival of Dance at NYLA in NYC.   Women/Create! A Festival of Dance 2018 Season New York Live Arts Celebrating the Innovation of Women in Choreography June 11-16, 2019 More Info: womencreatedance.org During this 8th season, Armitage Gone! Dance, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, The Francesca Harper Project, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Helen Simoneau Danse, and Katarzyna Skarpetowska (featuring The Richmond Ballet) come together f

We are taking a break in April, with new interviews coming in May. In the meantime, you can catch the company behind the podcast performing in a series of performances this spring. NYC, Boston, Pittsburgh! We are coming your way! For tickets to Elevate: A Triple Bill of Female Choreographers with Bryce Dance, The Moving Architects, and Shana Simmons Dance, go to www.themovingarchitects.org/elevate April 17-18 / The Mark O'Donnell Theater at The Actors Fund Arts Center (Brooklyn) April 19-20 / The Dance Complex (Boston) May 4 / Point Park University, George Rowland White Performance Center (Pittsburgh)