Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast

Today's guest is Eva Dean. Eva is the founder and Artistic Director of Eva Dean Dance, based in Brooklyn and established in 1985.  Eva has a rich history as a Brooklyn-based choreographer of site-specific and theatrical contemporary dance, and is also a community leader mentoring other female choreographers and founding Union Street Dance studio. Known for rich visuals and genre-defying theatricality, the company has been featured on both the local and international stage. Notable NYC credits include The New Victory Theatre (Victory Dance 2018), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace at St. Mark’s Church, The Brooklyn Museum and The Children’s Museum of Manhattan among many others. Also known for site-specific immersive dance, the company has staged numerous public productions in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, NY). 

Today's guest is Oxana Chi. Oxana is a choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, curator, and author. She founded the company Oxana Chi & Ensemble Xinren in Berlin, Germany in 1991 and moved to New York City in 2015. In 2018, she was listed in the Dance Enthusiast’s 2018 “A to Z” of People Who Power the Dance World. She is featured in several publications and films, and is the main protagonist of the movie Dancing Through Gardens. Chi is accompanied in this podcast by her main collaborator Dr. Layla Zami, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Performance + Performance Studies MFA Program at Pratt Institute and interdisciplinary artist (music, poetry, theater, film).

Today’s guest is Michele Wiles. Michele danced with American Ballet Theater from 1997-2011, beginning in the studio company and promoted to soloist in 2000 and principal in 2005. Michele left the position in 2011 to start BalletNext with the vision to pair classically trained dancers and live musicians in a collaborative setting that encourages risk taking and a focus on process.

Today's guest is Dunya Dianne McPherson. Dunya is a dancer, NEA choreographer, Shattari Sufi Master Teacher, Founder of Dancemeditation™, and author of Skin of Glass: Finding Spirit in the Flesh, a memoir about dance as a spiritual path.

Today's guest is Eduardo Vilaro. Eduardo joined Ballet Hispánico as Artistic Director in August 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since it was founded in 1970. He has been part of the Ballet Hispánico family since 1985 as a dancer and educator, after which he began a ten-year record of achievement as founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, he is a frequent speaker on the merits of cultural diversity and dance education.

Today’s guest is Jody Oberfelder. Jody is a director, choreographer, and filmmaker, who creates visceral experiences for audiences, onstage and in alternative sites. Her work has been shown extensively internationally as well as at Jacob’s Pillow, MASS MoCA, The Yard, Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York Live Arts, and her immersive heart-themed work 4Chambers was performed 86 times: in an historic home on Governors Island and in a former hospital in Brooklyn.

Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast celebrates 75 interviews! And a special announcement from podcast host Erin Carlisle Norton about upcoming interviews (hint: see you 2019!)

Today's guest is Dr. Hannah Kosstrin. Hannah is a dance historian whose work engages dance, Jewish, and gender studies, modes of movement analysis, and digital projects.  She is on faculty at The Ohio State University Department of Dance, and is author of the book Honest Bodies: Revolutionary Modernism in the Dances of Anna Sokolow.  

Today's guest is Young Soon Kim, Artistic Director of WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company formed in 1988, and Producer of the annual DUMBO Dance Festival in NYC. Young Soon's company has criss-crossed the globe performing her repertory of 62 original works.  

Today's guest is Liz Gerring. Liz is head of Liz Gerring Dance Company, based in NYC and formed in 1998.  As a choreographer she has been awarded the Jacob's Pillow Prize, a Joyce Theater Residency and Creation award, and a New York City Center Choreographic Fellowship.  She recently completed a trilogy of large scale proscenium works commissioned by Montclair State University Peak Performances in Montclair, New Jersey.

Today's guest is Molissa Fenley. Molissa has presented her choreography in NYC and throughout the world for the last 41 years, with recent performances at the 92nd Street Y (NYC), St. Mark's Church (NYC), and Mills College Art Museum (CA).  A Guggenheim Fellow with two Bessies for Choreography among her many accolades in the field, Molissa is currently a Professor of Dance at Mills College and on the faculty of NYU's Experimental Theater Wing. 

Today's guest is Namoi Goldberg Haas. Naomi is the founding Artistic Director of Dances For A Variable Population, a multi-generational dance company and educational organization which promotes strong and creative movement for adults of all ages and abilities, with a focus on seniors.

Today's guest is Stephanie Nerbak.  With a career that has spanned the country, Stephanie is currently a New Jersey-based dance artist, arts administrator, and founder of N-root Danceart, a contemporary performance company that fosters holistic creativity and radical curiosity. 

Today's guest is Janet Eilber.  Janet has been Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company since 2005. Her direction has focused on creating new forms of audience access to the Graham masterworks. Earlier in her career, as a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Janet worked closely with Martha Graham. She danced many of Graham’s greatest roles, had roles created for her by Graham, and was directed by Graham in most of the major roles of the repertoire. Apart from her work with Graham, Eilber has performed in films, on television and on Broadway directed by such greats as Agnes deMille and Bob Fosse and has received four Lester Horton Awards for her reconstruction and performance of seminal American modern dance. 

Today's guest is Pat Catterson.  Pat is a NYC-based choreographer, dancer, educator and writer, who has choreographed 111 dances but, although her biggest pleasure is still making her own dances, these days she is more known as a dancer and rehearsal assistant for Yvonne Rainer, as well as a custodian of Rainer’s early works.

Today's guest is Martha Eddy.  Martha is a Dance Artist-Scientist, expert in Social Somatics and author of Mindful Movement The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action.  She is best known for her lectures on and research in overcoming the side-effects to cancer treatment through dance and exercise, perceptual-motor development, and embodied peace-making and for developing her own system of Somatic Education entitled Dynamic Embodiment. Martha currently offers her curricula in the low-residency (intensive format) Masters programs at Montclair State University (greater NYC), University of North Carolina- Greensboro, and St Mary’s College (San Francisco Bay Area), as well as offering workshops in Europe and South America.

Today's guest is Lauren Grant.  Lauren has been a celebrated performer with the Mark Morris Dance Group for more than 20 years.  She stages Morris' work and teaches ballet and modern technique at schools, universities, and for dance companies worldwide. She has received a New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" award for her career with Morris, and her dance writing has been published in numerous dance publications.

Today's guest is Douglas Dunn. Douglas has been dancing and making dances for fifty years. His lineage includes five years as a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and work with Yvonne Rainer leading to the founding and six-year career of Grand Union.  He formed Douglas Dunn + Dancers in 1978, and continues to work in collaboration with other artists to offer a multifaceted theatrical experience. Douglas has received countless awards and accolades for his work and teaching, and has a collection of published writings entitled "Dancer Out of Sight".

Today's guest is Dance Magazine's editor in chief Jennifer Stahl. A former senior editor of Pointe, she has also written for The Atlantic, Runner's World and other publications. With a background as a dancer with degrees in dance and journalism, she has served as a judge for the Capezio A.C.E. Awards, on the panel of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation, as an adjudicator for the American College Dance Association, and was recently an invited speaker at the Women in Dance Leadership Conference.

Today's guest is Lois Greenfield.  World-renowned photographer Lois Greenfield has been photographing dance for over 40 years. Starting her career as a photojournalist, Lois worked for the Village Voice capturing the experimental dance scene from 1973 to the mid 90’s. She developed  a unique photographic style not based in capturing choreographed movements. Instead, Lois inspired the dancers to improvise expressly for the camera.  With her split second timing Lois revealed moments beneath the threshold of perception. Radically redefining the dance photography genre, Lois has influenced a generation of young photographers.