Podcasts about Danspace Project

Join "Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey and special guests Stevn Melendez and Wendy Perron.In this episode of "Dance Talk” ® , host Joanne Carey engages with Steven Melendez, the artistic director of New York Theatre Ballet, and Wendy Perron, a dance historian and former editor of Dance Magazine. They discuss the significance of Judson Dance Theater, its impact on modern dance, and how its philosophies resonate with contemporary dance practices.The conversation explores the challenges of restaging historical works, the importance of audience engagement, and the political context of dance as a form of protest and expression.The episode culminates in a preview of an upcoming performance that aims to bridge the past and present of dance April 23-26.The Judson Dance Theater was a pioneering experimental dance collective that operated in New York City from 1962 to 1964. They performed at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, known for its social and artistic activism. Judson Dance Theater is widely recognized as a key force in the development of postmodern dance and its avant-garde approach influenced subsequent generations of choreographers. Steven Melendez was born in New York City in 1986 and started his ballet training with the LIFT Program at Ballet School New York at the age of 7. He has danced as a Soloist dancer with Ballet Concierto in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a Principal dancer with The Vanemuine Theater Ballet Company in Tartu, Estonia, and for over 15 years with New York Theatre Ballet. He was a national and international guest artist and teacher and has worked across Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Steven co-choreographed his first large-scale work, Song Before Spring, for New York Theatre Ballet which was named a Dance Europe critic's choice “Best Premiere” of 2016. Steven is currently a member of the alumni advisory committee on diversity and inclusion for School of American Ballet and served as the Hiland Artistic Director for National Dance Institute New Mexico. Steven was named as the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Ballet in April of 2022Wendy Perron is a dancer/choreographer turned writer/editor/scholar. She trained in modern dance and ballet and earned a BA from Bennington College and an MA from SUNY Empire State College. She danced with the Trisha Brown Company in the 1970s and choreographed more than 40 works for her own group, which received commissions from Lincoln Center Festival, the Joyce Theater, Jacob's Pillow, and the Danspace Project. Perron has taught at Bennington, Princeton, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and the Conservatory at SUNY Purchase. In the early 1990s she served as associate director of Jacob's Pillow. She was the editor in chief of Dance Magazine from 2004 to 2013, and has also written for the New York Times, the Village Voice, vanityfair.com, and journals in Europe and China. An authority on Judson Dance Theater and postmodern dance, Perron has lectured across the country and in Russia and China. In 2011 she was the first dance artist to be inducted into the New York Foundation for the Arts' Hall of Fame. Her second book, The Grand Union: Accidental Anarchists of Downtown Dance, 1970-1975, met with acclaim when it was published in 2020. She has recently performed with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks in downtown venues. Her new online series, “Unsung Heroes of Dance History,” presents research on dance artists outside the “canon.” She has been on the Juilliard faculty since 2019.To see this performancehttps://nytb.org/tickets“Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey wherever you listen to your podcasts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://dancetalkwithjoannecarey.com/Follow Joanne on Instagram @westfieldschoolofdance Tune in. Follow. Like us. And Share. Please leave a review! “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey "Where the Dance World Connects, the Conversations Inspire, and Where We Are Keeping Them Real."

ContemporaryPerformance.com and the Sarah Lawrence College MFA Theatre Program produce the SLC Performance Lab. During the year, visiting artists to the MFA Theatre Program's Performance Lab are interviewed after leading a workshop with the students. Performance Lab is one of the program's core components, where graduate students work with guest artists and develop performance experiments. Sacha Yanow is interviewed by Julia Cowitt (SLC'24) and produced by Julia Duffy (SLC'25) Sacha Yanow is an NYC/Lenapehoking–based actor, performance artist and organizer. Yanow's performance practice draws on theater, dance, queer performance, and Jewish cultural traditions to reckon with ancestral trauma, gender and sexuality, antizionism and assimilation. Since 2015, Yanow has created a trio of solo performances based on familial archetypes— Dad Band (2015), Cherie Dre (2018) and Uncle! (2024) — these embodied portraits act as an entry point to discuss broader social issues, as well as connect to estranged personal and cultural histories. Sacha's work has been presented by venues including The Kitchen, MoMA PS1, Danspace Project, Joe's Pub, and the New Museum in NYC; PICA's TBA Festival/Cooley Gallery at Reed College in Portland, OR; and Festival Theaterformen in Hanover, Germany. They have received residency support from Baryshnikov Arts Center, Denniston Hill, LIFT Festival UK, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Mass MoCA, SOMA Mexico City, and Yaddo. Sacha has performed in theater, film and dance works by artists including Karen Finley, Sarah Michelson, Laura Parnes, Katy Pyle, Elisabeth Subrin, and Julie Tolentino. And they were a member of the Dyke Division of Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf, creators of Room for Cream, the live lesbian soap opera. Sacha is also working on two ongoing collaborative projects: a short film Grey Matter with organizer Bilal Ansari, disrupting settler colonial mythologies of their hometown of Williamstown, MA (Mohican Land); And an embodied dialogue Thank You for the Fire Between Us with Johannesburg-based performing artist Tshego Khutsoane involving divination practices. Sacha currently works as creative consultant for fellow artists and organizations. They served as Director of Art Matters Foundation for 12 years, and previously worked at The Kitchen as Director of Operations. They received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and are a graduate of the William Esper Studio Actor Training Program. Sacha is a member of the NY chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Photo by Allison Michael Orenstein

A NEW PERFORMANCE BY MORGAN BASSICHISWITH ORIGINAL MATERIAL BY FRANK MAYADIRECTED BY SAM PINKLETONMUSICAL RECREATIONS BY NATASHA JACOBSSCENIC RECREATION BY ELI WOODS HARRISONOctober 25–26, 2024In a desperate attempt to prove they can think about someone other than themself, Morgan Bassichis revisits queer comedian, musician, and performance artist Frank Maya's 1987 show, Frank Maya Talks. Maya was among the “first out gay comedians on network television” and on the precipice of mainstream success before his death from AIDS-related complications in 1995. This new “solo” performance humbly attempts to ensure Maya's legacy is no longer overlooked while also resolving the bottomless queer search for laughter in times of crisis and for fame and father figures and intense attachment dynamics no matter how fleeting.https://www.morganbassichis.com/ MORGAN BASSICHIS (They/Them) is a comedian, musician, and writer who has been called “a tall child or, well, a big bird” by The Nation and “fiercely hilarious” by The New Yorker. Their past performances include A Crowded Field (Abrons Arts Center, 2023), Questions to Ask Beforehand (Bridget Donahue, 2022), Don't Rain On My Bat Mitzvah (co-created with Ira Khonen Temple, Creative Time, 2021), Nibbling the Hand that Feeds Me (Whitney Museum, NYC, 2019), Klezmer for Beginners (co-created with Ethan Philbrick, Abrons Arts Center, NYC, 2019), Damned If You Duet (The Kitchen, NYC, 2018), More Protest Songs! (Danspace Project, NYC, 2018), and The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions: The Musical (co-created with TM Davy, DonChristian Jones, Michi Ilona Osato, and Una Aya Osato, New Museum, NYC, 2017).

The SLC Performance Lab is produced by ContemporaryPerformance.com and the Sarah Lawrence College MFA Theatre Program. During the year, visiting artists to the MFA Theatre Program's Performance Lab are interviewed after leading a workshop with the students. Performance Lab is one of the core components of the program where graduate students work with guest artists and develop performance experiments. Nile Harris is interviewed by Chisom Awachie (SLC'23)and Marisa Conroy (SLC'23)and produced by Chisom Awachie (SLC'23) Nile Harris is a performer and a director of live works of art. His work has been presented at the Palais de Tokyo, Under the Radar Festival (Public Theater), The Watermill Center, Volksbühne Berlin, Prelude Festival, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Otion Front Studio, and Movement Research at Judson Church. His work has been supported by Pepatián, Foundation for Contemporary Art, Abrons Arts Center, YoungArts, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. He is currently a resident of the Devised Theatre Working Group at the Public Theater/Under the Radar Festival under the leadership of Mark Russell. He has worked extensively as a performer originating roles in works by various artists including Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Bill Shannon, Robert Wilson, Nia Witherspoon, Lilleth Glimcher, Malcolm Betts X, and Miles Greenberg in venues including New York Live Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Tanz im August, The Walker Art Center, EMPAC, Danspace Project, Superblue, Stanford Live, Dublin Theatre Festival, and MESS Festival. Photo by Chloé Bellemère

In this episode, I sit down for a chat with my friend Bryn Cohn (she/Her). We talk career transitions, and the evolution of identity that comes with that. We look at this through the lens of her pursuing creative direction as an expansion of her artistic universe. And we also explore what it means to create sustainability practices both in dance and in this shifting landscape of social media and it's power in advertising and our lives in general. Join us for this wide-ranging and salient discussion. About Bryn- Bryn Cohn is an award-winning choreographer, educator, writer, movement and creative director. Her choreography has been presented by Jacob's Pillow, Danspace Project, Bryant Park, Hudson Valley Dance Festival, 92nd Street Y, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, McCallum's Choreography Competition and REDCAT Theater among others. She has been commissioned by BalletCollective, Repertory Dance Theatre, Los Angeles Ballet II, Big Muddy Dance Company, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Youth America Grand Prix and Billy Bell's Lunge Dance. Recent collaborations include with visual artist Olafur Eliasson and composer Alex Somers in her newest work "The First and Last Light" which was performed at Trinity Church in New York City. Cohn has been hired for commercial, fashion and visual art projects with Louis Vuitton, Smartwater, Betsey Johnson, Artists & Fleas and Tribeca Art Night.Cohn was nominated for a Princess Grace Fellowship in Choreography. She was selected to participate in the New Directions Choreography Lab at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – a creative residency supported by the Ford Foundation. She has been in artistic residence at Cal State Fullerton, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, University of Minnesota Duluth, Stockton University, Texas Christian University, Roger Williams College, University at Buffalo and Grand Valley State University. Cohn received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from CalArts and was honored as a distinguished alumni. She has a Master of Fine Arts from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a High Honors, Chancellor's and Regent's award recipient. Cohn is currently pursuing a career as a creative director in Los Angeles. She is enrolled in a professional development course through Art Center and has worked on campaigns for BMW, Converse, Clif Bars and In N Out.Where to find  Bryn: On Instagram Bryn's website  Where to find me: Connect with me on Instagram Check out my website Sign up for a free consult

Molly Joyce has been deemed one of the “most versatile, prolific and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome” by The Washington Post. Her work is concerned with disability as a creative source. She has an impaired left hand from a previous car accident, and the primary vehicle in her pursuit is her electric vintage toy organ, an instrument she bought on eBay which engages her disability on a compositional and performative level. Molly's creative projects have been presented and commissioned by Carnegie Hall, TEDxMidAtlantic, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Bang on a Can Marathon, Danspace Project, Americans for the Arts, National Sawdust, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, National Gallery of Art, Classical:NEXT, and in Pitchfork, Red Bull Radio, and WNYC's New Sounds. She is a graduate of Juilliard, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Yale, and alumnus of the YoungArts Foundation. She holds an Advanced Certificate in Disability Studies from City University of New York, and is a doctoral student at the University of Virginia in Composition and Computer Technologies. She has served on the composition faculties of New York University, Wagner College, and Berklee Online.

ONE & ONLY is an experimental comedy special written and performed by Sophia Cleary for an audience of one person. Using this 1:1 ratio of performer to audience, ONE & ONLY explores connection, intimacy and the shifting power dynamics in live comedy.   https://www.sophiacleary.com/ https://www.instagram.com/_sophia_cleary/ https://twitter.com/_sophia_cleary Sophia Cleary is a queer, genreless, childless & anti-disciplinary comedian, writer, and artist working with jokes, video, dance, music, and more. She has presented her work in NYC at the Center for Performance Research, Danspace Project, the Chocolate Factory, Dixon Place, The Kitchen, and e-flux and in Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum and Human Resources Gallery. Sophia co-created "Miracle," an anti-fan fiction play about Anne Geddes and GG Allin with performance artist Neal Medlyn. She is the founder and coordinator of the works-in-progress series REHEARSAL and former co-editor for Ugly Duckling Presse's performance annual Emergency INDEX. She is one-half of feminist punk band Penis, a collaboration with Samara Davis. Film playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it's only $3.99 per month. Subscribe to the podcast: https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/ https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

Taryn Griggs and Chris Yon create original dance works that are deadpan slapstick, understated melodrama, autobiographical science fiction, cubist vaudeville, asymmetrically consonant explorations of magic and virtuosity in everyday movement. They met at the Bessie Schönberg Artist Residency at The Yard in 2002 and have been working together ever since. They were participants in the dance communities of New York City, Minneapolis, and Iowa City, before moving to Winston-Salem. Chris and Taryn's choreographies have been presented across the US, Canada, Ireland, and France. In New York, in addition to the presentation of their work at La MaMa, Dance Theater Workshop, PS122, The Kitchen,and Danspace Project, they appeared together in the work of David Neumann, Yoshiko Chuma, Karinne Keithley Syers, and Sara Rudner. During their years in the Twin Cities, they were both McKnight Fellows,co-curators for Choreographer's Evening at the Walker Art Center, and their work was presented as part of the Walker's Momentum Dance Series at The Southern, Red Eye Theater's Isolated Acts, Jaime Carrera's Outlet Performance Festival, and 9x22 at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Since moving to Winston-Salem, their work has been commissioned by the North Carolina Dance Festival (NCDF), American Dance Festival (ADF), and they have been developing a platform for new work and collaborations through the ongoing project, Interstitial: A site specific dance during the changeovers between art exhibits at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. Griggs teaches at UNCSA, Yon at Appalachian State University. During COVID, their work temporarily moved to the screen. Check out these short screendances commissioned by ADF: Glimmer by Chris Yon; and Chris, Bea, and me by Taryn Griggs; and this one commissioned by NCDF: Untitled (Smoke Stacks) by Chris and Taryn.

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with New York City-based dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and photographer, Kayla Farrish. Kayla is the founder and director of Kayla Farrish/Decent Structure Arts. Through which she shares her vision of intimate storytelling and makes work that delves into socio-political structures and the liberation of people. Her work has garnered residencies and film screenings across the country, as well as commissions by Gibney Dance and Danspace Project in New York. https://www.kaylafarrish.com/https://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/social-distance-video-series/view/Kayla-Farrish-Armstrong-Now-Louis-Armstrong- 

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/Arnie Zane Dance Company, among others. Her work has been seen throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia, and South America and has been presented in NYC at Danspace Project, Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church, Dance Theatre Workshop/New York Live Arts, and La MaMa MOVES! Dance Festival, to name just a few. She is currently a Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College of Columbia University. For more on this podcast: Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast

Chris Schlichting lives in the Twin Cities within the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of the Dakota people, and is a Minnesota-based, performer and dance enthusiast who believes in a flexible definition of dance. His choreography expresses itself as a tensile inclusion of dichotomies. Relying on the formality of structural investigation and the emotion of earnest expression, his dances evoke the grandiosity of spectacle and the delicacy of intimate moments. Schlichting develops dances outside the constraints of thematic and conceptual frameworks, allowing the choreographic process to develop focus through physical intuition and sensory awareness.Schlichting was named Best Choreographer in 2013 by City Pages for his work Matching Drapes, which also received two Sage Awards, including one for “Best Performance” and one for “Best Design”. He is a 2015 McKnight Choreography Fellow, administered by The Cowles Center and funded by the McKnight Foundation, and was the first recipient of the American Dance Institute's (now Lumberyard) Solange MacArthur Award for New Choreography, a project that provides commissioning funds, fiscal sponsorship, developmental and production support for a new work from one U.S. based choreographer every year. Schlichting's 2015 work Stripe Tease was named a “Top dance of 2015” by the Star Tribune.Schlichting has been presented by venues throughout Minnesota, including the Walker Art Center, the Cowles Center, The Southern Theater, the Bryant Lake Bowl, the Red Eye Theater and many more; in New York at Danspace Project and as a frequent contributor to CATCH! performance series; Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, IA; ODC in San Francisco, CA; Velocity in Seattle, WA; Fusebox Festival in Austin,TX; the Storefront Theater (Chicago, IL). Schlichting's work has also been commissioned by James Sewell Ballet (Ballet Works Project), Carleton College, The Southern Theater, Young Dance, and Zenon DanceCompany.

Miguel Gutierrez lives in Brooklyn, NY. He creates dance based performances, music and poetry. His work has been presented at Centre National de Danse/Pantin, Centre Pompidou, Kampnagel, ImPulsTanz, Philly Live Arts, Walker Art Center, TBA/PICA, MCA Chicago, ICA Boston, New York Live Arts, Live Arts Bard, AMERICAN REALNESS, the 2014 Whitney Biennial and many other festivals and venues. He has received support from Creative Capital, MAP, National Dance Project, Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts and the Tides Foundation. He is a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow, United States Artist Fellow, and award recipient from Foundation for Contemporary Art. He is a 2016 Doris Duke Artist. He has received four New York Dance and Performance Bessie Awards. His recent work includes a commission for Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy, France, called Cela nous concerne tous (This concerns all of us), which was inspired by the events of May 1968 in France. He has created music for several of his works, for choreographer Antonio Ramos, and in collaboration with Colin Self for Jen Rosenblit and Simone Aughterlony's Everything Fits In The Room. He has performed as a singer with Anohni, Justin Vivian Bond, Vincent Segal, and Holcombe Waller, has a music duo with Nick Hallett called Nudity in Dance, and he recently launched a project called SADONNA, sad versions of Madonna songs. He invented DEEP AEROBICS and he is a Feldenkrais Method® practitioner. He is the program director for LANDING, a new educational initiative at Gibney Dance Center. His book WHEN YOU RISE UP is available from 53rd State Press. www.miguelgutierrez.org Ishmael Houston-Jones' improvised dance and text work has been performed world-wide. Drawn to collaboration as a way to move beyond boundaries and the known, Houston-Jones celebrates the political aspect of cooperation. Houston-Jones curated Platform 2012: Parallels at Danspace Project, an 8-week series of events that interrogated the intersection of dance makers from the African Diaspora with the aesthetics of Post-modern choreography. In 2016 he co-curated, with Will Rawls, Platform 2016: Lost and Found – Dance, New York, HIV/AIDS, Then and Now that queried the effects that the loss of a generation of artists to AIDS has had on current dance creation. As an author Ishmael Houston-Jones' writing has been anthologized in several books, recently in Saturation – Race, Art and the Circulation of Value, (2020) and Writers Who Love Too Much – New Narrative 1977 – 1997, (2017). Houston-Jones' first book FAT and Other Stories was published in 2018 The recipient of four New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards, Houston-Jones' work has received support from: The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, 2018; The Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts, 2016; The Doris Duke Charitable Trust, 2015; and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, 2013. Ishmael Houston-Jones is an adjunct professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts' Experimental Theater Wing and a master lecturer at The University of the Arts (Philadelphia) School of Dance. www.batesdancefestival.org

Benedict Nguyen is a writer, dancer, and curator based on occupied Lenape and Wappinger lands (South Bronx, NY). Benedict's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in AAWW's the Margins, Flypaper, and PANK. Their fiction writing was supported by an AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship in 2017. They're at work on a novel. Their criticism has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Shondaland, the Establishment, and Culturebot, among others, and in commissioned profiles for Danspace Project, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Fusebox Festival. As the 2019 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow at ISSUE Project Room, Benedict created the multidisciplinary performance platform “soft bodies in hard places,” which has partnered with Materials for the Arts, Culturebot, the Asian American Writers Workshop, Center for Performance Research, and Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance! (BAAD!). They've performed in DapperQ Fashion week and in recent works by Sally Silvers, José Rivera, Jr., Nick Mauss at the Whitney Museum, Monstah Black, and more. They've worked as an arts admin unicorn and grant writer for Jennifer Monson, Donna Uchizono, and John Jasperse. They've served on selection committees for Movement Research at Judson Church, the MAP Fund, and Bronx Council on the Arts. Otherwise, Benedict has worked a tutor, grant writer, Postmate, cater waiter, and more. As a producer, educator, and artistic entrepreneur, Johnnie Cruise Mercer leads as the Company Director of Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC (@jcm_redprojectnyc). His process-memoirs, happenings, and performance events have been commissioned/held at The Dixon Place, Bates Dance Festival (@batesdancefestival), Brooklyn Arts Exchange (@baxarts), AUNTS @NYU Skirball, The NADA Conference (@newartdealers), Abrons Arts Center (@abronsartcenter), The Fusebox Festival (@fuseboxfestival), Gibney (@gibneydance), Danspace Project Inc (@danspaceproject), The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (@theclaricemd), and most recently at the 92Y Harkness Dance Center. Mercer is currently 2019-2021 Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (@baxarts), 2020-2021 Black Artist Space to Create AIR through The New Dance Alliance (@newdancealliance) and a 2020-2021 Ping Chong + Company (@pingchongco) Creative Fellow. Find out more info on the company and the work at www.trpnyc.com. Transcripts of this episode are available at odc.dance/stories.

Photo by Whitney Browne Alethea Pace is a Bronx-based choreographer and performer. Her first solo performance work, trying to sweep back the ocean with a broom, was created with support from Pepatian’s Open Call Residency and was performed at BAAD! (2016) and New York Live Arts (2017). Her second evening-length work, Bring Me Flowers, was developed with support from residencies including New York Live Arts’ Fresh Tracks, Dancing While Black, 92Y Harkness Dance and premiered at Pregones Theater in 2018. She is currently working on Here goes the neighborhood... , a multimedia performance installation that reminds us of the wealth of knowledge we have in our bodies, memories and geographies, and empowers us to dream of radical visions for our future. As a dancer, Alethea has performed with a variety of choreographers and was a member of Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre for eight years. She has been a collaborator in numerous multimedia community-centered arts projects including Angela’s Pulse and the Laundromat Project. Alethea trained at Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in the Bronx. She has a BA in Urban Design from NYU where she completed her thesis project on the history of Bronx housing. She is currently expanding her artistic practice as an MFA candidate at the City College of New York’s Digital and Interdisciplinary Arts Practice program. She was awarded the BRIO award and CUNY Dance Initiative in 2019 and was BAAD!’s Muse Artist in Residence in 2020. Read more at aletheapace.com or follow her on instagram @alethea_pace Alethea Pace and Richard Rivera perform Here goes the neighborhood... Photo by Trevon Blondet Alethea Pace performs Bring me flowers at Danspace Project in 2019. Photo by Paula Lobo

Okwui Okpokwasili is a performer, choreographer and writer who creates multidisciplinary works that center the stories and experiences of those overlooked by history, in particular Black women and girls in America and in Nigeria, from where her own parents immigrated. Her performance work has been commissioned by such varied cultural institutions as the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Danspace Project in New York City and the 10th Annual Berlin Biennale, and she has performed on stages and in institutions all over the world. She has received some of this country’s most prestigious cultural accolades, including a Doris Duke Award and an Alpert Award, and in 2018 she earned a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation, which cited her ability to “mesmerize audiences with her shape-shifting character play, sinuous grace, and rich, hypnotic voice.” Speaking to Pier Carlo Talenti and Rob Kramer from her home in Brooklyn, Okwui describes the grief and longing that she, a profoundly collaborative artist, has experienced during the isolation of the pandemic. She also makes the case that the institutions that deserve the most support now and henceforth are those that, like she, place collaboration and inquiry at the heart of their work and ethos. https://news.yale.edu/2020/08/16/making-art-macarthur-winning-alumna-okwui-okpokwasili https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/arts/dance/okwui-okpokwasili-danspace.html

From the act of translating dance into words to finding understanding between two divorced parents - Josie Long presents stories of interpretation. What Is This Shape? Producer: Jess Shane Music: Daniel Pencer Featuring. iele paloumpis, Seta Morton, Alejandra Ospina and Krishna Washburn This research featured in this doc was catalyzed by the evening-length dance performance of In place of catastrophe, a clear night sky, which was set to premiere at Danspace Project in May 2020, but has been postponed due to COVID-19. It was directed by iele paloumpis in collaboration with Marielys Burgos-Meléndez, Seta Morton, Alejandra Ospina, Monica Rodriguez, Ogemdi Ude, Krishna Washburn, Adrien Weibgen and Marýa Wethers. For more information, please visit inplaceofcatastrophe.com The project featured in this doc was made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project Commissioning Initiative and Production Residency Program funded by the Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; with additional support through a 2019 Movement Research Residency, funded by the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund; and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC); as well as Dance/NYC's Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program, made possible by the generous support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and with additional support from the New York Community Trust. Creative developmental residencies at The Chocolate Factory Theater, Queer|Art Pride at Abrons Arts Center, AUNTS Residency at Mount Tremper Arts, and the Zil Culture Center in Moscow through the GPS/Global Practice Sharing program of Movement Research with funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, have also contributed to this ongoing research. Poem With Captions By Raymond Antrobus A Birthday Card Producer: Nanna Hauge Kristensen Sound Design: Astrid Hald I'm So Sorry Producer: Eleanor McDowall Music: Jeremy Warmsley Created for audioplayground.xyz Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

This episode we have a fantastic conversation with the talented artist Camilo Godoy. Camilo is an artist whose practice is concerned with the construction of political meanings and histories. His work engages with conceptual, photographic, and choreographic strategies to analyze and challenge past and present historical moments to imagine different subversive ways of being. Godoy was born in Bogotá, Colombia and is currently based in New York, United States. He is a graduate of The New School with a BFA from Parsons School of Design, 2012; and a BA from Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, 2013. Godoy was a 2018 Session Artist, Recess; 2018 Artist-in-Residence, Leslie-Lohman Museum; 2018 Artist-in-Residence, coleção moraes-barbosa; 2017 Artist-in-Residence, International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP); 2015-2017 Artist-in-Residence, Movement Research; among others. He has presented his work in New York at the Brooklyn Museum, CUE, Danspace Project; Mousonturm, Frankfurt; and Toronto Biennial, Toronto; among others. In his teaching practice he uses inquiry-based, multimodal learning strategies and movement-based techniques to support intellectual and creative curiosity. Godoy has taught various age groups at the Brooklyn Museum, Dedalus Foundation, Leslie-Lohman Museum and Whitney Museum. His teaching philosophy is influenced by the writings of educational theorists, such as John Dewey, Paulo Freire, bell hooks and Corita Kent, who center democracy, love and joy as essential elements for teaching and learning. Some artists mentioned in this episode: Ed Clark Gran Fury Felix Gonzalez-Torres Bob Mizer Robert Mapplethorpe Pepón Osorio Mario Moore For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram.

Okwui Okpokwasili received a B.A. (1996) from Yale University. Her performance work has been commissioned by the Walker Art Center, Danspace Project, Performance Space New York, the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, the 10th Annual Berlin Biennale, and Jacob’s Pillow, among other institutions. She has held residencies at the Maggie Allesee National Choreographic Center, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Rauschenberg Foundation Captiva Residency, and New York Live Arts, where she was a Randjelovic/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist. She is a MacArthur Genius Fellow and a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

Performer Morgan Bassichis talks about the drama of sealing an envelope and the pleasure of leaving parties early.  ABOUT THE GUEST: Morgan Bassichis is a comedic performer whose recent shows include Nibbling the Hand That Feeds Me in the 2019 Whitney Biennial, Klezmer for Beginners at Abrons Arts Center (2019), Damned If You Duet at the Kitchen (2018), and More Protest Songs! at Danspace Project (2018). Morgan has presented work at the New Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, Hirshhorn Museum, MoMA PS1, the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art. They have contributed writing to Artforum, Radical History Review, Captive Genders, and the 2019 edition of The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions (1977). ABOUT THE HOST: Neil Goldberg is an artist in NYC who makes work that The New York Times has described as “tender, moving and sad but also deeply funny.” His work is in the permanent collection of MoMA and other museums, he’s a Guggenheim Fellow, and teaches at the Yale School of Art. More information at neilgoldberg.com. ABOUT THE TITLE:  SHE'S A TALKER was the name of Neil’s first video project. “One night in the early 90s I was combing my roommate’s cat and found myself saying the words ‘She’s a talker.’ I wondered how many other other gay men in NYC might be doing the exact same thing at that very moment. With that, I set out on a project in which I videotaped over 80 gay men in their living room all over NYC, combing their cats and saying ‘She’s a talker.’” A similar spirit of NYC-centric curiosity and absurdity animates the podcast. CREDITS: This series is made possible with generous support from Stillpoint Fund. Producer: Devon Guinn Creative Consultants: Stella Binion, Aaron Dalton, Molly Donahue Assistant Producers: Itai Almor, Charlie Theobald Editor: Andrew Litton Visuals and Sounds: Joshua Graver Theme Song: Jeff Hiller Media: Justine Lee with help from Angela Liao and Alex Qiao Thanks: Jennifer Callahan, Roger Kingsepp, Tod Lippy, Nick Rymer, Maddy Sinnock, Sue Simon, Shirin Mazdeyasna   TRANSCRIPT  

Pod de Deux interviewed Ni’Ja Whitson as part of a series of interviews with five 2019 NYC Bessie Award nominees. Ni’Ja was nominated for a Bessie for outstanding production and Visual Design of Oba Qween Baba King Baba, which was Co-commissioned by Danspace Project and Abrons Arts Center. We hope to do a full-length interview […]

On this episode your co-hosts Martheya and Reyna interview Jordan Fuchs. Fuchs is a choreographer, performer and a Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. His choreography for stage and screen is grounded in improvisational practice, specifically the bias towards disorientation, sensation and process of contact improvisation, a movement form he has been practicing for more than 25 years. He utilizes the aesthetic values of improvisation to find the instability of each performance moment and the possibility of transformation through sensation. A Fulbright Specialist, he has received commissions from venues including, Danspace Project in NYC, and his work has been presented nationally and internationally. Fuchs  is the founder of the annual Texas Dance Improvisation Festival. On this episode, we talk about starting an improvisation festival for dance, leveraging resources you have, how to create dance culture as a space for exchange, strategies for staying connected to the dance world, using Facebook groups in dance-making process for integrating documentation and communication, curating publicity content for a university dance department, and new ways of learning dance in the digital world.   Apply to kNOwBOXdance Film Festival http://www.knowboxdance.com/nb-film-festival.html Detailed shownotes: http://www.knowboxdance.com/podcast.html  

Tune in this week where I sit down to talk with Jasmine Hearn and Tatyana Tenenbaum to discuss their sharedevening COLLECTIVE TERRAIN/S What is like to curate and perform? How did they start these pieces? How havethey made space to navigate their personal vulnerabilities in addition to supporting their collaborators in their ownjourneys?Find out on this week's special Wednesday Edition episode! Come see COLLECTIVE TERRAIN/S May 2nd 3rd and4th and Danspace Project at 8pm!As always, make it live, make it breathe, just make it! See you next week!

Tune in this week where I sit down to talk with Jasmine Hearn and Tatyana Tenenbaum to discuss their shared evening COLLECTIVE TERRAIN/S What is like to curate and perform? How did they start these pieces? How have they made space to navigate their personal vulnerabilities in addition to supporting their collaborators in their own journeys? Find out on this week's special Wednesday Edition episode! Come see COLLECTIVE TERRAIN/S May 2nd 3rd and 4th and Danspace Project at 8pm! As always, make it live, make it breathe, just make it! See you next week! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Eva Yaa Asantewaa (2017 Bessie Award winner for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance) is a writer, curator and community educator. Since 1976, she has contributed writing on dance to Dance Magazine, The Village Voice, SoHo Weekly News, Gay City News, The Dance Enthusiast, Time Out New York and other publications and interviewed dance artists and advocates as host of two podcasts, Body and Soul and Serious Moonlight. She blogs on the arts, with dance as a specialty, for InfiniteBody and served as Editor in Chief of Dancer's Turn, a blog devoted to longform profiles of dance artists, created by students of her "Writing on Dance" workshop series at New York Live Arts. Ms. Yaa Asantewaa joined the curatorial team for Danspace Project’s Platform 2016: Lost and Found and created the skeleton architecture, or the future of our worlds, featuring 21 Black women and gender-nonconforming performers for an evening of group improvisation. Her cast was awarded a 2017 Bessie for Outstanding Performer. As EYA Projects, she has begun partnerships with organizations such as Gibney Dance Center, Abrons Arts Center, Dance/NYC, BAX and Dancing While Black to curate and facilitate Long Table conversations on topics of concern in the dance/performance community. She was a member of the inaugural faculty of Montclair State University’s MFA in Dance program. She has also served on the faculty for New England Foundation for the Arts' Regional Dance Development Initiative Dance Lab 2016 for emerging Chicago-area dance artists. In May 2017, she served on the faculty for the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography's inaugural Moving Forward Dialogues Dance Lab for Emerging Choreographers. Ms. Yaa Asantewaa served as a member of the New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards committee for three years and as a consultant or panelist for numerous arts funding or awards organizations including the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. A native New Yorker of Black Caribbean heritage, Eva makes her home in the East Village with her wife, Deborah, and cat, Crystal. https://infinitebody.blogspot.com

An active member of the dance community for more than 35 years, Risa Steinberg served as the associate director of The Juilliard School from 2009 to 2016. As a solo artist, teacher, rehearsal coach, and director of the works of José Limón, she has toured the world performing and teaching extensively. Risa is a former principal dancer with the José Limón Dance Company, Bill Cratty Dance Theater, Annabelle Gamson, Anna Sokolow's Player's Project, Colin Connor, and American Repertory Dance Company of Los Angeles. She has been a guest artist with choreographers including Wally Cardona, Sean Curran, and Danzahoy of Caracas, Venezuela. Her solo concert, A Celebration of Dance, features repertory from Isadora Duncan and Doris Humphrey to contemporary choreographers Wally Cardona and Ann Carlson. As a reconstructor of the works of Limón, Risa has worked with companies and dancers around the world including Nureyev and Friends, Frank Augustyn, Karen Kain, and the Pennsylvania Ballet. She was a dance panelist for the N.Y.S. Council on the Arts and presently sits on the Artists Advisory board for Danspace Project at St. Marks Church. In this episode we cover the following topics: Talent recruitment (objective vs. subjective characteristics, adherence to standards) The importance of skill development early in a performer’s career Limitations of fear based learning When coaches are the problem Capturing emotion and feeling without being overcome with emotion to the point that it detracts from execution Part vs. whole learning/periodization of dance Do generational changes require different educational approaches How do performers (and their directors) avoid complacency despite adhering to the same "script" night in and night out

In our very first episode of art Work, we welcome to the table Marýa Wethers, Dan Fishback, and Rasu Jilani to talk about curatorial practices! If curation is community service, what is a “good” curator? Our guests weigh in and discuss just what are the right questions, how to fail within the context of curation, and reflect on how they bring their full selves to their work. Learn more about our guests, Marya, Dan, & Rasu on Episode 1 of art Work and our guest musician, Nova Mandarke! Marýa Wethers is an Independent Manager, Producer & Curator based in NYC since 1997. Marýa is currently the Director of International Initiatives at Movement Research and Project Manager for Angela's Pulse/Dancing While Black, David Thomson and others. From 2007-2014, she worked in the Programming Department at New York Live Arts (formerly Dance Theater Workshop/DTW) as the International Project Director of the Suitcase Fund program, where she developed a cultural exchange program with contemporary dance artists in the USA and Africa, and managed the program activities in Eastern/Central Europe. Marýa is a Guest Curator of the Queer New York International Arts Festival (2016 & 2015 editions) and curated the Out of Space @ BRIC Studio series for Danspace Project (2003-2007) with a particular focus on work representing the perspectives and experiences of artists who are of color, queer, and/or female. She has served on selection panels for several presenting and funding organizations in NY and nationally, including the NEA, LMCC, Brooklyn Arts Council, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and as an Advisor to NEFA's National Dance Project program. She has served as a guest lecturer for presenting/service organizations and college/university dance programs in the tristate area. Marýa is a core member of the Movement Research Artists of Color Council and was a member of the New York Dance & Performance/Bessie Award Committee (2006-07). Her writing has appeared in the Configurations in Motion: Curating and Communities of Color publication, organized by Thomas DeFrantz at Duke University (2016 & 2015), and her essay UnCHARTed Legacies: women of color in post-modern dance, was published in the 25th Anniversary Movement Research Performance Journal #27/28 (2004). Marýa has been featured in interviews/articles in the MRPJ #47 (Fall 2015) and Gay City News (June 2006). Marýa is a recipient of a National Performance Network Mentorship & Leadership award and two APAP Cultural Exchange Fund grants. Marýa graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1997 with a BA in Dance and a Minor in African-American Studies. Dan Fishback is a playwright, musician, and director of the Helix Queer Performance Network. Previous work includes “The Material World” (Top 10 Plays of 2012 - Time Out New York) and “thirtynothing” (2011), which were both developed at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange and performed at Dixon Place, and “You Will Experience Silence” (2009), which the Village Voice called “sassier and more fun than ‘Angels in America.’” As a singer songwriter, and with his band Cheese On Bread, Fishback has toured Europe and North America, and has released five full-length albums. As Helix director, he teaches workshops, organizes public events, and curates and produces a variety of festivals and series, including "La MaMa's Squirts." He is currently working on a new play, “Rubble Rubble,&rdq

An interview with Joanna Kotz, a Brooklyn-based dancer, choreographer, and teacher who is also recipient of the 2013 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer. A former long-time dancer with Wally Cardona, her choreographic work has been shown in such NY theaters as Baryshnikov Arts Center and Danspace Project, with residencies around the globe including at The Bogliasco Foundation in Italy and The Carmargo Foundation in France.

Danspace Project will present "Sound Memory"--a full-evening world premiere by the talented young dancer-choreographer Julian Barnett. Barnett joins me to talk about this work, inspired by the influence of old audio technology--music cassette tapes--on memory and imagination. "Sound Memory" at Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, Thursday-Saturday, 8:30pm. Schedule and ticketing information at http://www.danspaceproject.org or 866-811-4111 Julian Barnett Web site at http://www.julianbarnett.com Dance critic and blogger Apollinaire Scherr's essay on a preview of "Sound Memory" can be found at http://www.artsjournal.com /foot/2008/06/julian_barnetts_sound_memory_a.html. (c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody (http://infinitebody.blogspot.com)

My guest, the emerging choreographer Tara O'Con, will make her Danspace Project debut with the eerie, intriguing "Walk It Once"--a trio originally presented at The Chocolate Factory in June 2008. She shares a program with choreographer-puppeteer Enrico D. Wey, January 22-24, 8:30pm. Tara O'Con graduated with honors in 2003 with a B.A. in dance and performance from Roger Williams University. Currently residing in Brooklyn, she has presented her work in showcases at Dixon Place, The Brooklyn Arts Exchange, WOW Café Theater, The Chocolate Factory Theater (Fresh Meat Festival), and by Dancenow NYC. In 2007, O'Con was among six emerging choreographers to be chosen for Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program. She returned to The Chocolate Factory Theater for the presentation of the first full-length production of her work in June of 2008. As a dancer, she has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with Stephan Koplowitz, Ellis Wood Dance, Jillian Sweeney, Megan Sprenger/mvworks, Sam Kim, Red Metal Mailbox, Ben Munisteri Dance Projects, Mina Nishimura, Rocha Dance Theater, Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, Tami Stronach, and Third Rail Projects. Additional guest and concert information at http://www.danspaceproject.org Read Eva's InfiniteBody blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

It’s immediately clear that Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects take great pleasure in their work and that the personal bond between them creates an atmosphere of trust and courage that nourishes their entire artistic team. The dancer-choreographers spoke with me today about their partnership, their creative process and “Vanishing Point,” a new presentation at Danspace Project (June 26-28). BIOS TOM PEARSON Tom Pearson works in a variety of media. Each work introduces its own movement and/or visual vocabulary, defined by the parameters of the subject and performance environment. Pearson’s work ranges from the surreal to the absurd, and part of his creative project includes an examination of American Indian identity in urban situations and everyday circumstances. Through the lens of a contemporary movement vocabulary, he creates dense, evocative worlds that illuminate the transient and the transformational, using movement abstracted from and coupled with everyday action. Paired with this is a fierce percussive abandon, often complimented by meditative nuance. Likewise, Pearson uses art installation to achieve rich, multi-dimensional environments, and site-specific explorations seek to mine public spaces for hidden meaning and to capture and engage unwary and uninitiated passersby. Tom Pearson has been commissioned to create original site-specific works as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s SiteLines series, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and American Express’s River to River Festival; by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the 2006 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival; and by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation for the SWIRE ISalnd East Urban Dance Festival 2007. His work has been presented in New York by Dixon Place; La Mama E.T.C.; with The Thunderbird Indian Dancers at Theater for the New City; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church; The New York International Fringe Festival; the D.U.M.B.O. Dance Festival; The Bridge for Dance; and Crazy Cuban Productions/Dance Space Center. Pearson has been supported by creative residencies at LMCC’s MOVE:133 Beekman in space generously provided by General Growth Properties, Inc.; the Great Neck House, Great Neck, NY; by a Harkness Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center; Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts; Epiphany Theater Company; and as part of The Swarthmore Project at Swarthmore College, PA. Tom Pearson is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and frequently collaborates with the other members of Third Rail on joint ventures. He received his M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University, his B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in English from Florida State University. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at the Florida School of the Arts; as a movement instructor for Opera Workshop at LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and the Performing Arts (through New York City Opera's Arts-in-Education program); as the Dance Program Coordinator at the award-winning LEVELS teen center in Long Island; and as a part of several other high school and special interest programs and through master classes at Swarthmore College and Florida State University. Pearson's writings on dance have been published in Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, Time Out New York Kids, and Uncoolkids.com. ZACH MORRIS Zach Morris believes that art should be fun. He also believes it should be well-crafted, engaging and have some meat to it. Most of all, Zach believes that art is a means to an end–a meditative discipline and an on-going investigation of the human condition utilizing a communicative system of images, juxtapositions and metaphors that resonate on a fundamental, intuitive level. As such, he is deeply interested in exploring themes and relationships that illuminate the broader patterns of human experience. He is fascinated with evoking archetypal images and placing them into highly personal or pedestrian contexts. By colliding the mythic with the mundane he has begun to understand how these dream-like images can inform, shape and elucidate our day-to-day existence. Zach hopes to effect positive change by creating projects that allow both the artist and audience to sidestep our preconceived notions about our reality and ourselves, and allow us access to more elusive but equally potent ways of understanding. Some people have written about his work and said it is "wickedly funny", "visually stunning" and "hauntingly melancholy." Other people have said, "there is no escaping the feeling that you have been doing drugs for the past hour. Good drugs." Zach is a director, choreographer, author, visual artist, and filmmaker. His work has been seen in London, at several theaters around the US and at numerous venues in New York City including: the South Street Seaport as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's SiteLines Series, Dance Theater Workshop, Dance New Amsterdam, University Settlement/The New York Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, the Williamsburg Art Nexus, and The Merce Cunningham Studio. He has received the Henry Boettcher Award for Excellence in Directing, the NYC Fringe Fest Award for Excellence in Choreography, and has been granted residencies or commissions from La Mama, LMCC, the Swarthmore Project, The Great Neck House, Epiphany Theatre Company, Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts, and others. Zach is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and has also served as the Co-Creator and Co-Director of the Westbeth New Works Program; the National and International Programs Associate at Dance Theater Workshop; the Bartender at a number of questionable establishments; and most recently, as the Dance Coordinator at LEVELS, a teen-center based in Long Island. Zach has a B.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. Click on name above to go to Zach's page. EVENT “Vanishing Point” at Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church–June 26-28, 8:30pm. A post-show discussion with dance writer Brian McCormick and the choreographers will follow the opening night performance. LINKS Third Rail Projects http://www.thirdrailprojects.com Danspace Project http://www.danspaceproject.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

It’s immediately clear that Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects take great pleasure in their work and that the personal bond between them creates an atmosphere of trust and courage that nourishes their entire artistic team. The dancer-choreographers spoke with me today about their partnership, their creative process and “Vanishing Point,” a new presentation at Danspace Project (June 26-28). BIOS TOM PEARSON Tom Pearson works in a variety of media. Each work introduces its own movement and/or visual vocabulary, defined by the parameters of the subject and performance environment. Pearson’s work ranges from the surreal to the absurd, and part of his creative project includes an examination of American Indian identity in urban situations and everyday circumstances. Through the lens of a contemporary movement vocabulary, he creates dense, evocative worlds that illuminate the transient and the transformational, using movement abstracted from and coupled with everyday action. Paired with this is a fierce percussive abandon, often complimented by meditative nuance. Likewise, Pearson uses art installation to achieve rich, multi-dimensional environments, and site-specific explorations seek to mine public spaces for hidden meaning and to capture and engage unwary and uninitiated passersby. Tom Pearson has been commissioned to create original site-specific works as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s SiteLines series, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and American Express’s River to River Festival; by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the 2006 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival; and by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation for the SWIRE ISalnd East Urban Dance Festival 2007. His work has been presented in New York by Dixon Place; La Mama E.T.C.; with The Thunderbird Indian Dancers at Theater for the New City; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church; The New York International Fringe Festival; the D.U.M.B.O. Dance Festival; The Bridge for Dance; and Crazy Cuban Productions/Dance Space Center. Pearson has been supported by creative residencies at LMCC’s MOVE:133 Beekman in space generously provided by General Growth Properties, Inc.; the Great Neck House, Great Neck, NY; by a Harkness Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center; Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts; Epiphany Theater Company; and as part of The Swarthmore Project at Swarthmore College, PA. Tom Pearson is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and frequently collaborates with the other members of Third Rail on joint ventures. He received his M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University, his B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in English from Florida State University. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at the Florida School of the Arts; as a movement instructor for Opera Workshop at LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and the Performing Arts (through New York City Opera's Arts-in-Education program); as the Dance Program Coordinator at the award-winning LEVELS teen center in Long Island; and as a part of several other high school and special interest programs and through master classes at Swarthmore College and Florida State University. Pearson's writings on dance have been published in Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, Time Out New York Kids, and Uncoolkids.com. ZACH MORRIS Zach Morris believes that art should be fun. He also believes it should be well-crafted, engaging and have some meat to it. Most of all, Zach believes that art is a means to an end–a meditative discipline and an on-going investigation of the human condition utilizing a communicative system of images, juxtapositions and metaphors that resonate on a fundamental, intuitive level. As such, he is deeply interested in exploring themes and relationships that illuminate the broader patterns of human experience. He is fascinated with evoking archetypal images and placing them into highly personal or pedestrian contexts. By colliding the mythic with the mundane he has begun to understand how these dream-like images can inform, shape and elucidate our day-to-day existence. Zach hopes to effect positive change by creating projects that allow both the artist and audience to sidestep our preconceived notions about our reality and ourselves, and allow us access to more elusive but equally potent ways of understanding. Some people have written about his work and said it is "wickedly funny", "visually stunning" and "hauntingly melancholy." Other people have said, "there is no escaping the feeling that you have been doing drugs for the past hour. Good drugs." Zach is a director, choreographer, author, visual artist, and filmmaker. His work has been seen in London, at several theaters around the US and at numerous venues in New York City including: the South Street Seaport as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's SiteLines Series, Dance Theater Workshop, Dance New Amsterdam, University Settlement/The New York Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, the Williamsburg Art Nexus, and The Merce Cunningham Studio. He has received the Henry Boettcher Award for Excellence in Directing, the NYC Fringe Fest Award for Excellence in Choreography, and has been granted residencies or commissions from La Mama, LMCC, the Swarthmore Project, The Great Neck House, Epiphany Theatre Company, Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts, and others. Zach is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and has also served as the Co-Creator and Co-Director of the Westbeth New Works Program; the National and International Programs Associate at Dance Theater Workshop; the Bartender at a number of questionable establishments; and most recently, as the Dance Coordinator at LEVELS, a teen-center based in Long Island. Zach has a B.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. Click on name above to go to Zach's page. EVENT “Vanishing Point” at Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church–June 26-28, 8:30pm. A post-show discussion with dance writer Brian McCormick and the choreographers will follow the opening night performance. LINKS Third Rail Projects http://www.thirdrailprojects.com Danspace Project http://www.danspaceproject.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Brazil-born/New York-based Regina Nejman will bring "Reveal" to the Merce Cunningham Studio, May 1-4. This new dance-theater piece explores the meaning of privacy in today's technology-driven world, delving into the relationship between privacy and technology, and the impact of this relationship on everyday life. BIO Regina Nejman has been creating her own choreography since 1993. She formed Regina Nejman and Company in 1997. Recipient of the Outstanding Choreography Award at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival for the premiere of "The Velocity of Things," Regina and her company have been steadily touring Brazil for the past two years, where the company has been received with standing ovations. Regina is a 2007/08 Artist in Residence at Joyce SoHo and has been awarded a Dance Theater Workshop Outer/Space residency for next summer. She has received commissions from Princeton University, The Yard and The New Jersey City University, and her work has been presented at Jacob's Pilow Dance Festival, Symphony Space, Joyce SoHo, The New York Film Academy, The New York International Fringe Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project and Merce Cunningham Studio. EVENTS Visit an open rehearsal of "Reveal" with Regina Nejman and Dancers on Friday Apr 18 (12–2pm) at Joyce SoHo. Regina invites audience feedback and will dialogue with the audience on the issue of privacy. Free admission with reservation at 646-792-8377. See "Reveal" at Merce Cunningham Studio, 55 Bethune Street (11th Floor), Manhattan, May 1-2 (9pm), May 3-4 (8pm). Information and reservations at 212-714-9116. Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Alex Escalante's new evening-length work--"Clandestino"--pays tribute to his Mexican heritage, his immigrant parents, and the courage of undocumented workers, living in the United States, who, in the spring of 2006, turned out for massive rallies for their human rights. At a time when illegal immigration has become an exploited political flashpoint, Escalante asks audiences to confront their own feelings and opinions on this issue. The personal is the political, and vice-versa, in this vibrant presentation featuring live and recorded music, film, and a movement vocabulary inspired by contemporary Mexican social dances. Visit "Clandestino" on MySpace (see link below). BIO Alex Escalante, originally from Los Angeles, graduated from SUNY Purchase. He has worked in New York with Donna Uchizono, Jennifer Monson/Birdbrain, Doug Elkins, Doug Varone, David Neumann, Gerald Casel, the Metropolitan Opera, and has been fortunate to tour as Merce Cunningham's personal assistant. He was featured in the musical film Romance and Cigarettes, directed by John Turturro. His own work, as well as choreography for theatre with Division 13 Productions, has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, La MaMa E.T.C., Dixon Place, Movement Research at Judson Church, Joe's Pub, and Here Arts Center. In February 2007, his most recent work, Swallow Sand, was presented by Dance Theater Workshop as part of a Studio Series residency. Escalante is currently a 2007-2008 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence. He also works as a freelance photographer and is an avid surfer. EVENT Premiere of "Clandestino" at Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, Thursday-Saturday, April 10-12 (8:30pm) Reservations: 212-674-8194 or at Danspace Project's Web site (see link below). LINKS Alex Escalante's "Clandestino" http://www.myspace.com/_clandestino Danspace Project http://www.danspaceproject.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Alex Escalante's new evening-length work--"Clandestino"--pays tribute to his Mexican heritage, his immigrant parents, and the courage of undocumented workers, living in the United States, who, in the spring of 2006, turned out for massive rallies for their human rights. At a time when illegal immigration has become an exploited political flashpoint, Escalante asks audiences to confront their own feelings and opinions on this issue. The personal is the political, and vice-versa, in this vibrant presentation featuring live and recorded music, film, and a movement vocabulary inspired by contemporary Mexican social dances. Visit "Clandestino" on MySpace (see link below). BIO Alex Escalante, originally from Los Angeles, graduated from SUNY Purchase. He has worked in New York with Donna Uchizono, Jennifer Monson/Birdbrain, Doug Elkins, Doug Varone, David Neumann, Gerald Casel, the Metropolitan Opera, and has been fortunate to tour as Merce Cunningham's personal assistant. He was featured in the musical film Romance and Cigarettes, directed by John Turturro. His own work, as well as choreography for theatre with Division 13 Productions, has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, La MaMa E.T.C., Dixon Place, Movement Research at Judson Church, Joe's Pub, and Here Arts Center. In February 2007, his most recent work, Swallow Sand, was presented by Dance Theater Workshop as part of a Studio Series residency. Escalante is currently a 2007-2008 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence. He also works as a freelance photographer and is an avid surfer. EVENT Premiere of "Clandestino" at Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, Thursday-Saturday, April 10-12 (8:30pm) Reservations: 212-674-8194 or at Danspace Project's Web site (see link below). LINKS Alex Escalante's "Clandestino" http://www.myspace.com/_clandestino Danspace Project http://www.danspaceproject.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

My guest, Carrie Ahern, is a dancer and an independent choreographer whose work shows a powerful sense of visual order and psychological depth. We met in the dressing room at St. Mark's Church, home of Danspace Project, to talk about "Red," which premiered there in 2006, and her new piece--"The Unity of Skin"--which will premiere on April 3 and run through April 5. To listen to original music composed for "The Unity of Skin" by cellist Greg Heffernan, visit http://www.carrieahern.com/calendar/calendar.html. BIO Carrie Ahern, a Wisconsin native, is an independent dance and performance artist who has been based in New York City since 1995. She worked primarily as a freelance performer/choreographer for over a dozen dance and theater companies until forming Carrie Ahern Dance in 2005. Her current evening length project, "The Unity of Skin" is commissioned by Danspace Project for performances April 3-5, 2008 and is being presented at Baltimore Theatre Project March 6-9, 2008. Investigations into "The Unity of Skin" were shown at Dance Conversations at the Flea, Danceworks in Milwaukee, Movement Research at Judson Church and at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) as part of their 2007 Space Grant Residency. Her studies of Ancient Greek Philosophy for this piece were funded, in part, by Fractured Atlas' Creative Development Grant. Carrie's first evening length work "Red" (2006) was commissioned both by Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church and the Guggenheim Works-and Process Series. Her shorter works have been seen at over a dozen venues in New York City such as Danspace Project, P.S.122, Dixon Place, the Angel Orensanz Foundation, Dance Space Center (now DNA), Chashama, The Flea and Soundance among others. Nationally and internationally, her work has been presented at Baltimore Theatre Project, Danceworks and Walker's Point Arts Center in Milwaukee, Le Regard du Cygne in Paris and at the Festival D'OFF in Avignon, France. She self-produced two seasons in conjunction with her frequent collaborator, Jennifer A. Cooper: "Alteregomania" at Cunningham in 1999 and "Exploding Plastic Acorns" at the Williamsburg Art Nexus (WAX) in 2003. In 2002, Bessie award winning dancer Carolyn Hall commissioned a solo, with an original score by Grammy award winner Matt Darriau and Ivan Goff. As a performer Carrie has had the pleasure of working with many artists here in New York City including, Pat Cremins/Wyoming, Heather Kravas, Heidi Latsky, Allyson Green, Nina Winthrop, Jeffrey Frace, Ridge Theater, Donna Bouthillier and Jennifer A. Cooper. Upcoming choreographic experiments include a collaborative effort with The Nietzsche Circle -the exciting and daunting task of using Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zaranthustra" as a jumping off point for a dance. She is exploring remounting 2006's "Red" for the crumbling and infamous Eastern State Penitentiary. Ahern is a sought-after teacher of pilates and yoga throughout NYC. She has taught improvisation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and dance technique in the New York City Public Schools. LINKS Carrie Ahern http://www.carrieahern.com Greg Heffernan (composer) http://www.gregheffernan.com Agata Oleksiak (visual designer) http://www.agataolek.com Danspace Project http://www.danspaceproject.org/ Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Estelle Woodward Arnal (Director of Artist Services, Dance Theater Workshop) and Levi Gonzalez (dancer-choreographer) join me today to talk about DTW's Outer/Space Creative Residency Program. Levi Gonzalez is an independent choreographer living and working in New York City who has created a body of solo and group choreographic projects. He is interested in presenting work in a variety of venues and contexts, from small and intimate spaces to more traditional stages. Often the placement of the work in a certain environment shapes the content. Gonzalez is interested in furthering a dialogue of ideas about the body in society-at-large and about how we experience physical presence. He has gradually distanced himself from dance that concerns itself with the abstract designing of movement as an end in itself and towards work that addresses performance and the power and meaning of embodiment in daily life. His work and his choreographic collaborations with Luciana Achugar have been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS122, Dixon Place, and PS1 Contemporary Art Center. He has performed extensively with Donna Uchizono Company and John Jasperse Company, as well as ChameckiLerner, Jeremy Nelson and Dennis O’Connor. Additionally, he has worked for Michael Laub’s Remote Control Productions in Europe. Levi teaches technique and composition at Movement Research and with Dean Moss at The Kitchen. He was a Movement Research Artist in Residence from 2003-2004 and a 2006 NYFA Fellow in Choreography. He is an editor of Critical Correspondence, an online publication, and facilitates artist dialogues through Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks Residency. LINKS: Dance Theater Workshop http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org Movement Research (for Levi Gonzalez' upcoming workshop, "The Practice of Presence") http://www.movementresearch.org Critical Correspondence http://www.movementresearch.org/publishing/ Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

My interview with dancer-choreographer Ashleigh Leite, conducted in the fall of 2007, is a reminder of how critically important it is for emerging creative artists here in New York to have the support of organizations like Joyce SoHo. As an artist-in-residence at Joyce SoHo's Mercer Street studios, Ashleigh was provided with ample time, rehearsal space, guidance and helpful feedback as she developed Crawl Space, her evening-length, multi-media ensemble which received its premiere at Danspace Project in November 2007--a major step forward in her career. I hope you'll enjoy my talk with this interesting, thoughtful artist and look for the next opportunity to see her work. GUEST BIO Ashleigh Leite, originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, graduated (cum laude) from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance Performance in 1997. Upon graduation, Ashleigh joined Stephen Petronio Company, where she served as Assistant Director/Rehearsal Director and a dancer for over eight years (1997-2005). While maintaining a full schedule with Stephen Petronio Company, Ashleigh began to pursue her own work as a freelance choreographer. In March 2006, at Joyce SoHo in New York City, she premiered Autopsy for which she received a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space Award. During the fall of 2006, Ashleigh was an Artist-in-Residence at Dance New Amsterdam and premiered flawed in December; this year, she has been an Artist-in-Residence at Joyce SoHo. She is a current member of Pavel Zustiak's Palissimo and has performed in works by Jamie Bishton, David Allen Harris and Jeremy Nelson. She has taught technique and repertory at conservatories all over the world and guest teaches regularly at Dance New Amsterdam in New York City. Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

I admire Yanira Castro's darkly poetic and mysterious artistry. Her sense-laden works have the capacity to take watchers deep into experience and to change our habits of seeing, listening and thinking. I hope you will enjoy my interview with Yanira and find yourself similarly immersed in her newest work, "Center of Sleep." GUEST BIO Yanira Castro+Company is a New York City-based ensemble of dancers and designers that fuses experiments in movement with original music and visual elements such as video and installations to create vivid, contemporary scenarios for their audiences that transform and engage their experience of the work. Award-winning choreographer Yanira Castro was born in Puerto Rico and received her B.A. in Theater & Dance and Literature at Amherst College. She has been making work with a core group of performers and designers since 1997, presenting this work widely, including at Dance Theater Workshop, The Chocolate Factory, Danspace Project and numerous other venues. Most recently, she has been working on site-based installations. UPCOMING EVENTS Yanira Castro+Dancers will present the world premiere of "Center of Sleep" at Dance Theater Workshop (February 27-March 1, 2008) with two shows per night at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. On opening night, DTW will host a free pre-show talk at 6:30 and post-show talk after the 7:30 show only. For further information and tickets, visit DTW at www.dancetheaterworkshop.org or call 212-924-0077. LINK: www.yaniracastrocompany.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

I admire Yanira Castro's darkly poetic and mysterious artistry. Her sense-laden works have the capacity to take watchers deep into experience and to change our habits of seeing, listening and thinking. I hope you will enjoy my interview with Yanira and find yourself similarly immersed in her newest work, "Center of Sleep." GUEST BIO Yanira Castro+Company is a New York City-based ensemble of dancers and designers that fuses experiments in movement with original music and visual elements such as video and installations to create vivid, contemporary scenarios for their audiences that transform and engage their experience of the work. Award-winning choreographer Yanira Castro was born in Puerto Rico and received her B.A. in Theater & Dance and Literature at Amherst College. She has been making work with a core group of performers and designers since 1997, presenting this work widely, including at Dance Theater Workshop, The Chocolate Factory, Danspace Project and numerous other venues. Most recently, she has been working on site-based installations. UPCOMING EVENTS Yanira Castro+Dancers will present the world premiere of "Center of Sleep" at Dance Theater Workshop (February 27-March 1, 2008) with two shows per night at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. On opening night, DTW will host a free pre-show talk at 6:30 and post-show talk after the 7:30 show only. For further information and tickets, visit DTW at www.dancetheaterworkshop.org or call 212-924-0077. LINK: www.yaniracastrocompany.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Gina Gibney's choreography always reminds me of what's most important to me about art: serious attention to craft and an equally serious concern about human connection and communication. Gina is a thoughtful spokesperson for the art of dance. I've always enjoyed our encounters and usually go away feeling a little more focused and motivated as a result. I hope you'll be similarly inspired by our discussion about her work, including her development of The Distance Between Us, which premiered at the Ailey Citicorp Theater in November 2007. This year, Gina’s company celebrates its 10th Anniversary as an all-female troupe. See below for updated information on Gibney’s projects. GUEST BIO Gina Gibney’s choreography has been widely presented and commissioned in the United States and abroad at such venues as Danspace Project, White Bird Dance, Yale Repertory Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street Theater, WORKS & PROCESS at the Guggenheim Museum and elsewhere. In response to her growing concern about the status of women in the professional dance world, she reorganized her company as an all-female ensemble in 1997. Since that time, she has created six evening-length works exploring the humanity and physicality of women. In 2000, she launched the Domestic Violence Project, a groundbreaking project that offers dance and creative expression to women who are survivors of domestic abuse. She is the founder of Studio 5-2, an officer of Danspace Project's Board of Directors, and a trustee of Dance/USA. Gibney graduated with honors and received an MFA in Dance from Case Western Reserve University. UPCOMING EVENTS Catch a sample of Gina Gibney’s work at the dancemOpolitan group show at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, March 14-15, 9:30 pm. For reservations, call 212-967-7555 or visit www.joespub.com. Celebrating its 10th anniversary as an all-female troupe, Gina Gibney Dance holds its annual Women at Work gala on June 2 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The gala will feature a mini-retrospective performance, including excerpts from Coming from Quiet (1998), Time Remaining (2002) and unbounded (2005), and a new work developed in collaboration with survivors of domestic violence. This program will be repeated for the public on June 5 (7:30pm) as part of the Tisch Summer Dance Residency Festival. LINK Gina Gibney Dance at http://www.ginagibneydance.org/ Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Gina Gibney's choreography always reminds me of what's most important to me about art: serious attention to craft and an equally serious concern about human connection and communication. Gina is a thoughtful spokesperson for the art of dance. I've always enjoyed our encounters and usually go away feeling a little more focused and motivated as a result. I hope you'll be similarly inspired by our discussion about her work, including her development of The Distance Between Us, which premiered at the Ailey Citicorp Theater in November 2007. This year, Gina’s company celebrates its 10th Anniversary as an all-female troupe. See below for updated information on Gibney’s projects. GUEST BIO Gina Gibney’s choreography has been widely presented and commissioned in the United States and abroad at such venues as Danspace Project, White Bird Dance, Yale Repertory Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street Theater, WORKS & PROCESS at the Guggenheim Museum and elsewhere. In response to her growing concern about the status of women in the professional dance world, she reorganized her company as an all-female ensemble in 1997. Since that time, she has created six evening-length works exploring the humanity and physicality of women. In 2000, she launched the Domestic Violence Project, a groundbreaking project that offers dance and creative expression to women who are survivors of domestic abuse. She is the founder of Studio 5-2, an officer of Danspace Project's Board of Directors, and a trustee of Dance/USA. Gibney graduated with honors and received an MFA in Dance from Case Western Reserve University. UPCOMING EVENTS Catch a sample of Gina Gibney’s work at the dancemOpolitan group show at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, March 14-15, 9:30 pm. For reservations, call 212-967-7555 or visit www.joespub.com. Celebrating its 10th anniversary as an all-female troupe, Gina Gibney Dance holds its annual Women at Work gala on June 2 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The gala will feature a mini-retrospective performance, including excerpts from Coming from Quiet (1998), Time Remaining (2002) and unbounded (2005), and a new work developed in collaboration with survivors of domestic violence. This program will be repeated for the public on June 5 (7:30pm) as part of the Tisch Summer Dance Residency Festival. LINK Gina Gibney Dance at http://www.ginagibneydance.org/ Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa