Inside The Dancer's Studio

This special edition of Inside The Dancer’s Studio podcast features content from the Creative Administration Research (CAR) Summit Convening and was recorded at the Akron Art Museum. CAR is made possible through a multi-year grant from the Mellon Foundation. We join Christy Bolingbroke, our Executive / Artistic Director, in dialogue with Chicago, IL-based multidisciplinary, Kenyan-Indian, Canadian-American artist Brendan Fernandes and Akron Art Museum Curator Dr. Jeff Katzin. The trio foreground their conversation titled, “Against All Odds: Moving In Museums,” with visual artist, Keith Haring's work, which was on exhibit at the time. Using this common ground, they explore how visual artists and choreographers are dancing in and around museum spaces today. 

http://www.brendanfernandes.ca/

https://akronartmuseum.org/

https://akronartmuseum.org/media/exhibition/keith-haring-against-all-odds/

https://www.nccakron.org/creativeadminresearch

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Brooklyn, New York-based interdisciplinary artist and the artistic director of Renegade Performance Group, André M. Zachery. Zachery is a 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard Fellow in Choreography and a 2019 Jerome Hill Foundation Fellow in Choreography. As a scholar, he speaks and writes on many topics including Afrofuturism, African Diaspora practices and philosophies, Black cultural aesthetics, technology in art and performance, and expanding the boundaries of art making within the community.

http://renegadepg.com

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with two members of the Saint Paul Minnesota-based company BRKFST Dance Company. Lisa “MonaLisa” Berman is the founder and Artistic Director of BRKFST and Joseph "MN Joe" Tran is a founding member of BRKFST and a member of Knuckleheads Cali breaking crew. BRKFST’s egalitarian and virtuosic choreographic collaboration is deeply rooted in the Hip Hop adage, "Each One Teach One": regardless of class, race, experience, age or gender, everyone remains both teacher and student. 

http://brkfstdance.com

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Cleveland, OH-based artist Errin Weaver. Weaver is a choreographer and the Executive Artistic Director of Mojuba! Dance Collective and has created the Emerging Black Choreographers Incubator. Mojuba! Dance Collective (MDC) is an African contemporary dance company and platform dedicated to exploring spiritual and cultural dance traditions of the African Diaspora to restore community wellness, share and validate the Black narrative experience, and reestablish cultural connection. 

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Pittsburgh, PA-based artists, taylor knight & anna thompson who are co-founding artistic directors of slowdanger. Through the process of making each piece, they work with a heightened understanding of energy, synergy, action, gender, time, and storytelling. slowdanger’s work has been presented in the US and Canada by venues including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, Springboard Danse Montreal, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Place Des Arts, among others. 

http://slowdangerslowdanger.com

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with with Philadelphia-based dancer, choreographer, musician, photographer, and writer, Raphael Xavier. Xavier’s extensive research in Hip Hop forms and culture, specifically Breaking, has led to the creation of Ground-Core, a Somatic dance technique. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Xavier is a 2013 Pew Fellowship Grantee and 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, and Princeton University professor.

https://www.raphaelxavier.org/

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with three award-winning New York City based choreographers: Tendayi Kuumba, Annie-B Parson, and Donna Uchizono who were in Akron collaborating on a new work.

Tendayi Kuumba: whostendayi.com

Donna Uchizono: donnauchizono.org

Annie-B Parson: bigdancetheater.org

Today we are excited to share an excerpt of the closing plenary of the 2022 CAR convening facilitated by Ontario, California based arts administrator and professor, Elena Marie Muslar. Elena is the Founder and Chief Empowerment Officer of Confide Creative, a coaching and consulting practice dedicated to the collective cultural and economic progress of pre-professionals and working professionals. She is also Associate Director of Programs at Fractured Atlas, a national nonprofit arts service organization that helps artists and creative businesses thrive and a Lecturer at Loyola Marymount University teaching “Introduction to Business in the Arts.” honored by L.A. County for her leadership in the arts & creative economy, commitment to cultural equity & inclusion, and dedication to community affairs & civic pride.

Joining Elena in this Closing Plenary conversation, titled Money, Mindset, and Motivation: Where Artist Meets Enterprise are: New York City-based artist, Antuan Byers, Boston, MA - based artist Indira Goodwine, Durham, NC-based artist jumatatu m. poe, and Miami, FL-based artist Rosie Herrera. 

Today we are excited to share an excerpt of the opening plenary of the 2022 CAR convening titled, “Artist as Model for the New Socioeconomic Normal.” In this portion of session, Christy Bolingbroke, our Executive / Artistic Director is in conversation with Washington DC-based performer, poet, director, and arts administrator, Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Bamuthi is a 2017 TED Global Fellow, an inaugural recipient of the Guggenheim Social Practice initiative, and an honoree of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. While engaging in a deeply fulfilling and successful artistic career, Bamuthi also proudly serves as Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. He is in high demand for his creative approach to organizational design, brand development, and community mediation, and has been enlisted as a strategic partner or consultant for companies ranging from Coca Cola to Carnegie Hall. Bamuthi is the founding Program Director of the exemplary non-profit Youth Speaks, and is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life.  

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with  Maui Hawaii-based choreographer Christopher K. Morgan. Christopher is the Executive Artistic Director of Christopher K Morgan & Artists as well as the Director of the Dance Residency Program at Art Omi. His choreography has been presented in 18 countries on 5 continents and has addressed issues including sexuality, gender identity, race, climate change, immigration and water conservation. Christopher recently joined the Maui Arts & Cultural Center to be Vice President of Programming through which he curates dozens of music, dance, and theater performances each year, oversees the Schaefer International Gallery, and a robust arts education program that serves thousands of Hawai'i youth, adults, and arts educators. Prior to joining the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Christopher served as Executive Artistic Director of Dance Place in Washington, D.C.

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Boulder, CO-based choreographer, performance artist and innovator, Helanius J. Wilkins, whose creative research and projects are rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and identities of Black men. Wilkins founded and artistically directed EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, Washington, DC’s first all-male contemporary dance company of predominately African-American men, that existed for thirteen years (2001 – 2014). To date, he has choreographed and directed over 60 works. Helanius is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with New York City-based performer and educator Courtney Lopes. Born and raised in Bermuda, Courtney trained at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts for high school and went on to receive her BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. She now dances with Dance Heginbotham, MeenMoves, Sue Bernhard Danceworks, Kathryn Alter & Dancers, and Megan Williams Dance Projects and is a professor at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. Courtney is also trained in Dance for PD, a specialized dance class series for people living with Parkinson’s Disease, which she enjoys sharing with communities across the US and around the world. 

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Minneapolis-St. Paul-based performer and choreographer Ashwini Ramaswamy, who trained and performs in the lineage of Bharatanatyam. As a founding member of Ragamala Dance Company, she has toured extensively, throughout the U.S. and in Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, the U.K, and India, as well, she’s performed in  well-know US venues like Lincoln Center Out of Doors, and  the Kennedy Center. Her own choreographic work has been presented by venues including The Joyce Theater and The Yard, and has found support through the National Dance Project and US Artists International. The New York Times describes Ashwini as “weaving together, both fearfully and joyfully, the human and the divine…”

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Seattle-based choreographer, director and educator Kate Wallich. Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” her work has been presented nationally and internationally by venues including On the Boards, Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Walker Art Center, MASS MoCa, and The Joyce Theater. In 2010 she founded an all-abilities, community-focused class called Dance Church® which, during the pandemic, gained traction as an online streaming platform and received attention from Wired, Vanity Fair, and The LA Times.

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Miami-based, Cuban-American dancer and choreographer Rosie Herrera. In addition to being the artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, she is an independent director and creative consultant and a classically trained lyric coloratura soprano who performs with the Performers Music Institute Opera Ensemble. Rosie has been awarded choreographic fellowships by MANCC and Bates Dance Festival, among others and was awarded a Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship for her work with Ballet Hispanico.

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Twin Cities-based dancer, choreographer, and educator, Paula Mann. Mann moved to the Twin Cities in 1987, has created 50 new works, and is co-artistic director of TIME TRACK PRODUCTIONS with visual artist Steve Paul.  She has been a driving force in Contemporary Dance and Performance-based out of Minneapolis for the past 30 years; challenging, educating, and engaging artists, audiences, and communities with passion, inventiveness, and rigor. She was full-time faculty at the University of Minnesota Department of Theater and Dance from 1993-2013 and is a 2019 McKnight Choreographer Fellow.

http://www.timetrackdance.org/about.html

A recreation of New Dance by Doris Humphrey (with my teacher Linda Tarnay in the main role)https://youtu.be/EA4KmKnYRwM

Bill T Jones   https://youtu.be/o4DD3dgfvS0

Donald McKayle's Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder    https://youtu.be/kXZ2ca066Lo

Daniel Nagrin's Strange Hero          https://youtu.be/rxWVYT3_Ccc

Robert Wilson Einstein on the Beach    https://youtu.be/a8kgAkTS7oM

Sharon Wehner performs "32 Fouettes" from Swan Lake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIADfYGc9Vw

https://www.artsmidwest.org/

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Guillaume Gabriel, cofounder of French company, Companie Hervé Koubi. The company’s work was born from a mixture of techniques and influences, at the crossroads of urban dances and ballet and with the coming together of Koubi’s French-Algerian and African family history. 

https://www.cie-koubi.fr

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-

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with San Francisco, CA-based performer, choreographer, and teacher, James Graham. James dances with Lisa Wymore & Sheldon Smith’s Disappearing Acts, the Joe Goode Performance Group, and is the founder of James Graham Dance Theatre. This conversation was his second engagement with the Center, as he participated in the 2019 NCCAkron Dancing Lab: Dance as Cultural Diplomat, a multi-day symposium exploring the exchange between Israeli and American modern dance.

http://jamesgrahamdancetheatre.com

Also referenced in this episode: https://lizlerman.com/hiking-the-horizontal/

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with San Francisco-based choreographer Nicole Klaymoon. Klaymoon is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Embodiment Project, whose recent work includes a piece titled “Ancient Children”, which explores the ways restorative justice can interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. This conversation was her second engagement at the Center, as she is an alumna of NCCAkron's Dancing Lab: Screendance that took place in July 2018.

https://www.embodimentproject.org