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Jen Abrams integrates Contact Improvisation and Body Mind Centering® principles to find ease and strength, release and power in the body’s anatomical systems. She has studied, taught and performed Contact Improvisation since 1990. Her choreographic and improvisation work has been seen at Judson Church, La Mama, Dixon Place, HERE, P.S. 122, BAX and Dance New Amsterdam. She performs regularly at WOW Café Theater, where she has been a member since 2000.
Karl Leroy Anderson is a Brooklyn-based choreographer. Over the past twenty years he has had the pleasure of learning from and performing with a bevy of talented creators. His own performance events and collaborations have been presented all over. Find out more at www.slamfest.org. Karl is a certified Skinner Releasing Technique™ facilitator and his classes will also be informed by his extensive education in both dance and architecture. Enjoy.
Rachel Bernsen is a dance artist and a certified Alexander Technique™ teacher. She received her certification from the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in NYC. Bernsen’s work has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop, The Movement Research Spring Festival 2008, Issue Project Room, Danspace Project, and Dixon Place among others. She has an ongoing collaboration with composer and performer Taylor Ho Bynum, and from 2002-06 performed with the band Fischerspooner. Bernsen has been an editor and managing editor of the Movement Research Performance Journal. She was a 2007 NEA Honorary fellow at the Djerassi Resident Artists program and holds an MFA in Dance from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts.
Lindsey Dietz Marchant is a NYC-based dance artist committed to the process of collaboration, and the integration of improvisational forms and directed movement. Recent collaborations with partner Jason Dietz Marchant have been presented by Dance New Amsterdam, Danspace Project, Dance Theater Workshop, Dixon Place, dancenow/NYC, Harkness Dance Center, and La Mama E.T.C., among many others. Her work has been presented across the country and internationally including upcoming commissions and residencies in Russia and Australia. Over the past decade Lindsey danced for over 35 companies and finds inspiration in the many artists she’s encountered while freelancing. Lindsey teaches regularly at DNA, 100 Grand, and at universities and festivals around the world. www.dietzmarchant.com.
Irene Dowd is currently on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Canada’s National Ballet School, as well as the Hollins University/ADF MFA program in dance. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has been teaching dance and kinesthetic anatomy for 40 years. Irene has choreographed for Peggy Baker, Margie Gillis and other solo dancers. Her work has been taught in schools and dance companies across the U.S. and Canada.
Katie Duck, dancer, choreographer and teacher, left the U.S. in 1976 to live in Amsterdam, Holland and toured throughout Europe as a performer in solo productions, in duet with Carlos Traffic, and in improvisations with local music artists. In 1979, she moved to Italy where she formed the company GROUPO, which toured throughout Europe. In 1991 she accepted a position at the AHK dance department in Amsterdam where she teaches movement research, improvisation (presence), workshops and technique. Her current initiatives include a monthly improvisation series at the Fijnhout Theater, the Muiderpoort Theater (1994-99), The Melkweg Theater (2000-01), OT301 Cultural center (2002-present), a yearly Improvisation festival at the Frascati Theater (1994-99), and Magpie (from 1995-present). She tours to Asia, U.S., England, Scandinavia and Europe with her solo work, professional workshops, with Magpie, is a teacher for both the SNDO and MTD at the AHK Hooge School voor de kunsten and continues to collaborate with both music and dance artists all over the world.
Daria Faïn’s choreography has been presented in New York at The Kitchen, Danspace Project, Movement Research and the 92nd Street Y, among other venues. Faïn founded her company Human Behavior Explorers in 2000, and, with architect- poet Robert Kocik, founded the non-profit organization Universal Coverage, Inc., in 2008. Faïn's work is based on two decades of practice in the Asian philosophy of the body, American dance training, and the study of architecture. Faïn's research on impaired senses has led her to work with patients in the fields of neurology, psychology and with blind-deaf individuals, leading to a complex understanding of the body as a resource of knowledge. Her website is
www.prosodicbody.org
Ori Flomin is from Israel and has been dancing in New York City since 1989. His choreography has been seen in NYC at DTW’s Fresh Tracks and Split Stream, P.S. 122 New Stuff, Movement Research at Judson Church and internationally in Austria, Japan and Israel. He is the assistant to the artistic director for Stephen Petronio Dance Company, for whom he also danced from 1991-1999. He also danced in the works of Neil Greenberg, Molissa Fenley, Kevin Wynn, and Michael Clark, among others. He teaches dance as a guest artist at several companies and schools in Europe such as ImpulsTanz (Vienna), PARTS (Brussels), Dansens Hus (Copenhagen) and Sasha Waltz (Berlin), and regularly in NYC at Movement Research and Dance New Amsterdam.
Charlotte Gibbons hi i live here with you. i am thinking about you and trying not to think. and not thinking. do you feel me. love to all of us. email me gibbonscharlotte@yahoo.com
Levi Gonzalez is a performer and choreographer whose works and collaborations with luciana achugar have been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, DTW, The Kitchen, Danspace Project and P.S. 1, among others. He has performed with Donna Uchizono, John Jasperse, ChameckiLerner, Jeremy Nelson, Dennis O’Connor and Michael Laub. Levi teaches regularly at Movement Research and facilitates various workshops and dialogues with artists. He was an MR Artist-In-Residence 2003-04, and was a 2006 NYFA Fellow in Choreography.
Ziji Beth Goren is a certified teacher-practitioner of Body- Mind Centering® since 1982 and a founding member of Movement Research and BMC Association. She studied with Irmgard Bartenieff at the Laban Institute for Movement Studies in the seventies. Her signature devotion is Voice- Movement-Touch practices explored from a foundation of BMC and tribal culture-rhythms. These practices offer tools that support wholeness and the creation of performance. Beth is author of Rapids, producer of Tribes CD, and currently working on a booklet-CD for Immune Integrity. In 2008, she was awarded a poetry prize presented at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, and publication of three photos in Caesura Magazine. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Director, School for Body-Mind Centering®: “As a teacher, Beth has shown great capacity for working with both groups and individuals. I have seen her find new and different ways to help others reach their potential.”
K.J. Holmes is an independent dance artist exploring improvisation as process and performance since 1981. Her influences include Contact Improvisation, BMC®, Yoga, Authentic Movement, Release techniques, Martial Dance, world vocal studies, and contemporary dance and theater. She is currently a student of the Sanford Meisner technique at the William Esper Studio. She teaches and performs throughout the world and has collaborated with Simone Forti, Image Lab and Steve Paxton, among many others. K.J. is a 1999 graduate of the School for Body-Mind Centering® and has a private practice in Dynamic Alignment and Re-integration in Brooklyn, NY where she lives. She is adjunct faculty at NYU/Experimental Theater Wing, and continues to teach through Movement Research.
Sam Kim makes dances that draw attention to the margins of culture and behavior, creating space for vulnerability while courting danger. Since 2002, Sam has created a series of long dance works: dumb dumb bunny (The Kitchen, 2007), Cult (Dance Theater Workshop, 2007), AVATAR (Mulberry St Theater, 2006), Nobody Understands Me (Dance Theater Workshop, 2004), Placid Baby (P.S. 122, 2003) and Valentine (Danspace Project, 2002). Darling has been in development since 2008 and will premiere at P.S. 122 in Spring 2009. Sam was a 2004-05 MR Artist-In-Residence and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange.
Robert Kocik’s work blurs the distinction between art, architecture and poetry. He has studied poetry at the New College in SF and engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique IBOIS in Lausanne, Switzerland. He works toward the realization of “missing civic services,” conceptualizing, designing, and constructing buildings that serve a public function and provide an activity that in some way “turns the world around.” Past missing civic services include Preemptive Peace Place 2002, Enfranchisement Ranch 2005 and Furniture While You Wait 1990. Kocik has exhibited related sculptural work at P.S. 122, Hunter College Gallery, the Kentler International Drawing Space, the Makor Gallery in NY, and at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, among many other venues. Kocik has also published Over Coming Fitness (Autonomedia, 2000) Rhrurbarb (Ecopoetics, 2007) and the forthcoming The Prosodic Body (The Factory School, 2009). His poetry and writings have appeared in the journals Acts, Object, Crayon, Action Poetique, The New Coast, and Ecopoetics, among many others, and he has translated and published the work of several contemporary French poets, including Dominique Fourcade, Alain Veinstein, and Michel Couturier.Luis Lara Malvacias is a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist. He has danced in works by Jeremy Nelson, John Jasperse, David Zambrano and Mark Tompkins, among others. Since 1994 he has presented his work in New York in several venues including Danspace Project, The Kitchen, DTW and P.S. 122, and in many countries in Europe, South America, North America and Asia. He was a 1998-99 and 2002-03 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and received a 2006 NYFA Fellowship in Choreography. He has taught classes/workshops in several countries and venues including SEAD, Christian Blaise Company and the Sasha Waltz Company among others.
Alejandra Martorell is a movement-based artist and a certified Alexander Technique™ teacher as of June 2008. She is co-editor of Movement Research's Critical Correspondence and holds a Master’s degree on Interdisciplinary Arts Education. She has made dances that were seen in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, Perú and Puerto Rico, and has worked with Sally Silvers & Dancers, Jennifer Monson, Karen Sherman, Sigal Bergman, DD Dorvillier, Daria Faïn and TRYST, among others.
Stacy Spence is a choreographer, teacher, and dancer based in New York. Stacy’s work has been commissioned by EDge at London Contemporary Dance School, The University of New Mexico, and most recently OtherShore Dance Company in New York. Stacy danced with the Trisha Brown Company (1997-2006), and continues to lead classes, workshops, and lectures focused on Trisha Brown’s repertory as well as restaging several of her works. He received his MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and while in NYC he has danced and collaborated with Polly Motley, filmmaker Molly Davies, and numerous others. Stacy continues to move with others through teaching, collaborating and making work. Stacy is a 2008 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence.
Daniel Lepkoff has played a central role in the development of Release Technique with Mary Fulkerson and Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton since the early 70s. Through the 70s and 80s he traveled extensively; actively teaching, performing, and exposing this new work and new ideas to audiences worldwide. He is known for his depth and commitment to improvisation as a way of composing dance works, a performance practice, and a body of research and knowledge about how to move and live in the world. He is one of the founders of Movement Research.
Barbara Mahler has been involved in the movement arts for 30 plus years, traveling across the globe as a guest artist, teaching to and educating a generation of dancers. A choreographer, teacher, performer, and master teacher in Klein Technique, she brings to her classes the experience and depth of knowledge that accompanies the re-training and re-education of her own body. She has been a Movement Research Artist-in-Residence twice, has an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is a movement
consultant at Hunter College, and is on the Advisory Council of the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She maintains a private practice in Zero Balancing and other hands-on healing modalities. www.barbaramahler.com
Juliette Mapp is a dancer, teacher and choreographer based in NYC. Juliette has worked with many choreographers including John Jasperse (with whom she received a “Bessie” for outstanding performance), Vicky Shick, Deborah Hay, Jennifer Monson, Iréne Hultman, Neil Greenberg and Stephanie Skura. Juliette has taught and performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the United States. She has been on the faculty of The George Washington University, Hunter College and Fordham University. Juliette was a 2004-05 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence. She received a “Bessie” last year for her evening-length piece Anna, Ikea, and I.
Charlie Mosey has been investigating and teaching Contact Improvisation in New York City for over 15 years. Highlights of this inquiry include acting as teaching assistant for Daniel Lepkoff at the American Dance Festival, and for Nancy Stark Smith at the Bates Dance Festival. Most recently he helped curate CI36, a global gathering celebrating the form.
Jennifer Nugent is a performer, teacher, and choreographer. She was a member of David Dorfman Dance from 1999-2007, receiving a “Bessie” in 2006 for her performing work with the company. In NY Jennifer has danced with Daniel Lepkoff, Nina Winthrop, Lisa Race, Yin Mei, Doug Elkins, Bill Young, and Colleen Thomas. She continuously collaborates with Paul Matteson and is currently working with Martha Clarke. Jennifer has taught and performed at festivals and universities throughout the United States, Korea, Russia, and Vietnam.
Tim O’Donnell has been studying teaching and performing CI for over 10 years. His exploration in the form is strongly rooted in a deep physical listening and a sense of adventure. His classes range from the gentle and subtle to the acrobatic and fluidly athletic. He holds an MFA in Dance and has been a bodyworker since 1991. Currently he is teaching and performing in NYC where he resides.
Margaret Paek is a Lower Left artist living in New York (www.lowerleft.org). She is committed to the process of collaboration, inspired by improvisation, and has had the pleasure of working with Nina Martin, Mary Overlie, Shelley Senter, and Lionel Popkin, among others. Currently, Margaret dances with projectLIMB, the new collective Stochastic Ensemble, and Loren Kiyoshi Dempster. For over ten years, Margaret has practiced and taught Contact Improvisation, Ensemble Thinking, and other movement techniques.
Jimena Paz is an Artist-in-Residence at Movement Research and at DTW’s Outer/Space creative residency. She has shown work at Jacob’s Pillow, Joe’s Pub, BAX, Movement Research at the Judson Church, 92nd Street Y, John Jay Theater, SUNY Purchase, Stadkino (Austria), and Centro Cultural Buenos Aires. She has danced with the Stephen Petronio Company (1999-2006), Martha Clarke, Constanza Macras (Berlin), and Iris Scaccheri (Buenos Aires).Teaching activities include: Trisha Brown Studio, Movement Research, DNA, the New School, Tisch NYU, University of California Irvine and the American Dance Festival. She’s a Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner.
Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, Stephen Petronio Company has performed in over 25 countries throughout the world as well as presented over 35 New York City engagements. New music, visual art and fashion collide in Petronio’s dances, producing powerfully modern landscapes for the senses. Petronio has collaborated with some of the most talented and provocative composers, visual artists, and fashion designers in the world including: Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Donald Baechler, Stephen Hannock, Tara Subkoff and Benjamin Cho.
Vicky Shick, an independent dancer and choreographer, has been involved in the NYC dance community since the late 70s. A member of the Trisha Brown Company for 6 years, she has also worked with many other NY-based choreographers. She received “Bessies” for performance (1985) and choreography (2003), has shown her own work since the mid-80s and teaches regularly in the US and Europe. This year she is a Guggenheim Fellow and is presenting a new piece at Danspace Project in April.