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Summer MELT 2008 faculty bios
David Beadle is a performer, teacher, and choreographer - working as an independent movement artist for the past twenty years. As a performer, he is dedicated to the development of improvisation as a vital and viable theatrical form. As a teacher, he is committed to creating new methods for training dancers using relevant information from current research in human movement potential. His work as a movement educator brings a broad-based sensibility to his students – helping them discover their own movement vocabularies and innate dancing abilities.
Irene Dowd is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and Canada’s National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained her own studio and private practice for over 30 years in NYC. Irene choreographs for Peggy Baker, Margie Gillis and other solo dancers. Her work has been taught in schools and dance companies across the US and Canada.
Neil Greenberg: Merce Cunningham Dance Company ‘79-86; Dance By Neil Greenberg ‘86 – present; Dance faculty – UC Riverside (currently), Purchase College and Sarah Lawrence College (previously); Dance Curator, The Kitchen ‘95-99; Fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, NYFA, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, among other awards; “Bessie” Award for Not-About-AIDS-Dance (‘94); currently working on Really Queer Dance With Harps, for DTW in June ‘08, which continues his investigation into the nature of meaning-making. For more information: www.neilgreenberg.org.
Ishmael Houston-Jones’ improvised dance and language work has been performed in NYC, across the US, in Europe, Australia and Latin America. He has taught many movement, improvisation and writing workshops, notably at the EDDC (The Netherlands), American Dance Festival, Seattle Festival of Alternative Dance and Improvisation (SFADI) and at the San Francisco Festival of Improvisation. More info at http://ishmaelhj.com.
Daniel Lepkoff played a central role in the development of Release Technique with Mary Fulkerson and Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton since the early 70’s. Through the 70’s and 80’s 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 in NYC.
Barbara Mahler has taught daily classes for 27 years plus, educating and teaching (with, and inspired by, Susan Klein) a generation of dancers. Essentially self-taught, she brings to her classes the perspective, understanding and experience of working on her own movement re-education. Barbara has been a Movement Research Artist-in-Residence twice, teaches at Hunter College, is on the artist advisory board of BAX, and is a recent MFA graduate from UWM. As a choreographer, her work has been performed around the globe. Barbara also maintains a private practice in Zero Balancing and other hands on healing modalities. www.barbaramahler.com
Juliette Mapp is a dancer, choreographer and teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. Over the years Juliette has danced for many choreographers including John Jasperse, Deborah Hay, Vicky Shick and Stephanie Skura. She received a “Bessie” Award in ‘02. Juliette has choreographed solo and group pieces that have been presented throughout NYC. Juliette was an MR Artist-in-Residence (‘04-’05). She has taught throughout the world and frequently teaches at Movement Research. Juliette's teaching is informed by her studies of The Alexander Technique™, Kinetic Awareness™, Body-Mind Centering® and Skinner Releasing™.
Yvonne Meier, originally from Zurich, Switzerland, has been living, making dances and teaching in NYC, since 1979. Her 25-year dedication to improvisation has been strongly informed by Releasing Technique and Authentic Movement, culminating in the creation of her own “Score Technique.” In 1995 she received a “Bessie Award” for her audience interactive piece “The Shining.” She has taught and performed throughout the US and Europe.
Jennifer Monson is artistic director of iLAND - interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art Nature and Dance. Her projects iMAP/Ridgewood Reservoir and BIRD BRAIN are based in the investigation of the relationship between environment and embodied practice. She is currently teaching at the Dance Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as part of an initiative to bring environmental issues to the forefront of the university and the community at large.
Jeremy Nelson is a dancer/choreographer and former member of the Stephen Petronio Dance Company. He has also danced in the work of David Zambrano, Susan Rethorst, Luis Lara Malvacías, and in his own work, and with improviser Kirstie Simson. He received a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for performance in 1991 and a Guggenheim Fellowship for choreography in 2004. In the last 20 years he has taught classes/workshops in over 30 countries at venues including ADF, ImPulsTanz, P.A.R.T.S., and the Sasha Waltz Company.
Tere O’Connor has been making dances since '82 and has created over 30 works for his company, which has performed throughout the US and in Europe, South America and Canada. He has created commissions for the Lyon Opera Ballet, White Oak Dance Project and Mikhail Baryshnikov, among others. O’Connor is a '93 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art Award. He has received three “Bessie” Awards – most recently for FROZEN MOMMY (2005). O’Connor was recently appointed full professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, where he splits his time with NY.
Shelley Senter, an internationally renowned teacher of the Alexander TechniqueTM, has been involved with experimental and post-modern dance for more than 25 years, touring throughout the world as a performer, choreographer, and teacher. She has been critically recognized and awarded for her distinct approach to movement, both as an independent dance artist, and as a collaborator with many distinguished artists in the New York, West Coast and International dance communities, including the Trisha Brown Company, whose work she continues to stage worldwide. Her teaching continues to influence artists of all disciplines.
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 a “Bessie” Award for performance (’85) and choreography (’03), has shown her own work since the mid-‘80s, and teaches regularly in the US and Europe.
Donna Uchizono - Hailed by Ms. Magazine’s end of the century issue as “a choreographer making great leaps forward into the 21st century,” Donna Uchizono is the Artistic Director of Donna Uchizono Company, a New York-based company known for wit, rich invention, and unexpected beauty. A Guggenheim Fellow, Uchizono’s work has been recognized by numerous grants and awards, most recently with the 2005 Alpert Award in Dance. In 2002, she was awarded a “Bessie” for “Low.” Donna Uchizono Company has been presented throughout the United States, Europe and South America.
Gwen Welliver performed with Doug Varone and Dancers ('90-'00) and was awarded a “Bessie” Award for Sustained Achievement ('00). She then joined the Trisha Brown Dance Company as Rehearsal Director ('00-'07). Gwen has taught in numerous settings including the ADF (North Carolina, Chile), International Summer School of Dance (Japan), Kalamata International Dance Festival (Greece), Moscow Contemporary Dance Summer School “TSEH”, and on the faculty of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Dance Department ('95-'00). Gwen is currently developing her work at Bennington College (MFA candidate, Teaching Fellow).
Reggie Wilson is Artistic Director of Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group, an eclectic company of dancers, shouters (singers) and actor/performers that has collaborated, toured, and taught nationally and internationally. The company has been the vehicle for his choreography since '89. Wilson draws from the movement languages of Africans in the Americas and The Continent, and combines them with post-modern elements and structures to create what he calls “post-African/Neo-Hoodoo Modern dances.”