MELT
winter 2007 faculty bios
Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Canada’s National Ballet School. Author
of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained her own studio practice for over 35 years in NYC. Irene has
choreographed for Peggy Baker, Margie Gillis and other solo dancers. Her work has been taught in schools
and dance companies across the US and Canada.
Ori Flomin is from Israel and was a member of Stephen Petronio Company ('91-99). He now works as
rehearsal director for the company and assistant to Mr. Petronio. He has also danced in the works of Neil
Greenberg, Maria Hassabi, Mollisa Fenley, Kevin Wynn, and Michael Clark among others. His own work has
been seen in New York at DTW’s Fresh Tracks and Split Stream, PS122 New Stuff, Joyce Soho and
Movement Research at the Judson Church as well as internationally in Austria, Japan and Israel. He has been
teaching dance throughout the USA and Europe as a guest teacher at venues such as PARTS (Brussels),
DansesHus (Copenhagen), Sasha Waltz company (Berlin) and Impulstanz (Vienna) as well as Movement
Research and DNA NYC. He also received his Shiatsu certification from the Ohashi institute in Spring '00.
K.J. Holmes is an independent dancer, singer, poet and body-worker exploring improvisation as process
and performance since ‘81. Her influences include Contact Improvisation, Body-Mind Centering®, Yoga,
Authentic Movement, Release techniques, Martial Dance, world vocal studies and contemporary dance
and theater. 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 graduate of the School for Body-Mind
Centering (’99) and has a private practice in Dynamic Alignment and Re-integration in Brooklyn where she
lives. She is adjunct faculty at NYU/Experimental Theater Wing, and continues to teach through
Movement Research, the Panetta Movement Center and the Trisha Brown Studio.
John Jasperse has been Artistic Director/Choreographer of John Jasperse Company since ’85. He has shown
his work in festivals and venues in the US, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Japan and throughout Europe. He and his company
have received numerous prizes, grants and fellowships, including the NEFA’s National Dance Project,
Rockefeller Foundation, NEA, NYFA, Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Lambent Fellowship in the
Arts and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Jasperse has also created work on Baryshnikov’s
White Oak Project, Batsheva Dance Company, Lyon Opera Ballet and Irish Modern Dance Theater.
Juliette Mapp is a dancer, teacher and choreographer based in New York. She teaches regularly at
Movement Research and abroad and is currently a guest professor at George Washington University in
Washington D.C. Juliette has danced for many choreographers including Deborah Hay, Vicky Shick, John
Jasperse (for which she received a “Bessie” in ‘01), Stephanie Skura, and others. Juliette’s choreography
has been shown throughout NYC including Danspace Project, where her anti-war dance one was presented
last year. Juliette was an MR A.I.R ’04-05.
Yvonne Meier was born in Zurich, Switzerland. Since arriving in NYC in ’79, she has shown her work at
The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS 122, PS 1 and Etc., among others. She has received funding from the
NEA, NYFA, Franklin Furnace and Etc. She won a “Bessie” Award for her piece The Shining. Yvonne also
teaches Authentic Movement and Scores.
Jennifer Monson is artistic director of iLAND, Inc. – interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and
Dance, a not for profit organization that supports collaborative process between movement based artists
and environmental practitioners that engage the public in a kinetic experience of the urban environment.
Monson has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary
Arts, NEA, NYFA, Creative Capital and the Jerome Foundation. She was awarded a New York Dance and
Performance Award (“BESSIE”) for BIRD BRAIN (‘06) and for Sender (‘97) as well as for sustained achievement
in the dance field.
Sara Pearson & Patrik Widrig have gained an international following for dance theater work that transforms
the familiar into the mysterious, the subversive and the intimate. Presenting “dance theater at its funniest
and most compelling” (NZZ, Switzerland), they have been touring extensively throughout the US, Europe,
Latin America, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand since '87. Supported by the NEA, NYSCA, NPN,
the Asian Cultural Council, Arts International, and the Rockefeller, Jerome, Altria, and Harkness Foundations
among many others, their work has been produced annually by major dance venues in NYC including the
Joyce Theater, City Center Fall for Dance, Central Park SummerStage, DTW and the Kitchen. They have
become well known for their site and video works as well as community performance residencies combining
dance, music, text and video, including their newest Katrina, Katrina: Love Letters to New Orleans, which has
been presented twice at the Kennedy Center and will tour throughout the US over the next two years.
Gwen Welliver performed with Doug Varone and Dancers (’91-00) and served on the faculty of NYU’s
Tisch School of the Arts (’95-00). She then joined the Trisha Brown Dance Company as Rehearsal Director.
Gwen has taught at numerous studios, festivals, and universities in the U.S. and abroad, including ADF in
North Carolina and in Chile, International Summer School of Dance (Japan), Kalamata International Dance
Festival (Greece), Movement Research (NYC) and, with support from the Suitcase Fund, at the Moscow
Contemporary Dance Summer School “TSEH.” She was awarded a “Bessie” Award (’00) for Sustained
Achievement for dancing with Doug Varone and Dancers. |