Dancecast

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Monika Požek, founder and director of MeetShareDance in Madrid, Spain. MeetShareDance is an annual festival that takes place in a different country each year, and that was created with the aim of supporting integrative dance as well as building an international network of integrated dance professionals. Silva and Monika discuss the evolution of the festival, Monika’s background, and the spread of integrated dance both in Europe and the United States. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt.

Monika Požek, founder and artistic director of MeetShareDance, received her first dance training in Slovenia, dancing and competing hip hop for 12 years. After obtaining a degree in continuing education, she moved to Argentina where she began training in contemporary techniques, as well as studying dance movement therapy (at AADT and Maria Fux method) and integrated dance at IUNA with Susana Gonzales. She continued with Danceability teacher training in Finland, workshops with Adam Benjamin, CandoCo and collaborating with a wheelchair dance group Zebra (Slovenia) and DanZass (Madrid). In 2012, she started MeetShareDance. In 2014-15, Monika was a Fulbright Schuman researcher on integrated dance, traveling to Atlanta and working with Full Radius Dance. In 2017, MeetShareDance festival was winner of the #BeInclusive EU Sport Award. Monika lives and works in Madrid.

http://stanceondance.com

Interview with Violeta Fatas.

http://www.paressueltos.org

In this episode I spoke with my dear friend and colleague Tanya Winters about her career and our visit to Berlin, Germany where we took part in couple of integrated festivals.

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Tanya Winters, a dancer in Austin, TX. Tanya found her way into the world of dance in the early 2000s before becoming certified in DanceAbility in 2011. She currently performs with Body Shift. Tanya shares a bit of her journey claiming dance with a disability, from overcoming insecurities to finding her own voice. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt.

A Chicago native, Tanya Winters fell in love with Austin after a weekend trip. She loves creating and pushing the boundaries of art and disability. Tanya’s career as an artist began in theater in 2005 and shifted to dance in 2007 thanks to a wooden chair and the desire to tell a story. As a student of Austin Community College, she gained extensive background in improvisation and choreography. Tanya became a certified DanceAbility instructor in 2011. Currently, she dances with Body Shift. She hopes that her work will motivate other dancers to think outside the box and erase the line between ability and disability.

https://meetsharedance.com

n this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Nancy Bain, who has spent her life working in dance education. She shares some of her most unique teaching experiences, including addressing war with students through dance at a public elementary school for the arts. Nancy also discusses why she never opted to open a dance studio, how she helped her alma mater start a dance department, how she developed an injury awareness class, and her myriad work with special needs students. She believes dance is for everyone, and her rich career reflects this.

Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

In this episode I was talking to my good friend Julie about her work within the integrated dance scene as well as her time in Java.

Liv is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in the Bay Area. Liv graduated from Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California in 2013, and spent the 2013-2015 seasons dancing with DanceWorks Chicago under direction of Julie Nakagawa. Liv embraces employment opportunity nationwide; developing integrative arts curriculum, educating dancers, performing, and creating choreographic commissions with organizations such as Youth Art Exchange, Jacob's Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, The JUNTOS Collective, Western Michigan University, Southern Exposure, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA & Summer Programs. You can currently spot Liv dancing with AXIS Dance Company, where she joined in August of 2016.

http://www.aliviaschaffer.com

Sandra Paola López R. is a dancemaker, improviser and performance activist. Her work is characterized by the investigation of complex issues such as relationship, gender, race, identity, awareness, kinesthetic listening and perception, and it has taken her through the US, Colombia, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Canada and Mexico. Since moving to the United States from her native Colombia in 2004 she has developed her art practice to integrate her creative process and her cultural organizing efforts. Driven by her commitment to social justice, Sandra Paola co-founded and now directs in2improv – an organization empowering diverse populations through performance and improvisation in the US/Mexico border. She has taught widely in both formal and informal education settings and is currently dance faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso and a candidate in the MFA program in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College.

http://www.sandrapaolalopez.com

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews 22 year-old Hanna Tams, founder and director of Douban Dance Company in Jerusalem. Hanna is dedicated to reaching at-risk Palestinian youth through dance, thereby using art for social change. Hanna shares the cultural obstacles he has overcome, the political implications of sharing dance with his community, and the power of dance to bring joy and heal.

https://www.facebook.com/douban2012/

In this episode of the DanceCast, Silva Laukkanen speaks to her third site-specific dance artist, Stephan Koplowitz, who has been producing site specific dances for over 30 years. He shares a peek into his research and choreographic process, as well as discusses the origins and status of site specific dance, and the considerations of history and politics when choreographing in a new space.

http://bodyshift.org

Dale Andree is the founder and director of National Water Dance, a biennial event that organizes dance artists and educators across the country into a movement choir to inspire environmental awareness and action. In this episode of DanceCast, Dale discusses her history teaching improvisation to children, her status as a re-emerging choreographer, and her larger vision of getting communities of dancers across the country to come together and dance for water.

http://se.nationalwaterdance.org