Inside the Dancer's Studio

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. 

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

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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. 

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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…”

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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.

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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.

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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/

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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-

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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/

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS:

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

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS: