Inside the Dancer's Studio

In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, Artistic Directors of Bridgman | Packer Dance (Valley Cottage, NY). They are Guggenheim Fellows and 2017 NY Dance and Performance Award recipients (The Bessies). Their collaborative work focuses on integrating live performance and video technology to blur the line between image and reality, explore identity, and reveal multiple layers of consciousness. They are also recipients of four NPN Creation Fund Awards and numerous grants from the NEA, National Dance Project, NYSCA, and NYFA.

EPISODE LINKS

• bridgmanpacker.org
• Remember What Never Happened at the Beirut Spring Festival in 2017
  youtube.com/watch?v=T8ZFj2p5Bjk

ARTIST BIOS

Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer (Valley Cottage, NY), Co-Artistic Directors of Bridgman | Packer Dance, have collaborated in choreography and performance since 1978.

In 2001, they expanded their choreographic vision, stretching the boundaries of dance by merging it with video technology. In 2017, they received a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Outstanding Production for their work Voyeur at The Sheen Center.

The 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to Bridgman and Packer was the first in the history of the Guggenheim Foundation to be given to two individuals for their collaborative work. Bridgman and Packer are recipients of eleven grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (2007-2019) and grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, National Dance Project, USArtists International, Performing Americas Project, and La Red. They have received two Choreography Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, four National Performance Network Creation Fund Awards, and choreographic commissions from Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), Portland Ovations, Danspace Project, and the 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund.

Based in New York City, they have been presented by City Center Fall For Dance Festival, Lincoln Center, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop (now NYLA), Danspace Project, The Sheen Center, and Central Park's Summerstage.

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 Jesse Factor (Slippery Rock, PA). Factor's growing repertoire of solo work has been presented in North American venues such as TQ Live! at the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), OUTsider Festival (Austin), Milton Art Bank (Milton), RADfest (Kalamazoo), St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery (NYC), and Fierce Queer Burlesque (Toronto).

EPISODE LINKS

• jessefactor.com
• blackcube.art/blog/chimera

ARTIST BIO

Jesse Factor's (Slippery Rock, PA) growing repertoire of solo work combines a speculative view of queer histories and the archive with contemporary composition practices. He has created Mommie Queerest, presented at Queers in Revolt at Sam Houston University in 2019, Kween Kong presented at the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival in 2017, and Marthagany: the Spectre-Acle series, which continues to tour at dance festivals, performance events, and nightclubs. Jesse Factor’s studied channeling of divas in exile–from time and body–hauntingly reflects the impressions they’ve left behind.

Awards include the Twin Cities Arts Reader Critics Pick and Minnesota Fringe Staff Pick for RELIC at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and Outstanding Dance Performance for Marthagany at the Fresh Fruit Festival-NYC. Jesse received the Kelly Strayhorn Alloy Studios Freshworks residency grant (Pittsburgh, PA) for a collaborative work with multimedia artist Scott Andrew.

Factor’s work has been presented in many American and international venues including TQ Live! at the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), OUTsider Festival (Austin), Milton Art Bank (Milton), RADfest (Kalamazoo), St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery (NYC), Fresh Fruit Festival (NYC), House of Yes, (NYC), and Fierce Queer Burlesque (Toronto).

Factor received the Iowa Arts Fellowship (2015-2016) and an Obermann Graduate Institute Fellowship (2017) at the University of Iowa. Jesse danced professionally with the Martha Graham Dance Company and Graham II, received a BFA in Drama with honors from Tisch/NYU, and an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa.

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 Bebe Miller (Columbus, OH). Miller has been named a Master of African American Choreography by the Kennedy Center, has received four “Bessie” awards, United States Artists and Guggenheim Fellowships, honorary doctorates from Ursinus College, and Franklin & Marshall College, and is one of the inaugural class of Doris Duke Artist Award recipients.

EPISODE LINKS 

• bebemillercompany.org
• bebemillercompany.org/projects/dancefort
• themakingroom.org
• Bebe's E-book How Dancing is Built: The Making of In A Rhythm: bebemillercompany.org/projects/in-a-rhythm-e-book
• Dancer Darrell Drive in a solo from A History (2012): vimeo.com/399322591

ARTIST BIO

Bebe Miller (Columbus, OH), an American choreographer, dancer, and director, first performed her work at NYC’s Dance Theater Workshop in 1978. Interested in “finding a physical language for the human condition,” she formed Bebe Miller Company in 1985. The Company has performed extensively in the UK, Europe, Africa, and throughout the US. Miller's choreography, noted for its mix of virtuosic, athletic speed, and fragile humanity, has been commissioned by Oregon Ballet Theatre, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Philadanco, the UK’s Phoenix Dance Company, and PACT Dance Company of Johannesburg, South Africa. She was named a Master of African American Choreography by the Kennedy Center, has received four Bessie awards, United States Artists and Guggenheim Fellowships, honorary doctorates from Ursinus College and Franklin & Marshall College, and is one of the inaugural class of Doris Duke Artist Award recipients.

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced by Lisa Niedermeyer of Handmade Future Studio

LINKS: