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Megan Slayter is a dance educator, administrator, historian, and lighting designer at Western Michigan University where she is the Acting Associate Director of the School of Theatre and Dance with a research focus on the reconstructions of works by modern dance pioneer, Loïe Fuller. Her ongoing collaborative research with dance historian Jessica Lindberg Coxe has resulted in the reconstruction of Fuller's “Fire Dance”, “Night”, “Lily of the Nile”, and “La Mer” that have been reconstructed and commissioned for performance by universities, dance companies, and art museums across the country. For more on this podcast with episode show notes: Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast.

Today's guest is Alana Marie Urda. Alana is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Amalgamate, where she pursues using dance for a purpose through her choreographic works, documentaries and company events. Alana has envisioned and produced a range of distinguished dance events, charity projects, and educational workshops with Amalgamate. Her repertoire has been celebrated in renowned NYC venues and tours both nationally and internationally. Commissioned for numerous projects, she has set choreography on dancers across the states and presented work at Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Series, Boston University, BBKings, Sant'Angelo in Vado, Italy, Brunei, Asia, The Times Center, Ailey Citigroup, and Merce Cunningham Studio. She is Assistant Director of The Trinity School After School Program, and a Teaching Artist at New York City Center and The Events in Orlando, FL. For more on this podcast with episode show notes: Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast.

Today's guest is Diane Coburn Bruning. Diane is an award-winning choreographer who has worked with ballet, dance, opera and theatre companies throughout the US and abroad.  She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and multi-year National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and grants among many others.  She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Dance Project, dancers and musicians. For more on this podcast with episode show notes: Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast

On this special episode of "Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast" you will hear from an array of artists working in the dance field, each uniquely navigating what COVID-19 means to them and the work they do.  On this episode, hear from Melissa Riker with Dance Rising (NYC), Crystal Michelle Perkins with The Landingplace Project (Ohio), Shana Simmons with Shana Simmons Dance (Pittsburgh), and Erin Carlisle Norton with The Moving Architects (NJ/NYC) who launched new programs or initiatives during this era, despite of and in response to the challenges of our time. For more on Movers & Shapers and these artists: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Denise Saunders Thompson. Denise is the President & CEO of the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD). She has extensive experience in non-profit and for-profit, established or start-up organizations. She has advised organizations on administrative, programmatic and fundraising issues including strategic plans, policy and procedures, communications programs, budgeting and contracts. In April 2015, Denise completed 17 years of service at Howard University in the capacities of Professor, Theatre Manager/ Producing Artistic Director for the Department of Theatre Arts and Manager of Cramton Auditorium. For more on this podcast with episode show notes: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Robin Staff. Robin is the Founder, Executive Director, and Producer of DANCE NOW.  DANCE NOW offers an interdependent network of performance, creative development, and educational opportunities, serving a diverse roster of multi-generational artists. DANCE NOW provides dance makers with paid performance, commissioning, teaching and residency opportunities through five programs - DN Joe's Pub (NY), DN Raw (NY), DN SteelStacks (PA), DN Silo (PA), and DN Boston (MA). 2020 Celebrates 25 years of DANCE NOW, an anniversary season that can be experienced through THE DANCE NOW STORY, a virtual tour through their past, present and future. For more on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Erin Pride. Erin is an online business coach for dance educators and host of the Dance Boss Podcast. Erin helps dance educators niche down, build an online business, and bring in additional revenue for them and their families. Erin began her coaching journey as a dance education coach, providing resources and training to help dance educators run more successful classrooms. Now Erin helps her fellow dance educators pursue their dreams and start an online business that impacts the masses.  For more on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Preeti Vasudevan. Preeti is an exponent of classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) creating new provocative contemporary works from the Indian tradition questioning the role of identity in contemporary lives. She is the first artist of Indian descent to receive recognitions from top institutions in the US for her outstanding contribution to dance. Some highlights include: 2019 Dance Lab New York / Joyce Theater Foundation Creation Grant; 2019 Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Leaders in Dance; 2018 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists; 2018 Selected Artist, DanceMotion USA Follow-On Program with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); and 2018 Jerome Robbins Dance Division’s Dance Research Fellowship, NY. Preeti partners her educational and creative leadership with world-impacting organizations as Silkroad founded by legendary musician Yo-Yo Ma and the National Dance Institute. Her ground-breaking educational website, Dancing for the Gods (in collaboration with the Dept of Education, NYC) has been developed to build a cultural bridge through creative Indian dance and used in NYC Public Schools. For more info on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Alejandra Duque Cifuentes. Alejandra is an immigrant activist, artist, producer, educator, and Executive Director of Dance/NYC.  With more than 10 years of production and stage management experience in theatre and dance, she has toured nationally and internationally with Zaccho Dance Theatre, Bandaloop, Dancing in The Streets, and The Foundry Theatre, among others. As a teaching artist, she has taught children and adults in over 100 New York City public schools and through community theatre programs. In 2011 she founded Theatre That Transcends, which taught local, underserved communities how to express themselves and address community issues through the art of theatre. As an activist, she plays an integral part in advancing a more equitable arts and cultural ecology by working on measures to increase access, justice, equity, and inclusion within dance for disabled artists, immigrant artists, and artists of color in the five boroughs of New York City.   For more info on this podcast and Movers & Shapers:  themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest (episode 100!) is Jody Sperling. Jody is a dancer-choreographer from NYC and the Founder/Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance. She has created 45+ works including many furthering the legacy of modern dance pioneer Loie Fuller (1862-1928). Considered the preeminent Fuller stylist, Sperling has expanded the genre into the 21st century, deploying it in the context of contemporary and environmental performance forms.  Current projects focus on creating visual-kinetic narratives merging choreography and climate science.  Time Lapse Dance is currently celebrating their 20th Anniversary Season. For more info on this podcast and Movers & Shapers: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

On this special episode of "Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast" we continue our "From the Field" series with an episode that features a wide array of artists in the dance field.  Each are trying to navigate what the coronavirus crisis means to them and the work they do.  Inspiring, honest, hopeful, hear from Jessica Chen, Zoee Marsh, Miles Norton, Aria Roach, Mark DeGarmo, and Isabel Bowser. For more on Movers & Shapers: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today’s guest is award-winning filmmaker Alla Kovgan. Born in Moscow, Alla has divided her time between Europe and the U.S., bringing two decades of experience working with dance and film on screen, virtual reality, and in theatre, as well as a strong record as a documentary writer and editor. Her latest film Cunningham traces Merce Cunningham's artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery (1944–1972), from his early years as a struggling dancer in post-war New York to his emergence as one of the world’s most visionary choreographers. The documentary weaves together Merce's philosophies and stories, creating a visceral journey into his innovative work. A breathtaking explosion of dance, music and never-before-seen archival material, Cunningham is a timely tribute to one of the world’s greatest modern dance artists. For more info on this podcast: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts More info on Cunningham: www.cunninghammovie.com

On this special episode of "Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast" we have for you a wide array of artists working in the dance field who are each trying to navigate what the coronaviris crisis means to them and the work they do. Inspiring, honest, hopeful, hear from Megan Mizanty, Ariel Grossman, Eduardo Villaro, Anabella Lenzu, Stephanie Acosta, and Eva Yaa Asantewaa.   For more on Movers & Shapers: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Let's Share. How are you responding to this time? Record it. Send it. Let's hear your voice.   For more info and guidelines: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts  

We are taking a podcast pause....listen in to hear why. For more info Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts   And catch the company behind the podcast in March! March 3-9: Spring/Break Art Fair (NYC) March 14: Second Saturdays at Central (family friendly event, NJ) March 26: An Evening with The Moving Architects (Montclair, NJ)

Today's guest is Pavel Zuštiak. Pavel is a director, choreographer, performer, and founder/artistic director of the New York-based performance company Palissimo. Born in communist Czechoslovakia and trained at Amsterdam's School for New Dance Development, Pavel's staged performances tour nationally and internationally, merging dance with multidisciplinary and multi-sensory theatrical experiences. He was awarded both a Guggenheim Fellowship and the New York "Bessie" awards, among others. This podcast was produced in conjunction with the MFA in Dance at Rutgers University, a program that establishes students as creatively literate world citizens who can develop interdisciplinary solutions to address complex contemporary issues. Now accepting applications for the Summer 2020 cohort:  masongross.rutgers.edu For more info on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Sondra Fraleigh. Sondra is professor emeritus of the State University of New York at Brockport, a Fulbright Scholar, SUNY Faculty Exchange Scholar, and a significant writer in the field of dance philosophy.  She is an award winning author of nine books including most recently: Back to the Dance Itself: Phenomenologies of the Body in Performance (2018); Moving Consciously: Somatic Transformations through Dance, Yoga, and Touch (2015); BUTOH: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemy (2010); and Land to Water Yoga (2009). Fraleigh was chair of the Department of Dance at SUNY Brockport for nine years and later head of graduate dance. Her innovative choreography has been seen in the USA, Germany, Japan, and India. Sondra is the founding director of Eastwest Somatics Institute. This podcast was produced in conjunction with the MFA in Dance at Rutgers University, a program that establishes students as creatively literate world citizens who can develop interdisciplinary solutions to address complex contemporary issues. Now accepting applications for the Summer 2020 cohort:  masongross.rutgers.edu For more info on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Christine Dakin. Christine has spent more than four decades in Martha Graham’s deep tradition, exploring the physical and intellectual practice of dance as principal dancer, artistic director of the company, and teacher. She shares the language of dance collaborating with choreographers, musicians, and teachers, and continuing to perform from Russia to the US, maintaining a special connection to the Mexican dance community since 1981. She has been awarded a “Bessie”, the Dance Magazine Award, and a fellowship from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She has brought her personal poetics of dance to film in her “La Voz del Cuerpo / The Body Speaks” and “Terpsikon”. For more info on this podcast: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Jessica Chen. Jessica is a choreographer, teacher and Artistic Director of J CHEN PROJECT, a 501c3 non-profit modern dance company based in NYC. In 2013, Jessica made a miraculous journey back to the stage after suffering a horrific car accident, which rendered her in a coma for 13 days after 8 hours of brain surgery. She shares her story and fight to live through her work as a choreographer, speaker, and Artistic Director of J CHEN PROJECT. As a freelance choreographer, her work has been seen Off-Broadway, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and TEDx. For more info on this episode: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Today's guest is Vangeline. Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute. She is also the founder of the 12-year running, award-winning program “Dream a Dream Project”, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State.   For more info on this episode: www.themovingarchitects.org/podcasts