Connection and Community: An Interview with Mira-Lisa Katz

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREGORY BARTNING When Mira danced, it was as though she had invited me into a secret world. It was a bit like following Alice in Wonderland down a rabbit hole, but Mira’s dance pulled me down a gentle grassy slope instead. There was nothing hurried […]

November 16, 2017  |  Read Article

Standing on Shoulders: An Interview with Laura Elaine Ellis

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREGORY BARTNING It’s worth noting Laura cut her foot during her photoshoot. Her dance knew no “no.” It was only a matter of “yes.” She spoke like butter and moved like a dragon. Color seemed to engulf her. She jumped into the dance and never […]

November 13, 2017  |  Read Article

Social Interventions through Dance

An Interview with Shawn Lent BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOS BY MOHAMED RADWAN Shawn Lent is a social practice dance artist, program manager, dance educator, public speaker and facilitator based in Chicago. She believes dance has broader applications beyond traditional modes of choreography and performance. She shares her personal history, philosophy, […]

November 9, 2017  |  Read Article

Ballez: Redefining Ballet

An Interview with Katy Pyle BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT Katy Pyle is the founder, director and choreographer of Ballez, a dance company in New York City that celebrates lesbian, queer and transgender communities and histories through ballet classes, as well as by reimagining classical ballets through an LGBTQ lens. Katy discusses […]

November 6, 2017  |  Read Article

Rethinking Disability through Enabling Theatre

An Interview with Susan Quick BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT Susan Quick was first a dancer and later an actress before sustaining a head injury that changed her life. The native of Hebden Bridge, England built upon Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed to create Enabling Theatre, a way of using theater […]

November 2, 2017  |  Read Article