Conveners: Abigail Levine, daniel lang/levitsky, Ebony Golden, Paloma McGregor, Zab Maboungou

What is the role of the dance-maker when the term choreography is adopted for use in other contexts? Does the practice of organizing bodies in space in the laboratory-like setting of the dance studio inform understanding or even strategizing around how to bring bodies together in other social configurations? What practices are involved in generating “choreographic thinking?” Through discussion, as well as practical experimentation, we will explore the connections, differences and potential for collaboration between choreography initiated as artistic practice and that created as social or political intervention.

Biographies

Abigail Levine’s work brings together the rigors and resources of dance's bodily specificity with performance art's experiments with time and human action. They have been shown in the US, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and Taiwan. Abigail has performed recently with Marina Abramovic, Carolee Schneemann, Pope.L, Clarinda Mac Low and Mark Dendy.

Ebony Noelle Golden believes "we are the ones, we have been waiting for," as June Jordan's prophetic line of poetry continues to remind us. In 2011, Ebony funneled her passion for entrepreneurship, youth development, culture shift, justice, education and the arts into Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, LLC, a cultural arts direct action group based in Harlem.

Paloma McGregor is a Caribbean-born, Harlem-based artist and organizer. Since moving to New York in 2004, she has created performance for theaters, outdoor stages, abandoned buildings, parks and a river. She directs Angela’s Pulse and Dancing While Black, an initiative that supports black dance artists through process, production and dialogue.

Zab Maboungou is the founder of the renowned Zab Maboungou/Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata. She is a performing and choreographic artist, and a philosophy professor who has distinguished herself on all artistic and cultural action fronts. Zab Maboungou is viewed as a dance pioneer in Canada. A unique itinerary reflecting the aesthetic with great poetic power.