Jennie Miller
Public School 3, NYC
Jennie Miller
Public School 3, NYC
“To some, site choreographers seem notoriously mischievous—inserting their work surreptitiously or even forcefully into the public sphere, engaging in “inappropriate” behavior, bringing art into unusual sites, or offering alternative narratives for place. Some may dismiss site artists as mere pranksters or oddballs.” (Kloetzel & Pavlik, 2011)
Jennie teaches Prek-5 at Public School 3 in Greenwich Village. For the past 23 years she has run the program created there by Joan Sax, added a second dance teacher, Samantha Chan, and infused the school with dance performances, classes, dance clubs, and a dance a thon for Safe Passage in Guatemala. It is a school where everyone dances. The focus on dance making, even for the smallest dancers as well as the progressive, arts infused collaborations with classroom teachers makes the job full of joy for her and the children. Jennie’s dancer’s heart has always been in site work. Inspired by Edith Segal and her work at Camp Kinderland as well as her own love of the outdoors, Jennie loves to take kids to dance outside in various sites, often in collaboration with site-specific artists around the city. The DEL philosophy supports and aligns with site work as we can make a dance anywhere using what we see, hear, touch and learn to create.
Jennie Miller studied ballet with Lynda Yourth in San Diego and attended School of American Ballet in New York. She went to Barnard College and Bank Street College, where she earned a Master’s in Education. In 1994 she began teaching prek/k at PS3. After a childcare leave to care for her children, Lily and Jake, Jennie returned to PS3 as the dance teacher in 2002. She studied at DEL prior to this. One vital component of her life and her teaching is social activism. Raised by radical progressive parents in free schools in the 60’s, Jennie has participated in many political action groups such as Take Back the Night, A Day Without Art, Act Up, Barnard Columbia Earth Coalition, Occupy and Planned Parenthood. Focusing on issues of social justice and dance in order to help young people create a social justice consciousness is central to much of her work. In 2012 Jennie created Dance Adventure with her daughter Lily Rubin-Miller and Samantha Chan. The goal of this children’s site-specific dance company is to create dance in unexpected places. This company has worked with many artists and dancers to create dances that explore themes of identity, social justice, climate justice, immigration and racism. Jennie was the recipient of the Arnhold EdD scholarship in the first cohort at Teachers College. Her studies are on pause at the moment. Jennie has been photographing dance for many decades. She is the staff photographer for Loco-Motion Children’s Dance Theatre as well as being on their board.
