Embody the Dance History of 92NY
Experience the lineage first-hand.
Our upcoming course, DEL Dance to Belong: An Embodied History of Dance at 92NY facilitated by Ann Biddle and Felice Santorelli gives participants the unique opportunity to engage with dance history in a deeply embodied way.
What began as a sanctuary for Jewish immigrants became a home for immigrant, BIPOC, and Jewish dance artists, including pillars of American dance history like Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Jose Limón, Pearl Primus, and many more.
This article details the history beautifully: “Dancing with the 92nd Street Y: Personal Reflections on a Living History” by Joan Finkelstein (Dance Index).
We’re extremely fortunate that our guest artists for this upcoming course carry the embodied knowledge and lineage of these dance pioneers!
Kim Bears-Bailey
Artistic Director of The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO)
Kim Bears-Bailey, photo by Christopher Duggan
Kim has performed in works by Pearl Primus. She is one of few artists granted permission to remount the works of many world-renowned choreographers including Talley Beatty, Pearl Primus, Louis Johnson and Gene Hill Sagan.
Kim travels around the globe as a teaching artist, artist-in-residence and reconstructor. Read more about Kim.
Dante Puleio
Artistic Director of the Limón Dance Company
Dante Puleio, photo by Whitney Browne
A widely respected former member of the Limón Dance Company for more than a decade, Dante is the sixth Artistic Director in the Company’s 75-year history, a position that originated with Doris Humphrey.
Linda Celeste Sims
Full time Dance Professor at SUNY Purchase College
Linda Celeste Sims, photo by Cherylynn Tsushima.
Linda began training at Ballet Hispanico School of Dance, and joined Ballet Hispanico’s first company from 1994 to 1996.
She has originated featured roles by Judith Jamison, Donald Byrd, Alonso King, Ronald K. Brown, Rennie Harris, Azure Barton, and more.
Linda was an Alvin Ailey company member from 1996-2020, and was the Assistant to the Rehearsal Director. Read more about Linda.
Dr. Jessica Friedman
Exhibit Co-Curator and Lecturer in Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara
Dr. Jessica Friedman is a Lecturer in Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara and a dance curator. Her research examines how modern dance and dance theatre respond to global crisis. Jessica’s book project, Modern Dance in Crisis: Women’s Re-Makings in 1940s American Modern Dance, focuses on women choreographers’ negotiations of transnational crisis in modern dance during the mid-twentieth century.
The dance center keeps the institution moving… like having to be flexible, having to respond to current ideas of art and the politics of what the arts are saying. And because we agitate, hopefully . . . in a way that’s positive, but that does usher in change . . . we probably have contributed more than almost any of the programming at the Y . . . in terms of embracing that multiracial, multicultural perspective.”
— Renata Celichowska (Director of 92NY Dance Center, 2004–2012)
Don’t miss your opportunity to learn from these extremely knowledgeable artists and educators!
Sign up for DEL Dance to Belong: A History of Dance at 92NY by July 10!
Header Image: Professional workshop at the 92NY Buttenweiser Hall, ca. 1995 (Dance Index)