Janis Brenner — Moving, Sounding and Acting

This workshop intensive is open to all who improvise, teach, choreograph and perform as dancers or interdisciplinary artists. We will explore the process of integrating movement, voice and speaking by delving into the mind/body connection, sensations and experiences through structured improvisation. We will work and play with solo as well as group structures, looking at the influences of sound and music on our dancing.

Each class incorporates a physical warm-up as well as a vocal warm-up, with the group also learning songs to be sung together in “rounds.” This creates a great sense of community and unified purpose within the group from which we can move into explorations together and individually. These workshops are a synthesis of Janis’s many years working with such artists as Meredith Monk, Murray Louis and Alwin Nikolais, and the development of her own, unique teaching, performing and choreographic aesthetic over the last 20 years.

JANIS BRENNER is an award-winning dancer, choreographer, singer and teacher, and is Artistic Director of JANIS BRENNER & DANCERS in New York City. She has toured in 30 countries and is recognized as a “singular performer” with a multifaceted artistic range. Honors and grants include: New York Dance & Performance Award (“The Bessie”)


	JANIS BRENNER & DANCERS in A “Peace” For Women Photo by Tom Caravaglia

for her performance in Meredith Monk’s Vocal Ensemble, Lester Horton Award for Choreography in Los Angeles, Leach Fellowship for Outstanding Achievement, 2002 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and U.S. State Department (tours to Indonesia), Asian Cultural Council (tours to Taiwan and Indonesia), The Trust for Mutual Understanding (tours to Russia), UNESCO (tour to Senegal), and a commission for the interdisciplinary, intergenerational work THE MEMORY PROJECT from the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris. Janis’s work has been commissioned and restaged on more than 40 companies and colleges throughout the world. She is a sought-after teacher to conduct workshops in technique, improvisation, composition, repertory and vocal work. Since 1990 she has performed with Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble (recording on ECM Records). She was Co-Choreographer with Michael Moschen (including PBS’s “Great Performances”), and was a soloist with Annabelle Gamson’s company and with the Murray Louis Dance Company. In 1997, BUZZ Magazine in Los Angeles wrote, “Dancer/choreographer/singer, Brenner is that rare contemporary performer who can do it all.”

JANIS BRENNER & DANCERS has performed throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe and has been presented by leading arts organizations in New York City. E-mail: Janis@janisbrenner.com; Web site: www.janisbrenner.com