Galleries Without Borders
SE.S.TA Centre for Choreographic Development in partnership with Core Dance:
19th Century (wo)Man - A Contemporary Intervention
an International Contemporary Dance Cooperation in conjunction with the works from the permanent exhibition: 1796–1918: ART OF THE LONG CENTURY
Under the Artistic Direction of Sue Schroeder (Core Dance/USA), Czech and American Dance Makers will complete a two-part creative residency in October 2021. Inspired by the artistic intention of artists and works exhibited in the permanent exhibition,1796–1918: ART OF THE LONG CENTURY, the Dance Makers will offer a kinesthetic view and/or experience of the art of the past in a unique way. Mirroring aspects and works within the exhibition and characterized by a certain departure from traditional notions of dance, the Dance Makers will support yet challenge the unusually fruitful and inspirational debate within the exhibition while facilitating a kinesthetic entry point into the telling of the ‘story of arts’.
Aligning the artistic intention and creative process, Part 1 of the Project - Gallerie without Borders - Core Dance Artistic Director Sue Schroeder structured a virtual process for the participants over 5 weeks in May/June 2020. Inclusive of group and individual coaching sessions, the Dance Makers worked towards a virtual performance experience live streamed from the Czech Republic and the United States. Additionally, the creative process and performance experiences yielded recorded documentation for dissemination to a broader public.
Building on the virtual creative process and performance, Part 2 of the Project will take place within the exhibition – Trade Fair Palace – 4th Floor October 3-13, 2021. Participants in this aspect of the residency will deepen their collective and collaborate efforts to create an immersive performance experience for audience and museum goers. The exhibitions three major chapters - Man, The World and Ideas – and the exhibition’s unique beginning with the birth of the Society of the Patriotic Friends of the Arts (February 5, 1796 in Prague) will provide increasingly dynamic and new stimuli for this Collaboration/Cooperation.
Throughout the entire time span of this Project, 19th Century (wo)Man: A Contemporary Intervention, the Dance Makers on this project will discuss topics generated by their creative process, share their points of view and inspire one another to broaden their points of view. Engaging artistically driven research practices, Ms. Schroeder will guide the dance making process with authenticity, physicality and enquiry.
Meet the Artists
Born and raised in Detroit MI, Walter Apps started his dance training at the age of 4. He received his BFA from Point Park University in 2016. Immediately after graduating, he worked with Texture Contemporary Ballet. Walter moved to New York to work with Yin Yue, Rubén Graciani, and Patrick O’Brien. He has had the privilege to perform works by Aszure Barton, Septime Weber, Lar Lubovitch, MADBOOTS, and Ohad Naharin to name some. Walter is currently a Dance Artist with Core Dance based in Atlanta, GA and Houston, TX.
Shawny Evans is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Hollins University and they hold a Bachelor of Arts from Kennesaw State University. They have studied with the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies and is a member of the Dance Studies Association. Additionally, they have performed with Kit Modus, Full Radius Dance, Dance Canvas, Liquid Sky Entertainment, and Southern Arc Dance.
Barbora Látalová is a free lance dancer, actor, teacher and choreographer, co founder of OSTRUŽINA z.s. free artistic association
Barbora is a graduate of the dance conservatory Duncan Centre in Prague (1997).
She completed a scholarship at the Hunter College of the City University of New York in modern dance and improvisation and dance therapy in NYU. Her further dance education and professionalization due to the activities of SE.S.TA (first Centre for choreographic Development in Czech republic).
As a dancer and performer she is involved in projects in the Czech Republic and abroad. She creates projects in cooperation with various artists and coaches (B. Hartsorn, D. Boivin, B.Massin, G.Witmann, T.Verges, J.Hamilton, M.Moore, D.Zambrano, Spitfire comp, Verte). She participates in art-educational projects Creative Partnership ( Prague), School of Dance SE.S.TA (Žďár nad Sázavou). As part of the project Dance for schools TANEC PRAHA (Prague), she has been teaching dance in elementary schools for 10 years. Barbora is a leader of The the Dance Studio for Children at Prague’s dance theatre PONEC for last 8 years. She is the main founder of the artistic group OSTRUŽINA z.s. with the goal of long-term activities in the field of dance and theatre with a specialization on children and young audiences. The group also works on innovative inter-generational and community projects, which encourage creativity and activity not only with Czech audiences. She is a member of the board of ASSITEJ Czech Republic.
Roman Zotov Mikshin was born in Tula, Russia. From the age of 18 he has been based in Prague, CZ. He started to dance around the age of 12 and till now he went through many different genres of dance: starting with the ballroom and street dance, then studying contemporary dance and physical theatre in Duncan centre dance conservatory for 4,5 years. Now he teaches martial arts principles, contemporary technique, improvisation and creation/composition classes in Duncan centre. For some years he has been a member of a Spitfire Company - artistic company that includes works of physical, visual and dance theatre. He has also created original pieces during studies and then shortly after finishing. Work The Shores/Берега by A+1 Company (co-owned with his brother) won second prize in Jarmila Jerabkova New Europe festival in 2015. After that the pair toured Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
Photo by Dmitry Pryakhin
Johana Pocková graduated from the Duncan Centre Dance Conservatory in Prague, completed a six-month internship at the Peridance Capezio Centre in New York and two years at the SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance). She is currently devoting herself to auteur choreography. In 2017, she won the Jarmila Jeřábková Award for her choreography MURDER! A little comic book history. In recent years, she has also presented the productions Why Not Now?, Na Váhu! and Full Warehouses of Emotions and the dance film Folds of Touch. Together with Sabina Bočková, she is the creator of the performance The Lion's Den, which was selected for the Czech Dance Platform 2020 and among the top 20 productions on the European platform Aerowaves 2021. Her latest work together with Sabina Bočková and Inga Zotová-Mikshina, Treatment of Remembering, was selected for the Czech Dance Platform 2021. In 2019 she founded the dance association POCKETART and in 2020 she won the first Dance News Award for her contribution to the dance scene. As a performer, she collaborates with the Tantehorse group and the Cirk La Putyka.
Photo by Antonin Kratochvil
In over 40 years of work in the arts, Sue Schroeder has created more than 110 original dance works for theaters, museums, green spaces, architectural works, and water environments. Her work has appeared throughout the United States, as well as Mexico, Israel, France, Germany, Poland, Georgia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Iceland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Guatemala, and Hungary. Schroeder’s multidisciplinary vision has led to collaborations with major voices in Dance – Amanda K. Miller, Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor, Ellen Bromberg, Beppie Blankert, Dieter Baumann & Jutta Hell, Alicia Sanchez, Joanna Haigood, Isabelle Salle & Adolfo Vargas, Susan M. Prins, and Polly Motley – in Music – Christian Meyer, Antoine Plante, Sonja Zarek, Todd Hammes, Yoko Ono, Joanna Duda, Michael Keck, Rich O’Donnell, Stuart Gerber & Jan Baker, and Klimchak – in Spoken Word – Keith Antar Mason & The Hittite Empire, Sarah Turquety, LeRon McAdoo, Marcus Montogmery & the Writeous Poets - and Visual Arts and Design – Adam Larsen, Nancy Chikarishi, Maya Ciarrocchi, Gail Siptak, Charlie Sartwelle, Anne Skupin, Lisa Shoyer, Maya Geffman, Walter “Chip” Morris and Lucía Hernández López.
Schroeder is known for her site-specific, museum and immersive creations for The Menil Collection, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, University of Central Arkansas, Baum Gallery, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Lawndale Art Annex – University of Houston, Diverseworks ArtSpace, Lauren Rodgers Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Varmlands Museum, Karlstad (Sweden). Schroeder’s long-standing relationship with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has led to 12 commissions to exhibitions featuring the work of Sol LeWitt, Diego Rivera, Carlos Cruz-Diez, John Alexander, Pablo Picasso, MoMA’s Heroic Century, the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection of Latin American Art, Jules Olitski, Joseph Havel, Isamu Noguchi, and Dan Flavin. Schroeder has also received 20 site-specific commissions from the Bayou City Arts Festival.
Additionally, Schroeder is recognized as a leading Arts Activist and Mentor and the Founding Artistic Director of Core Dance. As a contemporary artist and Dance Maker, Schroeder focuses on the creative process, movement research & exploration, and dance-making as a catalyst for social change.
Photo by Jerry Siegel
Iman (meaning faith/magnet) Siferllah-Griffin is a dance practitioner and facilitator of healing based in Atlanta, GA. She is the co-creator and member of the internationally known dance duo Al Taw’am LLC. Genres that inform her movement style are Hip Hop, Traditional West African, Dance Hall, Popping, House, Waacking, Modern, Capoeria Angola, Yoga, and other Black American vernacular dances. Iman’ current focus is harnessing her intuitive and spiritual abilities intersectionality with dance.
A few notable experiences along Iman’s dance journey include sharing her movement at the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Facing Race Conference, and The Minnesota Secretary of State's 50th Voters’ Rights Act Anniversary Celebration. Her dance film television work includes season one of World of Dance NBC and TPT Minnesota’s Originals “Art is...Al Taw’am” (An Emmy nominated segment). Iman has been an artist in residencies and or engaged with organizations such as Inner City Muslim Action Network based in Chicago Atlanta, The South Dallas Cultural Arts Center based in Dallas, Words Beats and Life based in Washington D.C., and Each One Teach One based in Berlin, Germany, the Harvard Law school of Education, the Spelman Department of Dance, and UW Madison’s first wave program.
Though she has received many accolades and support for her gifts Iman believes her greatest
accomplishments have been carrying on the legacy of her ancestors, the connections she’s made with various communities around the globe, and how her artistic and intuitive abilities keeps her in alignment with her higher self.
Laith Stevenson is a movement artist and published poet from rural Alabama. They attended Emory University, where they received their B.A in Political Science and Arabic. In addition to their primary studies, they maintained an active presence in both the Dance and Creative Writing programs. Here, they began their training in Ballet and Modern Dance. After graduating, they began cultivating their process into movement and choreography as a means of facilitating insightful dialogue on identity and interpersonal relationships. They currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia where they work with Core Dance.
Zden Brungot Svíteková is a moving, freelance artist. She chose the word ‘moving’ not only because of dance, which has become her profession and a way of being, it also stands for moving between countries, languages, cultures, thoughts or fields. Since 2000, Zden has been working internationally as dance artist - performer, creator, curator. In the work, she loves to lead creative dialogue in the context of interdisciplinary collaborations. She has worked with musicians, visual artists and find great richness in dialoguing with sciences - so far it has been physics, psychology and geology. The interest in geology shapes and cultivates her understanding of matter, scales, processes, contexts, space and time. And, more and more, the understanding of (in- and/or non-) humanity.
The specificity of Zden's practice is the use of a somatic approach to the body and a conceptual approach to creation. Her work has been shown in Europe (SK, CR, FR, IS), Asia and Australia. She also leads choreographic projects in educational contexts and/or with social aspect. Since 2010, she has been in a close artistic dialogue with Bára Látalová. She is a co-founder of OSTRUZINA, and takes part in the running of the association together. They produce dance works for young as well as for adult audiences, collaborating with different art fields and placing our works in different contexts: theatrical, site specific, educational or creative.
Photo (Left) by Lea Girardin
Photo (Center) by Zoe Dowlen
Photo (Right) by i-Dance Korea AIAE
Eva Urbanová is a freelance dancer of a Slovak origin, currently based in Prague. She had been a professional modern gymnast since she was 7 years old. In 2007, whilst she was a member of TJ Slavia STU Bratislava club, she won the category B Championship during the Slovakian Youth Gymnastics Championship. During her high school years, she began to experiment with a variety of dance techniques including contemporary, classical and street dance. At the same time, she was a member of the professional acrobatics group Axel Artist. From 2014 to 2020 she studied for a bachelor and master degree in a choreography at the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. Eva also spent an exchange year at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London. As a choreographer, she co-operated with the Dance Conservatoire Prague, Janacek Conservatory in Ostrava and junior dance company Bohemia Balet. In 2019 Eva was chosen as a young choreographer to create for the Central European Dance Theatre. In the same year her work "Women of dust" was chosen to be presented at the Mala Inventura festival 2020 in the category Young blood. Her solo "The Essence" won the 2nd Choreographic Award and Public Award at the Solo Tanz Theater Stuttgart International Competition 2021. Her works show concerns about social issues, especially in criticism of social system mechanism, focus on empowering women and demonstrate the concept of dualism. In 2021, Eva is under the support of the choreographic center SE.S.TA in the program KoresponDance at Work.
Photo by Petr Kiška
