WHERE IS MY B-O-D-Y ProjecT
Community Sharing

Kun-Yang Lin (Lead Artist), Gus Solomons jr, Pallabi Chakravorty

NYC Sharing: SUN. SEPT. 19, 2021 @3PM
Gus Solomons jr Studio: 889 Broadway, New York, NY 10003

Philadelphia Sharing: SAT. SEPT. 25, 2021 @3PM
CHI Movement Arts Center (CHI MAC): 1316 S. 9th St. Philadelphia, PA 19147

Facilitator: Christine Jowers, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of The Dance Enthusiast

ABOUT WHERE IS MY B-O-D-Y: Accomplished dance artists, choreographers and educators Gus Solomons jr and Pallabi Chakravorty have embarked on a collaboration of discovery with Kun-Yang Lin to explore movement as artists navigating lives as mature creators with physical limitations. This discovery process, titled Where is my B-O-D-Y, considers several questions, including How do I rediscover my own body? and How do I transmit effectively when my body is failing me? For more information, including blog posts, click on the button below:

BIOGRAPHIES

KUN-YANG LIN
(Project Lead Artist)

Kun-Yang Lin is the founding Artistic Director of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (“KYL/D”) and a professor at Temple University. In 1992, Taiwan-born Lin came to New York where he danced with numerous companies and was described in 2002 as “an extraordinary dancer” (NY Times). Among the primary impulses nourishing Lin’s artistry are Buddhist and Taoist world views and the internal energetic flows of many Eastern arts he has practiced over the years, including qi gong and calligraphy. These experiences are filtered through his extensive training and performance experience across a broad range of contemporary dance techniques and improvisation practices, framed by ongoing cross-cultural research in dance as a medium for the integration of body, spirit, and mind. Lin’s journey as an immigrant navigating tensions between his traditional roots, his contemporary interests, and his embodied research, inform his view of dance as a calling that transcends labels, shapes, and particular movement. Lin’s dance company, KYL/D, is an extension of his continuing mentorship and the vehicle for sharing his teaching and research with the community. Lin’s devotion to artistic excellence, movement research and commitment to education and community inspired him to found the CHI Movement Arts Center in Philadelphia

GUS SOLOMONS JR
(Artistic Collaborator and Mentor)

Gus Solomons jr, studied dance while he was an architecture student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Upon graduating in 1961, he moved to NYC, where he performed with the companies of Donald McKayle, Pearl Lang, Joyce Trisler, and Paul Sanasardo. In 1964, Solomons joined the Martha Graham Dance company for one season, though his most significant association during this period was with the Merce Cunningham company (1965-1968). 

Solomons formed the Solomons Company/Dance in 1972. Drawing on his MIT experience, he conceived dance as "melted architecture" and undertook a clinical, postmodern approach to dance making which linked a fascination with puzzles and architectural design to the process of "kinetic autobiography." The resulting abstract, non-sequential choreography was marked by its lean incisiveness and effect of fragmentary collage. Choreography by Solomons has been performed by the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble and the Berkshire Ballet, among others.

In 1980, Solomons began writing dance reviews, which were published in The Village Voice, Attitude, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. In 1996, he founded PARADIGM with Carmen de Lavallade and Dudley Williams. Solomons also worked as an arts professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts until 2014.

PALLABI CHAKRAVORTY
(Artistic Collaborator & Anthropologist Scholar)

Pallabi Chakravorty is an anthropologist, dance artist, and choreographer. She is the author of several books, including Bells of Change, 2008 on Kathak, the classical dance form of North India. She has published journal papers, book chapters, edited a proceedings (Dance in South Asia, 2002), and an ethnographic film (Kathak in the City). Chakravorty’s training in visual anthropology and Kathak allows her research and choreographic projects to be deeply interdisciplinary.

Chakravorty’s writing on the transformation of Indian performing arts, including the influences of gurus and other significant figures who continue to choreograph, teach and perform into their senior years, has forged an original and critical approach to contemporary dance studies. Her new project on Yoga, performance, and healing combines medical anthropology and physical practices.

Chakravorty’s creative work is connected to community-building through her dance company, Courtyard Dancers, which stages performances in the US and India. Her choreographies express a postcolonial, modernist voice and are based on historical and contemporary events in India, such as partition, the anti nautch movement, globalization, migration, violence and healing. The company aims to develop dance for cultural literacy and empowerment.

CHRISTINE JOWERS
(Community Sharing Facilitator)

Christine Jowers (she, hers) is the Founding Editor of The Dance Enthusiast, a project of the non-profit company Moving Arts Projects. Prior to devoting her efforts to The Dance Enthusiast, Jowers worked as professional dancer, teacher, and producer, performing in the USA, UK, and Caribbean. In addition to her writing  and  videography for The Dance Enthusiast, she has been published by Dance/USA's e-journal, From The Green Room, The Dance Insider, The Johns Hopkins University's Literary Journal :The Hopkins Review and The Huffington Post. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico  and raised in  St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Christine is the product of a Caribbean melting pot family of many cultures and colors with roots in St. Kitts, St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. John,  Puerto Rico and Culebra. She credits her dedication to the arts, community, family,  and service primarily to her heritage and upbringing. Christine caught the journalism bug as a college intern for New York Public Television's MacNeil/ Leher Report.  Favorite quote of the moment " To be positive is the most subversive." Faustin Linyekula, artist.  My hashtag is #onelovemanycolors, because for me that perfectly  describes the spirit of the Caribbean and the career of an artist.