Emily Berry: Body and Soul podcast

“I believe that art has the power to create change,” says Emily Berry, artistic director of B3W and my guest for today’s podcast. Recently, Berry set a new dance on her students at Queensborough Community College, dealing straight on with the issue of race. Given the prominence of this issue–for better or for worse--in this year’s presidential campaign, I thought it appropriate to take a look at how one contemporary dance artist has chosen to address this longstanding societal divide. You can see videos of Berry's work at http://www.b3w.org. BIO Emily Berry is the Artistic Director of B3W, formerly the Emily Berry Dance Company, which has performed in the US, England and Mexico. She has performed with Ann Arbor Dance Works, Boris Willis Moves, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh & Company, Michele Dunleavy, Lesole’s Dance Project (South African), and Ashe Moyubba Afro-Cuban Folkloric Dance Ensemble. She has performed at such venues as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Place, Teatro de Danza in Mexico City, and a solo show in England, as well as numerous dance festivals. Emily is a Certified Movement Analyst. She also has a MFA in dance from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Dance Arts from the University of Michigan. She has taught at Oakland University, George Mason University, Marymount University, Coppin State University, Montgomery College, and the Community College of Baltimore County. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Queensborough Community College. Emily has presented a paper titled “On Looking: Representations of the female body in art” at Northampton University in England at the Post-Feminists Practices in the Arts Conference. She was also a panelist at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies Conference in New York on Dance and Politics. COMPANY MISSION STATEMENT B3W (Beyond Third Wave), formerly the Emily Berry Dance Company, uses video, text, music, and movement to address the state of humanity. The company has performed in the US, England, and Mexico, presenting works tackling such issues as race, the glass ceiling, domestic violence, women in prison, and war since 1995. The Third Wave is referring to the third wave of the women’s movement. While the work is mostly coming from a feminist perspective, the work is not limited to feminist issues, which adds “Beyond” to the title of the company. The company's fundamental belief is that art has the power to create change. LINK http://www.b3w.org Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa