Megan Williams: Reflecting on Longevity in Dance and "Smile Though Our Heart is Aching"

“Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey and special guest, Megan Williams.  In this episode of  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey,  join host Joanne Carey as she chats with Special Guest, Megan Williams, whose long and varied career as a dance artist brought her from Julliard to dancing with the Mark Morris Dance Group.  She candidly shares her experience as a teacher and choreographer along with the challenges and rewards of aging in the dance world. Megan shares about her upcoming show, 'Smile Though Your Heart is Aching'  taking place at the Mark Morris Dance Center in April 2024. Megan Williams  is an independent dance artist, choreographer, teacher and repetiteur, with a BFA from the Juilliard School, and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her choreography has been produced by 10 Hairy Legs, DANCE NOW NYC at Joe’s Pub and Dance Theater Workshop, and by the Rivertown Artist’s Workshop, Barnspace, MIXT Co., Purchase College, Marymount Manhattan College, Connecticut College, and Interlochen Arts Academy. In addition to performing her own work, she can be seen dancing with choreographer Rebecca Stenn and in Netta Yerushalmy’s Paramodernities project. She performed and toured internationally in the 1980’s with the companies of Laura Glenn, Ohad Naharin, and Mark Haim, among many others. In 1988, she joined the Mark Morris Dance Group, dancing for 10 years, touring worldwide, teaching, and appearing in several films, including Falling Down Stairs (with YoYo Ma), The Hidden Soul of Harmony, The Hard Nut, and Dido and Aeneas. Ms. Williams continues her affiliation with Morris as guest performer, creating the role of Lady Capulet in Morris' 2009 Romeo and Juliet: On Motifs of Shakespeare and dancing in Bijoux at the 2014 Bessie Awards, guest rehearsal director, and guest faculty at the Mark Morris Dance Center. She has staged Morris' work on the Purchase Dance Company, Vassar Repertory Company, Fieldston Dance Company, the Boston Ballet, and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and on students at the Juilliard School, George Mason University, Les Etes de la Danse (Paris), Interlochen Arts Academy, and Cal State Long Beach among others. Ms. Williams has been Morris’ assistant in a variety of settings including ballet, Broadway and television. From 2000-2013 she served on the modern dance faculty of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, State University of New York and taught as a guest lecturer at Connecticut College in 2017. She was featured in Dance Teacher Magazine in 2010, 2014, and 2019. She teaches Dance for Parkinson’s Disease in Rye, NY, and is on the renowned Dance for PD flagship teaching team. She has recently served on the faculties of Marymount Manhattan College and Hunter College teaching Anatomy for Dancers. She has served on the board of directors of the Martha Hill Dance Fund since 2011 and is proud to have a producing credit on the documentary film Martha Hill: Making Dance Matter. She was a 2019 Center for Ballet and the Arts Artistic Partnership Initiative Fellow at NYU (CBA). She is currently on the ballet faculty of Sarah Lawrence College. Instagram @meganwilliamsdance https://www.mwdanceprojects.com/ Purchase Tickets below Smile, though your heart is aching is  a world premiere evening length dance and live music event with choreography by Megan Williams in collaboration with composer Eve Beglarian.https://megan-williams-dance-projects.ticketleap.com/smile-though-your-heart-is-aching/ Follow Joanne Carey on Instagram @westfieldschoolofdance And follow  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in. Follow. Like us. And Share. Please leave us review about our podcast!  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey "Where the Dance World Connects, the Conversations Inspire, and Where We Are Keeping Them Real."