Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Stuart Pimsler - Season 6, Episode 77

STUART PIMSLER is a choreographer, director, writer, performer, founder andartistic co-director of Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater (SPDT). His work has beenhonored with Choreography Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts andMcKnight Foundation and as well as a Major Fellowship and six Individual Fellowshipsfrom the Ohio Arts Council. Mr. Pimsler has been commissioned by the Guthrie Theater,the Lila Wallace Arts Partners Fund, National Performance Network Creation Fund, theJerome Foundation, the Wexner Center, University of Minnesota, the Walker Art Center,The Wharton Center at Michigan State University among others.Based in Minneapolis since 1999, SPDT has toured to Europe, Israel, Taiwan, Russia,Canada, Bermuda, China, and Mexico including presentations at the Beijing ModernDance Festival, International Tanzmesse, Dusseldorf, the Bermuda Ministry of Cultureand the National Center for the Arts, UNAM and American Embassy in Mexico City. Inthe U.S. SPDT has appeared in more then 35 States at such venues as the The KennedyCenter for the Performing Arts, the National Civil Rights Museum, Jacob’s Pillow, theAmerican Dance Festival, and New York Live Arts.His new book, The Choreography of Care/Engaging Caregivers in Creative Expressionchronicles the internationally recognized arts in health work of Mr. Pimsler and SuzanneCostello. (choreographyofcare.com) Their work has been recognized for “Best Practices”by the National Endowment for the Arts and as a “national model” by The KennedyCenter for the Performing Arts.As a teller of imagistic stories, Pimsler is interested in the interplay of movement andwords situated in specific settings. His work is constructed in a world of layers connectedthrough theme, metaphor, and memory. The emblematic layers of his aesthetic arerealized through emotionally textured movement, narrators, place, dialogue, song, design,video, and the vulnerability of SPDT’s exquisite performers. Pimsler is compelled by thepersonal and political and how each of these sectors influences everyday life.Mr. Pimsler holds an A.B. in English from Franklin & Marshall College and in 2015, hewas celebrated with an Alumni Citation for his exemplary record of accomplishments. Healso has a J.D. from Catholic University School of Law and was admitted to the NewYork State Bar in 1975. The following year he was accepted as an M.F.A. Fellow inDance at Connecticut College where he evolved his aesthetic with the mentorship ofMartha Myers. He was also honored to work with Daniel Nagrin, whose solos SpanishDance (1948) and Word Game (1968) he continues to perform.As cultural activist, Mr. Pimsler has served on the Board of Directors of Dance/USA(1990-97) and the Steering Committee of the National Performance Network (1992-95).He has served as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the McKnightFoundation, Bush Foundation and an array of arts councils and agencies throughout theU.S. In 2005, Pimsler founded The SAGE Awards for Dance, an annual celebration ofoutstanding dance achievements throughout Minnesota which he co-coordinated withDana Kassel through 2016.www.stuartpimsler.com