Dancing Conversation: Diva Aesthetics

Join NCCAkron at The Main Library for a showing of excerpts from Pittsburgh-based choreographer Jesse Factor’s new work, The Marthaodyssey, a fantasy combining elements of Martha Graham and Madonna with deep reverence and playful humor.

Executive/Artistic Director Christy Bolingbroke will host a discussion exploring gender, art, and performance with Factor, Akron Art Museum Curator Wendy Earle, and Kent State Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Catherine Meredith. No dance background is necessary to join this conversation!

Dancing Conversations are free public events that locate dance among broader topics and offer an opportunity to demonstrate the aesthetic range, power, and possibilities with dance. All our Dancing Conversations — on dance & music, women & witchcraft, Black male choreographers, queer movements, and more — are available on NCCAkron’s YouTube channel.

ABOUT THE WORK

What if Martha Graham choreographed Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour? 

The Marthaodyssey is a fantasy combining elements of Martha Graham - “the high priestess of modern dance” and Madonna - “the queen of pop” with deep reverence and playful humor. This work builds imagined combinations of archival movement and themes in the canon of Martha Graham with popular music and takes delight in the dissonant intersections of these worlds. The Marthaodyssey will premiere in November at Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, PA.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Jesse Factor (Pittsburgh, PA) trained at the Martha Graham School and danced with Graham II and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Born in Sharon PA, Jesse grew up in Quito, Ecuador and Bangkok, Thailand before earning a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Factor’s work has been presented at the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, OUTsider Festival (Austin), Milton Art Bank, RADfest (Kalamazoo), St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery (NYC), Fresh Fruit Festival (NYC), Queer Spectra (Salt Lake City) and House of Yes, (NYC). Factor holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and completed additional studies at the American Dance Festival and 92 St Y's Dance Education Lab (DEL). Jesse currently serves in the Modern Dance unit at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. jessefactor.com

Wendy Earle (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) is a curator at the Akron Art Museum, organizing temporary exhibitions and adding acquisitions to the permanent collection. She has previously held curatorial positions at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, and Museum of the Southwest in Midland, TX. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she was interested in the study of art and culture from a very young age. She received her BA in art history from the University of Michigan and her MA in art history from the University of Texas at Austin, and interned at the Dallas Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. Her interests include the ancient Americas, contemporary Indigenous artists, craft and materiality, and the intersection of art, science, and technology.

Catherine Meredith (Mentor, OH) has an extensive career as a choreographer, writer, and dancer/educator, which has garnered her critical acclaim both nationally and internationally. Commissions include: New Dance Partners Project, Ashley Bouder Project, Santa Monica College, The University of Akron, Mercyhurst University, UNCSA, Verb Ballets, Störling Dance Theatre and presented at Lincoln Center (NYC), The Kennedy Center, AVAYAVA Festival (India), Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico, American Dance Guild Women in Dance Leadership Conference, DUMBO Dance Festival, Dance St. Louis, Playhouse Square, OhioDance Festival, and at The American Dance Festival. She was recently awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in Choreography for FY 2022. Ms. Meredith has worked in television, film, musical theater, and concert dance touring and performing leading roles in works by Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Talley Beatty, Paul Taylor, David Rousseve, Shapiro & Smith, David Parsons, Hernando Cortez, Beth Corning, Heinz Poll, Martha Graham, Ulysses Dove and Dianne McIntyre. She has been on faculty at Slippery Rock University, Joffrey Ballet, Pineapple Studios (UK), and currently, is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Kent State University. For ten years, she was the resident choreographer for Dancing Wheels. Ms. Meredith received her MFA from ADF/Hollins University and is pursuing her doctorate. catherinemeredithdance.com

Photo credit: Anita Buzzy Prentiss