GLEICH DANCES: Collaborators and Dancers

Kara Chan

is a NYC based dance artist originally from Vancouver, Canada. She has performed and toured with Twyla Tharp Dance, in addition to performing for Pam Tanowitz Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Janis Brenner & Dancers, Merce Cunningham Trust, Kathryn Posin Dance Company, Trainor Dance, and MorDance. She was named one of Dance Magazine’s 2020 “25 to Watch” and received her BFA from The Juilliard School. Kara teaches in NJ and has taught across Canada and US. She has been dancing for Gleich Dances since 2016.

Favorite Choreography

My favorite solo Julia choreographed on me was called “Sunflower", created for Summer Streets and originally performed in August 2019. It is fun, lightning speed, and groovy!

 

Margot Hartley

is a ballet and contemporary dancer. Originally from upstate New York, they relocated to NYC as a teenager to attend the Joffrey Ballet School on merit scholarship. In 2018, they traveled to California and Moscow with Vladimir Varnava's evening-length work ISADORA, featuring Natalia Osipova. In New York City, tMargot has danced in numerous Merce Cunningham Trust Fellowship workshops and New York Fashion Week, and acted in a short film as part of Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design for the Jewish Museum. Margot has been working with Gleich Dances since 2019 and is always thrilled to be creating with such inspiring, lovely people.

Favorite Choreography

Margot's favorite section to perform with Gleich Dances thus far is the finale of Wake to Bare Rocks (iterations 2 and 3) -- after twenty minutes of brief and constantly dissolving meetings, dancing next to but separate from each other, and finding our way in and out of Mary Schwab's sasquatch fabric, the whole cast comes together in a moment of unison that feels like a communal celebration.

 
 
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Tiffany Mangulabnan

Tiffany is a Filipino dancer, choreographer, and co-founder of Brooklyn-based contemporary ballet company konverjdans. She was born and raised in Manila, where she danced as a principal with the Philippine Ballet Theatre until 2012. Since moving to NYC, she has danced for Gleich Dances, Pigeonwing Dance, Indelible Dance, Emery LeCrone DANCE, Claudia Schreier & Co., BalletNext, Terra Firma Dance, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, and other companies. Dance films that she directed, choreographed and edited have been screened at the Dance is Activism Film Festival 2021, BRAVO Awards 2021, konverj on Film, and Ugnayan 2020.

Favorite Choreography

There have been many special projects with Julia over the years, so it's hard to name only one favorite, but I'll always particularly cherish working with her on Lite's Refrain (a challenging and beautiful solo from the 90's that she resurrected for me to take on)—probably because it was the first time we ever really worked together one-on-one, and getting to work with Julia in that way is a quite special and rewarding experience.

 

Jordan Miller

Jordan moved to New York in 2011 to study at the School of American Ballet and, soon after, joined New York City Ballet as an apprentice where she performed until 2015.  In 2016, Jordan co-founded konverjdans (converge/dance), a contemporary ballet company based in Brooklyn, New York, with fellow dancers/creators Amy Saunder and Tiffany Mangulabnan.  In addition to co-directing the company, Jordan also dances and choreographs for konverjdans; her first work for stage, "Cetacean Shadow," premiered in 2018, and her first short film "Falling Dreams" premiered in 2021. Jordan has had the pleasure of working with such companies and choreographers as: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Gleich Dances, Indelible Dance, Gabrielle Lamb, Caili Quan, Michelle Thompson-Ulerich, George Willamson and Stephanie Martinez. Jordan also teaches Pilates throughout the New York area.  

Favorite Choreography

At the end of Julia's evening-length ballet Martha: The Searchers (2017), I got to stand atop a wooden pallet—draped in layered rugs designed by artist Elana Herzog while "Crazy," by Patsy Cline echoed around us. In these very last moments of the ballet, Elana (and for some shows Julia, herself) entered the stage with a working vacuum cleaner, and vacuumed the rugs while wrapping my ankles up in the chord. I slowly extended one arm into the air and the lights went black... this is by far the best and most bizarre ending to any ballet I've been a part of! 

 

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Amy Saunder

Amy learned to dance in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she was born. She moved to the United States in 2002 and studied ballet at the North Carolina School of the Arts under the tutelage of Ethan Stiefel. After graduating, she went on to train with North Carolina Dance Theatre and Richmond Ballet. Amy has danced professionally with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Eugene Ballet, BalletNext, Traverse City Dance Project, Eglevsky Ballet, and Ballet NY. She has been freelancing in New York City since 2016, performing for companies like Indelible Dance, Brookoff Dance Repertory Ensemble, MorDance, and Movement Headquarters and is the co-director and co-founder of konverjdans (converge/dance).

FAVORITE CHOREOGRAPHY

Amy has been dancing with Gleich Dances since 2016 and one of her favorite pieces to perform by Julia is 'Wake to Bare Rocks.' The journey into Sasquatch territory is always an interesting and peculiar one (in the best way!) and there's a lot of space to play and interact with the other dancers/sasquatches.