ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Alexandra Beller (she/her), Artistic Director of Alexandra Beller/Dances, (2002-present), was a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1995-2001. Alexandra has created over 40 original Dance Theatre works, presented at/commissioned by theatres throughout NYC, and companies in Korea, Hong Kong, Oslo, Cyprus, and the US. Alexandra choreographs predominantly for Theatre. Credits: Off Broadway: Sense and Sensibility (Sheen Center, Judson Gym, Folger Shakespeare Library, American Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage), (Helen Hayes Award, Lortel Nomination, IRNE Best Choreography), The Mad Ones (59E59), Bedlam’s Peter Pan (Duke Theatre), How to transcend a happy marriage (Lincoln Center Theatre), Regional: Two Gentlemen of Verona (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), As You Like It (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Folger Shakespeare Library), The Young Ladies of… (Taylor Mac), Chang(e) (HERE), Current: Antonio’s Song (CATF, Milwaukee Rep), Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) (La MaMa, and touring), Directing/Choreographing Macbeth.

She is on faculty at Princeton, Rutgers, and The Laban Institute for Movement Studies. Alexandra holds a BFA/Dance, MFA/Choreography, and CMA/Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals. She develops courses in Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Directing, Dramaturgy, Choreography, Pedagogy, and more.

For more info: www.alexandrabellerdances.org

Marjani Forté-Saunders (she/her) is an artist, educator, and organizer. She is a 2020 recipient of the Foundation of Contemporary Arts Grants for Artists Award and an inaugural fellow of the UBW Choreographic Center, the Jerome Hill Artist, and DanceUSA Fellowship. Marjani is a 2x Princess Grace Foundation awardee and a 3x Bessie Award winner for her latest work Memoirs of a… Unicorn (now touring internationally) and as part of the collective Skeleton Architecture. Marjani collaborates with husband and composer Everett Asis Saunders as 7NMS|, also founding directors of the emerging platform ART & POWER. Humbly, she defines her work by its lineage stemming from culturally rich, vibrant, historic, loving, irreverent conjurers!

Nicholas Leichter (he/him) has taught throughout the United States and at festivals in Africa, Asia, Canada, and Eastern and Western Europe, and he has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts, Bates Dance Festival and the American Dance Festival in Durham, New York, Russia, Korea, and Shanghai. In recognition of his unique approach to contemporary dance, Leichter has received support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Performance Network, New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund, the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program, New York State Council on the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) through the National Dance Project (NDP) with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.