Speakers in the Film

Shaumba-Yandje Dibinga, Speaker

is a Congolese American born to Rev. Dr. Dibinga wa Said and Dr. Ngolela Dibinga, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She received her BA from University of Massachusetts, Boston and holds additional studies and training from the Boston Conservatory and the Alvin Ailey Summer Professional program with an invitation to study in the two year fellowship program. She is the Founding Artistic Director of the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center, founded 26 years ago - a non-profit performing arts organization that utilizes dance as a tool to empower young people, one dancer at a time. She is also the founder of ShapeUp with Shaumba, Inc. - a non-profit organization whose mission is to utilize dance, fitness, nutrition spoken word and writing to heal communities. She is a trustee at the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School, a member of the Barr Fellows Class of 2011, and has received numerous awards for her work with OrigiNation and in Massachusetts school systems, including the Boston NAACP Image Award, The Philanthropic Initiative's Boston Fellows Award, the Portraits of Courage Upstander's Award, the Berklee College of Music Urban Service Award, the Community Catalyst Award, the Next Steps Award and the Brother Thomas Fellowship.

Iris Fanger, Speaker

Iris Fanger, Ph.D, is a dance and theater historian who has published multiple reviews and feature articles in The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Christian Science Monitor, Metro West Daily News, New York Times, Patriot Ledger, Dance Magazine and Dancing Times (London) since the late 1960s. She lectures frequently on dance and dance history, most recently at Boston College, the Naples (Florida) Art Museum, the Sarasota (Florida) Ballet, and the Woods Hole (Massachusetts) Public Library. She was the director of the Harvard Summer Dance Center from 1977-1995 and is a long-time member of the Boston Theater Critics Association.She has held faculty appointments at Harvard, Tufts, Lesley Graduate School, and M.I.T.

Dr. Fanger is a former Bunting Fellow (Radcliffe College),a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and was honored as Dance Champion by Boston Dance Alliance, and for Outstanding Career by Tufts University Graduate School. Iris is a member of the Board of Overseers at Massachusetts Historical Society.

Li-Ann Lim, Dancer, Speaker

Li-Ann Lim began her dance training at the Lexington School of Ballet in Lexington, MA and continued her dance studies at the Joffrey Ballet School. She has performed with Chen and Dancers (NYC), Rosanna Gamson/World Wide (LA), and more recently, Dance Currents Inc., Lorraine Chapman the Company (Boston) and North Atlantic Dance Theatre (Boston) Ms. Lim has served on the faculty of University of California, Irvine, Fullerton College, and Scripps College, teaching ballet, modern, and choreography. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University and an MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine.

Shawn Mahoney, Speaker

Shawn Mahoney began his ballet, tap, and jazz training at the Joanne Langione Dance Center and his early performing career with Jose Mateo’s Ballet Theatre in Boston, MA. As an apprentice, Shawn danced for American Ballet Theatre before joining Boston Ballet. At Boston Ballet, Shawn performed in Petipa, Balanchine, Kylian, Forsythe, Bejart and other ballets. Shawn performed as a chosen member of “Tharp!”, a national and international touring company directed by Twyla Tharp. He also performed with the Suzanne Farrell/Balanchine Project, Sean Curran Company, Washington Ballet, and Bale Estado de Goias. As an educator, Shawn has taught internationally for Festa de Danca in Sao Paulo and Bermuda Civic Ballet. Shawn taught ballet at Emerson College, and is a teacher and lecturer at Days in the Arts . He founded Mahoney Agency, representing dancers for national engagements for the Nutcracker Ballet. Shawn is a sought out mentor for emerging artists and choreographers in ballet and contemporary dance.

Lorry May, Speaker

Lorry May, founding director of the Sokolow Dance Foundation, holds a BFA from the Boston Conservatory of Music. She has danced world-wide as a soloist with Anna Sokolow for over three decades. She was privileged to have several roles created on her: the part of Frida Kahlo in Frida, the soldier's wife in Kurt Weill, the acrobat in Magritte, Magritte, and the lyrical duet, September Sonnet. Ms May is considered a leading authority on the Sokolow repertory, gaining experience as an assistant to Ms. Sokolow for many years, and then as co-artistic director of the performing company, Anna Sokolow's Players' Project. Ms. May has set work on the Berlin Ballet Company; Germany; Ballet Independiente, Mexico; Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Ohio; Dancefusion Company, PA; and Kansas City Ballet.

Margot Parsons, Speaker & Consultant on Study Guide

trained in ballet in Chicago with Richard Ellis and Christine DuBoulay, and in New York with Richard Thomas and Barbara Fallis, Maggie Black, at The Harkness School. She also studied modern at the Martha Graham Studio. Along with being invited to perform with Agnes de Mille, and Pearl Lang, she performed in New York with Yuriko, The Ballet Ensemble of New York, in the City Center Production of The King and I, and in Boston with Ken Pierce Baroque Dance Company and the Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble. She currently teaches ballet at Boston University, Boston College, taught for 13 years at Harvard University, and for 27 years at The Dance Complex. She has choreographed for Boston Ballet II, Ballet NY, Harvard Ballet Company, Wellesley College Dance Group, Boston College Dance Ensemble, Boston University Repertory Ballet Class, and she is Choreographer and Artistic Director for her own company DanceVisions, Inc. She holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin and an MA with honors from the University of Utah. In 2018 she was the first in the Living Legacy series at The Dance Complex in Cambridge and in 2020 she received the Boston Dance Alliance’s Dr. Michael Shannon Dance Champion Award.
www.dancevisions.net

Rebecca Rice, Speaker

Rebecca Rice is an award-winning choreographer, respected teacher and artistic director of Rebecca Rice Dance. Her work has been presented in the US, France, Scotland, and in Kazakhstan, where she was a Cultural Envoy. She created works on Boston Ballet II as well as organized Boston Ballet’s choreography workshops. Jacob’s Pillow, Boston's Celebrity Series, Boston Ballet, and the Boston Symphony have all presented her work. Born into a family of dancers, she spent her early years training and performing with her grandmother, Marion Rice; a student of Ted Shawn and Denishawn. Rebecca worked with Bill Evans, Utah RDT, and Gerri Houlihan as well as with Viola Farber in New York City. Rebecca has been called "One of Boston's esteemed dance makers" by Gus Solomons Jr.

Marcus Schulkind, Speaker

Schulkind has been a dancer, choreographer, and teacher for more than 50 years. He has received grants from the NEA, NYSCA, MCC, Affiliated Artists, Celebrity Series, and First Night. Prior to moving to Boston, he had his own dance company in New York City and was featured at Clark Center, American Theater Laboratory/Dance Theatre Workshop, and Dance Umbrella. He is also one of the founders of Green Street Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts. addition to this, for the past 20 years, he has been an acupuncturist, teaching at New England School of Acupuncture and maintaining a private practice in Brookline, Massachusetts.

He graduated from Goddard College, which included two years of study in New York City at the Juilliard School and the dance studios of Martha Graham, Norman Walker, May O'Donnell, and Gertrude Schurr. He performed in the companies of Pearl Lang, Kathy Posin, Elisa Monte, Lar Lubovitch, Norman Walker, and the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel. He has choreographed extensively in the United States and had his own dance company in New York and in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Speakers in the Film

The Film features these Dancers and Choreographers