Today’s guest on Movers & Shapers are Joan Myers Brown and Kim Bears-Bailey of Philadanco.
Joan is the founder of Philadanco which was created in 1970 out of a need to provide performance opportunities and training for Black dancers. PHILADANCO! has since grown into a professional dance company that is recognized around the world for its artistic integrity, superbly trained dancers, and captivating performances. Of her many honors, she is the honorary chairperson for the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), an organization she established in 1991, and she received the prestigious National Medal of Arts Award and 2019 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance for her choreographic influence on black dance in America.
Kim joined Philadanco in 1981 and its current Artistic Director. She is a Bessie's award recipient and Associate Professor of Dance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Kim is one of few artists granted permission to remount the works of many world-renowned choreographers including Talley Beatty, Pearl Primus and Gene Hill Sagan.
For more in this episode of Movers & Shapers: themovingarchitects.org/podcasts