ZviDance | Zvi | Dancers | Collaborators | Board & Staff
ZVIDANCE
ZviDance exists to share with audiences the choreographic vision and movement vocabulary of Israeli-born Artistic Director, Zvi Gotheiner. Each piece defines a unique set of relationships and experiences, boldly addressing the depths of the human experience. ZviDance also exists to engage students in enriching their appreciation of the art form.
ZviDance brings its audiences a passionate vision of community in a modern age. A collaborative alliance among artists, the company’s stirring work celebrates diversity by melding movement genres into the distinct dance vocabulary constantly evolving and refusing to succumb to dialectics of the medium. The company is shaped by a collaborative model of creation, involving the ensemble and designers from the initial research phase, so as to constantly push the methodology and ethics of a creation process within an inter-disciplinary format.
In the last 33 years of existence, ZviDance has received critical praise and stable funding for its artistic projects, a work that fearlessly refuses to be bound to specific thematic or aesthetic dogma. The company performs frequently at home in such New York venues as the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. ZviDance has toured across North America to festivals such as Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and The American Dance Festival, and abroad to Germany, Poland, Russia, Israel, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador and Japan.
ZviDance | Zvi | Dancers | Collaborators | Board & Staff
Zvi Gotheiner – Artistic Director
Internationally acclaimed choreographer Zvi Gotheiner is the Artistic Director of ZviDance. Praised for a signature innovative style and fascinating melding of artistic mediums, his work is recognized as radical, contemporary dance theater, ground-breaking, thoughtful yet passionate, with lush movement. Zvi is also a renowned ballet teacher with a devoted following throughout the world, hailed by the New York Times as The Zen Dance Master of New York.
His work frequently touches upon relevant issues and themes around relationships and community. He has been described “as much sociologist as dance-maker” (Alastair Macaulay, New York Times),
A prolific choreographer with over 35 works in the last 30 years, Zvi integrates exciting original musical scores, evocative lighting designs, with edgy multi-media and video projections. The ZviDance renowned creative team includes composers Scott Killian and Jukka Rintamak; visual designers Josh Higgason and Herzog Nadler; and lighting designer Mark London. His collaborative approach extends to the dancers and is infused with deep regard for the individual and their creative, aesthetic role within the ensemble. His company is admired for its elasticity, athleticism, and emotional expressivity.
Zvi has created numerous commissioned works for prestigious companies, institutions and universities around the world, including Repertory Dance Theatre Utah, GroundWorks Dance Theatre, Juilliard Dance New Dances, Princeton, NYU, Ohio State University, University of Washington, Bard College, Vassar College.
Born in Israel, the musically gifted young Zvi encountered a performance of the Batsheva Dance Company that forever changed his life, inviting him “into a world of fantasy and self-definition”. As a young dancer/choreographer, he was discovered by the legendary Gertrud Kraus, who took him under her wing. Following a dance scholarship with the America-Israeli Cultural Foundation, he began dancing throughout the world with Batsheva Dance Company, Joyce Trisler, Eliot Feld, among others.
He founded the Tamar Ramle Dance Company, a herald of the Israel dance fringe movement, and later directed the Tamar Jerusalem Dance Company. Increasingly drawn to New York City, he moved in 1988, and in 1989 founded ZviDance.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT – From Zvi……
“In these increasingly tumultuous and volatile times, the creative process is the most powerful force in my life. I aspire to make my work reflect on the “now”. While making new movement phrases, I shed sequences imprinted in my memory, such as those in ballet, folk dance, and numerous contemporary genres, and research the invention of new ones with my collaborators.
I’ll have the sense there’s a piece in me, maybe not in verbal form but in my consciousness, a sculpture in the stone. There is research and a process but, in the end, I’m always surprised by how it comes together. It’s richer and more interesting when I don’t know where I’m going.
My starting point is the body. I allow for greater collaboration with the dancers and project designers. I have shifted my role from a “knowing” director to a collaborator seeking to discover the evolution of ideas. I have incorporated a system of critical response and feedback that are now essential for me in the creation of new movement vocabulary and the overall shape of a given work. This loose system allows me to invent a new creative process tailored to each work, and a flow of creative intelligence from an entire team. The more deeply I observe the creative process, the more mysterious making something from nothing becomes. I feel lucky to have these opportunities to immerse in invention, and a remarkable group of collaborators that brings it all together.”
ZviDance | Zvi | Dancers | Collaborators | Board & Staff
DANCERS
Doron Perk, originally from Israel, studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance with the support of the “America – Israel Cultural Foundation. After graduating in 2008, he danced in Croatian National Theater Ballet in Split, Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, and The Batsheva Ensemble – The Young Company in Tel Aviv. In 2016, Doron moved to New York City as a Gaga teacher and started working as an independent artist. After dancing and teaching with Zvi Gotheiner for five years, he is now Associate Artistic Director with ZviDance. Doron was listed in “Best Performers of 2016” by Dance Magazine, received two Extraordinary Ability in the Arts O-1 Visas, and is a LABA fellow at The 14th street Y.
A native of Miami, FL, Caitlin Javech holds a BFA in Dance from the Juilliard School and an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. Javech is a free-lance movement artist who most recently worked as a dancer and company manager for Tabula Rasa Dance Theater and currently dances with ZviDance. Javech is also a fully-certified Pilates instructor who runs her own business JavechMovement Pilates training, and is special faculty at CalArts teaching Pilates for dancers. Javech is currently based in Los Angeles, where she is creating multidisciplinary choreographic and performance work and expanding her teaching practices in new communities.
Matilda Mackey is a dance artist specializing in the sensory language of movement and choreography. Raised in Iowa City, IA, she began dancing at age two at the Nolte Academy, where she found her passion in movement language throughout her adolescence. She attended The Juilliard School and graduated in May of 2020 with a BFA in Dance, and has embarked on several freelance endeavors since then. Matilda currently performs with Juilliard’s Center for Innovation in the Arts, ZviDance, Wyckoff Collective, and other project-based choreographers in NY. She has recently directed her first dance film in collaboration with poet Paul Rabinowitz, and has formulated an original teaching methodology integrating anatomical and somatic studies with movement invention for Dance Italia’s NYC Winter Workshop. Matilda is also a Certified Pilates Instructor at East River Pilates in Brooklyn, NY.
(All pronouns accepted) Born in Myrtle Beach, SC, Anson Zwingelberg began dancing at Coastal Dance Centre. He later studied at South Carolina Governor’s School and received a BFA from The Juilliard School in 2017. After dancing with Charlotte Ballet for 3 seasons Anson returned to New York and has worked in creation with ZviDance and as a company member with New York Theatre Ballet. One of Anson’s most treasured performances was dancing in Night of 100 Solos for the celebration of Merce Cunningham’s 100th birthday in 2019.
Nat Wilson (they/he) is just your average non-binary communist dance artist making their way through the world the best that they can. They grew up in Michigan and studied ballet at Ballet Chelsea before turning their focus to contemporary dance. In 2016, they moved to Israel to join Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, where they had the opportunity to perform and teach around the world, including China, Peru, South Korea, and India. In January of 2020 they moved to New York City to pursue freelance dance, which turned out to be very bad timing. Since then, they’ve performed with Yin Yue Dance Company, ZviDance, Ballez, ate9 dANCE cOMPANY, and Volta Collective, as well as create their own work.
Nicole Leung, a native of Seattle, Washington, graduated from The Juilliard School, BFA’22, where she was a recipient of the Noble Foundation Scholarship. At Juilliard, she had the opportunity to perform work by some of the most celebrated choreographers in the world, including Alan Lucien Øyen, Ohad Naharin, Bobbi Jene Smith, Justin Peck, Trisha Brown, and Jamar Roberts. Nicole has also written, directed, edited, and performed two self- choreographed dance films; Flatland (2020) and aim less (2021), in collaboration with classical and jazz musicians. In 2021, Nicole notably co-founded Juilliard’s first ever student-led summer intensive. She is also developing her passion and skill as a writer and has had several works published by the Juilliard Journal. Nicole is fascinated by the endless intersections of art and life and will continue to explore how movement can communicate what words cannot. This is Nicole’s first season with ZviDance.
Leslie Merced is a native of Plainfield, New Jersey where she studied at the Union County Academy for Performing Arts in Scotch Plains, NJ. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2020 with her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY where she was also a nominee for the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. She has performed works by Shannon Gillen, Joseph Hernandez, Sidra Bell with Roderick George, Andrea Kramer, and performed masterwork “Pslam” by Jose Limón. Leslie is currently a freelance dance artist in the NJ/NYC area in her first appearance with ZviDance.
ZviDance | Zvi | Dancers | Collaborators | Board & Staff
COllaborators
SCOTT KILLIAN (Composer) has composed works for such major American companies as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance-Chicago, Nikolais/Louis Dance, and the José Limón Dance Company. Zoom marks his 14th work with Zvi. Mr. Killian created over 20 works with long-time collaborators Danny Shapiro and Joanie Smith, as well as numerous works with Cherylyn Lavagnino, Johannes Wieland, and others. As a composer/sound designer for theatre, Mr. Killian has served as Resident Composer for the Berkshire Theatre Festival since 1997. Among the many other theatrical venues are the Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Public Theater, Women’s Project, The Acting Company, Rattlestick Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of Washington D.C., Shakespeare & Co., Seattle Rep, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, George Street Playhouse, Baltimore’s Center Stage, Boston’s Huntington Theatre, GEVA Theatre, Theatre Calgary and the Vancouver Playhouse. Music for film includes Witnessing, a documentary film which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on MSNBC, the film Undetectable: the Changing Face of AIDS (premiered on PBS and the NOW Film Festival/NYC) and Swan Lake, Minnesota an award-winning video adaptation of the classic ballet produced by the A&E network in conjunction with PBS.
MARK LONDON (Lighting Designer) Mark continues to value his longstanding collaboration with ZviDance where he can free himself from the confines of broadcast lighting and return to his joy for lighting dance. Some of Mark’s international collaborations include Noche Flamenca De Madrid, Stars of the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet, the Chinese Opera of Taipei and the Pokrovsky Russian folk ensemble. NY based companies have included Jeanette Stoner, Muna Tseng, Colloquium Dance, 40Up and ISO Dance as well as theatre productions at the Public Theater and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) among countless “more intimate” venues. Some of Mark’s notable work in broadcast includes the design of lighting systems for WNET, WNYC, CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, Fox and Reuters as well as overseeing production of the broadcast lighting for four of the last five Olympic Games. Mark credits his family; Gail, Rachel and Ian, as a constant source of inspiration.
JOSHUA HIGGASON (visual designer) is a video, scenic, and media designer for theater, concerts, opera, and events. He started working in experimental theater and art with The Builders Association and Big Dance Theater in NYC, touring across the US and Europe. Recent productions include The Aging Magician (lighting and video design); Control (Five Landscapes for Orchestra), a new piece by Nico Muhly (Film and Set design; Utah Symphony); and video designs forMackie Messer- Eine Salzburger Dreigroschenoper (Salzburger Festival; Dir. Julian Crouch), Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie and Lowell Tour 2015, Powder her Face (New York City Opera; Dir. Jay Scheib); The Ambassador (BAM; Dir. John Tiffany); Dream of the Red Chamber (Times Square Art Alliance; Dir. Jim Findlay); and Round-Up (BAM; Sufjan Stevens). He also designs sets, lighting, and video for Radiolab and their national US tours. His recent concert collaborations with Candystations and The Windmill Factory have included JR JR, SXSW, Metric, Ray Lamontagne, M. Ward, and Sufjan Stevens/Bryce Dessner/Nico Muhly’s Planetarium. He has taught classes and workshops in video design for live performance at Bennington College, The New School, NYU, LIU, Princeton, MIT, and Duke.
JUKKA RINTAMAKI (composer) Jukka Rintamäki is an independent composer and musician, whose work includes music for contemporary dance, film and video games. Born in Vasa, Finland in 1974, he moved to Gothenburg, Sweden at the age of 20 to study musicology and philosophy. Today, Rintamäki lives and works in Stockholm, where he has been based since 2006. Rintamäki is member and songwriter in Silverbullit, formed in 1995. The group has released three albums and toured Europe and the United States. The band’s live performances and albums continue to receive wide acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
In 2004, Rintamäki started composing music for film, contemporary dance and art, producing and doing remixes for bands. Feature films for which he has written original score include the award-winning movie Kid Svensk, directed by Nanna Huolman, shown at festivals in Scandinavia and Europe, including the Karlovary Film Festival and Gothenburg International Film Festival in 2008. The latest film featuring Rintamäki’s music was The Corridor (Swedish title ‘Isolerad’), a critically acclaimed Swedish thriller from 2010 shown at a number of film festivals around the world, including festival premiers at Plan D’Anger, Fantastic Fest Austin and the Brussels Film Festival.
Since 2005, Rintamäki has also collaborated with a number of choreographers. He composed music for works by choreographer Helena Franzén that were performed at Dansens Hus, Stockholm in 2009 and at Moderna Dansteater, Stockholm in 2011. He also composed music for performances at Joyce Soho, New York in 2009 and wrote music in collaboration with Silverbullit for performances at the Royal Danish Opera in 2005. His repertoire of compositions includes music for three works by choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström, performed at Göteborgsoperan, Norrlandsoperan and the Helsinki City Theater, later touring worldwide, including performances at Jacob’s Pillow, Massachusetts in 2010. He also composed music for choreographer Ori Flomin’s work All We Are, performed at DTW, New York in 2010. Most recently he composed the music for the dance performance Meeting You by Flomin and Franzén that has been played in Stockholm, Munich and at La MaMa in New York.
ZviDance | Zvi | Dancers | Collaborators | Board & Staff
Board & Staff
Artistic Director Zvi Gotheiner
Associate Director Doron Perk
Board of Directors
- Florence Packman – Chair – Sales Executive – 2010
- Paul Calendrillo – Treasurer – Art Manager – 2013
- Wayne Adams – Vice Chair – Producer – 2008
- Heidi Gutman – Secretary – Independent Photographer – 2018
- Don Christiansen – Board Member – Fine Arts – 2009
- Douglas Hamilton – Board Member – Presenter – 2022
- Ayala Marcktell – Board Member – Development – 2022
- Catherine Javech – Board Member – Development – 2022
Marketing Associate Loganne Bond
Fiscal Administrator Alex Goleman, Pentacle
Director of Sponsor Relationships Paul Calendrillo
Technical Director Mark London
Publicity Michelle Tabnick, Director, Michelle Tabnick Communications
Accounting Chris Yeboa, CPA, Yeboa & Lawrence