Third Annual Steam Program: How to Make Your Mind Move

Peter DiMuro, Jody Weber, and Terina-Jasmine Alladin

Thursday, April 21, 2016 3-5pm

Lesley University College of Art & Design, Lunder Arts Center, Lower Level Commons, 1801 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA

Choreographers/dancers Peter DiMuro, Jody Weber, and scientist/dancer Terina-Jasmine Alladin from the Science Club for Girls demonstrated how the movement of our bodies can help us understand the world around us. This was a dynamic conversation followed by a dance party for the audience to express their own creative moves! Catalyst Conversations and Cambridge Creativity Commons were pleased to present the Third Annual STEAM Conversation. They were excited to discuss and experience how movement, dance and science can foster creativity. All ages were invited!

Peter DiMuro is the Executive Director of the Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA. He has woven a career as a performer, choreographer, director, teacher, facilitator and arts engager, touring and teaching internationally. He was Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange 2003-2008, capping a 15 year relationship as performer and lead-artist with the company founded by MacArthur & Lerman. His current creative umbrella is Public Displays of Motion, a company that develops and performs artistic works and cultivates dance/arts literacy, advocacy and engagement. The company was recently awarded a Boston Center for the Arts residency, as well as the Boston Dance Alliance Rehearsal and Retreat Fellowship. In his earlier Boston years, he created work with his own Peter DiMuro Performance Associates and danced with Gerri Houlihan, Ruth Birnberg, Susan Rose and in the eclectic repertory (Bebe Miller, Lucinda Childs, Charles Moulton, Wendy Perron) of Concert Dance Company. He made his professional debut at what is now The Dance Complex’s Julie Ince Thompson Theatre. Peter was named a White House Millennial Artist in 2000, a 1995 Mayor of Boston/ProArts Arts Award recipient, and his work has received grants/support from the National Performance Network, the Mass Artists’ Foundation, Mass Cultural Council, MetLife Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2010, he represented the US as an emissary for the Department of State in Madrid, teaching and adjudicating an international competition for emerging artists.

Jody Weber received a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 1988. She was deeply influenced by teachers Sarah Stackhouse, Kevin Wynn, and Mel Wong. In 1992 she received an MA from American University focusing on dance history. In 2005 she completed her doctorate in dance history at Boston University. Her company, Weber Dance, has been presented through numerous local outlets and has provided residencies in Juneau, Alaska for the past seven years. In addition, they have performed at The Dance Place in Washington DC, Spoke of the Hub in Brooklyn, Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco, and with Yow Dance in Florida, toured Western Montana and British Columbia, and are set to tour western Colorado in Spring 2014. In the 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013 seasons, Dr. Weber received an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Somerville Arts Council to support her choreography. She is also a two-season recipient of residencies at the Workspace for Choreographers in Virginia, a recipient of the Boston Dance Alliance Retreat and Residency Award, and most recently a resident at the Boston Center for the Arts. Currently, she is Associate Professor of Dance at Bridgewater State College where she teaches courses in modern technique, repertory, history, choreography and pedagogy.

Terina-Jasmine Alladin received her MSc in Dance Science from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in the UK. Terina focuses her professional efforts on uplifting girls of color, English language learners, and students with disabilities. Terina is currently a Program Manager at Science Club for Girls, a Data Consultant for the US Soccer Foundation. She has worked at Boston Ballet as an Education Programs Manager for elementary and middle school students, providing participants with opportunities to explore the links between dance and STEM through astronomy, physics, chemistry, and mathematics, she currently teaches an Adaptive Dance class to students on the Autism spectrum. She is the founder and principal consultant for a Boston-based arts consulting initiative called Cultural Capital, where teaching artists in Greater Boston receive training, professional development, and residencies in Boston public schools that do not have access to quality arts programming.