Christine Jowers (born July 30 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American dancer, teacher, producer, and dance critic. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of the leading online dance magazine, The Dance Enthusiast. She is known for her work as an advocate for dance and audience engagement through writing.

Life and career

Jowers was raised in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands by her parents Dolores Veronica and John M. Jowers. As the daughter of a museum curator at

Fort Christian Fort Christian is a Dano-Norwegian-built fort in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Built 1672-1680, early in the first successful colonial establishment on the island, the fort served as a critical point of defense and govern ...

and the executive director o
Virgin Islands Council on the Arts
she was exposed from an early age to a wide range of local and international artists. Through his work with VICA, her father collaborated with the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is a non-profit membership organization for state and jurisdictional arts agencies in the United States. Background NASAA advocates for federal funding for the arts and aims to protect that porti ...

, and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

to create cultural art expositions and concert performances that toured throughout the Caribbean. Educated as a dancer at St. Thomas School of Dance and Ballet Theatre of the Virgin Islands, upon graduating from Sts. Peter & Paul School, Jowers was inspired by her father to study at Sarah Lawrence College and

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

from which she graduated with a degree in Dance History/Criticism and Communications. After performing as principal dancer with

Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...

Repertory Company, Jowers created Moving Arts Projects in 1997 to present her work as a soloist. During this period she performed to great acclaim across the United States and Europe and collaborated on projects with numerous renowned artists including

Margie Gillis Margie Gillis (born July 9, 1953) is a Canadian dancer and choreographer. Gillis has been creating original works of modern dance for over thirty-five years. Her repertoire includes more than one hundred pieces, which she performs as solos, duet ...

, Ann Carlson, Janis Brenner,

Larry Keigwin Larry Keigwin an American choreographer and the artistic director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY. Life and career Keigwin was raised in Wading River on Long Island with three brothers, one of them his twin. Though his brothers were “very jocky,” ...

, Kun Yang Lin, Catherine Gallant, and the future artistic director of

Martha Graham Dance Company The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded in 1926, is known for being the oldest American dance company. Founded by Martha Graham as a contemporary dance company, it continued to perform pieces, revive classics, and train dancers even after Graham's ...

, Janet Eilber. Shifting her focus from performing, Jowers began teaching as a guest artist at the Jose Limón Institute, Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, Danceworks (UK), Islington Arts Factory,

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a performing arts higher education institution in Liverpool, founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1996. LIPA offers 11 full-time BA (Hons) degrees in a range ...

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

, and

Kean College Kean University () is a public university in Union and Hillside, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Kean University was founded in 1855 in Newark, New Jersey, as the Newark Normal School. Initially establi ...

while also contributing writing to Dance/USA, The Hopkins Review, and The Huffington Post. In 2007 she founded the Dance Enthusiast to set off "an exuberant ''revolution'' in dance communication". Responding to the diminishing presence of dance coverage in the news, Jowers grew and expanded a team of writers out of her home to revitalize the dance field through numerous opportunities offered by operating online, including video coverage and innovative audience engagement platforms that allowed concert attendees to publish their own reflections and reviews. Recently, Jowers launched a highly acclaimed concert series called "Enthusiastic Events" that allows artists to perform and speak with the audience about the artform directly. Acclaimed artists who have participated in these events include the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Broadway choreographer Chet Walker, the director of the Museum at

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. ...

Valerie Steele Valerie Fahnestock Steele (born 1955) is an American fashion historian, curator, and director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Steele has written more than eight books on the history of fashion, and can be regarded as one of t ...

, the flamenco guitarist El Bola, and the

Litefeet Litefeet, also referred to as "getting lite," is a type of street dance/ vernacular dance that emerged from Harlem, New York in the early 2000s (was established in 2006) . The term comes from dancers dancing as though they have "light feet," or are ...

master Chrybaby Cozie. To date, the Dance Enthusiast remains a leading outlet for dance journalism, interviews, and artistic advocacy in NYC.

Personal life

Jowers' family is

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

from Saint Thomas,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and ...

, and Saint Maarten. She is married to Robert Friedman, with whom she has two sons and a cat. The family lives in New York City. She is a member of the Dance/USA and serves on the Editorial Board of The Hopkins Review as an Advisory Editor.

External links

The Dance Enthusiast

Moving Arts Projects

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jowers, Christine American founders American female dancers Dancers from New Mexico American dance critics Living people American magazine editors American women educators 21st-century American journalists American choreographers Dance in New York City American voice actresses American women writers American women choreographers American online journalists People from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands Hispanic and Latino American women journalists Goucher College alumni Women magazine editors Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American actresses