Nina Martin is an American choreographer, dancer, and pedagogue. Originally from Austin, Texas, Martin moved to New York City, where she lived for 17 years. She currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas.
Career
While in
New York City, she was very active in the downtown dance scene. She performed with notable dance-makers
Mary Overlie
Mary Overlie (January 15, 1946 – June 5, 2020) was an American choreographer, dancer, theater artist, professor, author, and the originator of the Six Viewpoints technique for theater and dance. The Six Viewpoints technique is both a philosophi ...
,
David Gordon,
Deborah Hay, and
Martha Clarke
Martha Clarke (born June 3, 1944) is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. Her best-known original work is ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' (1984, re-im ...
. In 1980, Martin performed
contact improvisation with
Lisa Nelson Lisa Nelson is an American dance-maker, improviser, videographer, and collaborative artist. She was born in New York City in 1949 and currently lives in Northern Vermont.
Dancing life
Lisa Nelson began her training in traditional modern dance and ...
,
Nancy Stark Smith
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Nancy Stark Smith (February 11, 1952 – May 1, 2020) was an American dancer and founding participant in contact improvisation.
Early life and education
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 11, 1952, Stark Smith was the child of Dr. J ...
, Daniel Lepkoff, Randy Warshaw, and
Steve Paxton
Steve Paxton (born 1939 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an experimental dancer and choreographer. His early background was in gymnastics while his later training included three years with Merce Cunningham and a year with José Limón. As a founding mem ...
as part of the program Beyond the Mainstream, a program of
WNET.
Martin, along with
Paul Langland
Paul Langland (born February 6, 1951) is an American dancer, singer, choreographer and Arts Professor at New York University.
Career
Langland's professional career began in 1972. In his work as a dancer and choreographer he has spanned many di ...
,
Diane Madden,
Stephen Petronio
Stephen Petronio (born March 20, 1956) is an American choreographer, dancer, and the artistic director of New York City-based Stephen Petronio Company.
Stephen Petronio was born in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in nearby Nutley and graduated in ...
, Lepkoff, Warshaw, and Robin Feld formed Channel Z, a performance collective that was active from 1982-1987. Martin also exhibited her own choreographies while living in New York City such as Changing Face, Copyright, Date with Fate, and On the Other Hand
In 1994, Martin relocated to San Diego, where she formed the performance collective, Lower Left, with Jane Blount, Mary Reich, and Karen Schaffman. They were the collective in residence at Sushi Performance and Visual Art for several years. While in residence, Martin along with her colleagues created Horns Wings More Tales among other performances.
Martin initiated research into Ensemble Thinking in the mid 1990's. Ensemble Thinking is set of movement training scores that draws dancers' attention to compositional forms. Ensemble Thinking trains the improvising dancer to be able to shift fluidly among solo, group and contact-improvisation compositional awarenesses, and also deal with the complexity that often arises in improvised group dances.
Teaching
Martin has taught at dance festivals and studios throughout Europe, such as
Impulstanz in Vienna, the International Contact festival Freiburg, and Tanzfabrik in Berlin.
She has taught at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, University of California San Diego, University of California Los Angeles, among other institutions. Currently she in on faculty at
Texas Christian University
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Nina
American female dancers
American choreographers
Entertainers from New York City
Texas Christian University faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American women academics
21st-century American women
External links
Official website