The Founder/Artistic Director
Shirley Mordine began her early training in San Francisco with Welland Lathrop, Anna Halprin, and the San Francisco Ballet School. She performed with the Welland Lathrop Dance Co. for 10 years. After graduating from Mills College in Oakland, California, she taught at the University of Minnesota for three years and continued her studies with Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis.
Moving to Chicago in 1969 she founded the Dance Center of Columbia College and directed it until 1999. Under her direction, the Dance Center has evolved into a multifaceted institution at the national forefront of dance education. A teaching, learning, and performing arts center, the Dance Center is Chicago's leading dance training program, and its public programming has engaged companies from around the world. In light of her extensive and consistent contributions to the field of dance and the student and professional life of Columbia College, Mordine was presented in 1999 with Columbia College's Presidential Medal for Distinguished Service.
Beginning in 1969 Mordine created several seminal works for the Chicago dance scene including Journey, RSVP, and Tongues. She received the first Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to the field of dance and was honored again in 1994 with a Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for her ground breaking work combining movement with text, film, video, slides, and computer images, Edge Mode, Part I. Mordine created the prelude work Subject to Change for the Dubufffet sculpture in the landmark Dancing' in the State event at the State of Illinois Building in 1993. She also created the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art's first site-specific work in its new location, Weather Watch. In 2008, Mordine was awarded an Illinois Arts Council 2008 Artists Fellowship Award in Choreography in recognition for outstanding work and commitment within the arts. Most recently, and in honor of the Mordine & Co Dance Theater's 40th Anniversary and to recognize the company's contribution to the performing arts, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, proclaimed February 28, 2009, to be "Mordine & Co. Dance Theater Day in Chicago."
Mordine's collaborative associates include William Russo, Amnon Wolman, Paul Dresher, Henry Threadgill, John Boeshe, Ken Bowen, Joel Klaff, Mirek Rogala, Michael Montenegro, Amy Lee Segami, Richard Woodbury, Dave Pavkovik,Alison Chesley and Tatsu Aoki.
Associate Artistic Director
Bryan Saner is an art practitioner and sculptor focusing on the creation of performances, activist art events and appropriately designed objects. Bryan has made long term commitments to collaborate closely with artists and activists in developing alternative creative, educational and economic communities. This creative work is done both in and outside of existing established systems.
Bryan teaches workshops and lectures internationally on the subject of performance, the body, neighborhood design, movement and collaboration. Through his interest in alternative pedagogical practice, he and his wife Teresa Pankratz and their neighbors developed the Sunflower Community School, a cooperative, child directed elementary school for their children. He developed and self funded a "new-world" apprenticeship program through his design build furniture business in 2003 and continues to mentor young artists. Bryan and Teresa have one son, Jake. He is currently collaborating with Jake on an oral history film about activism in Chicago. Bryan occasionally teaches and advises in the Interdisciplinary Arts graduate program at Columbia College, Chicago.
From 1995 to 2009 Bryan worked as a performing artist and teacher with the recently retired Goat Island Performance Group. International venue and performance credits with Goat Island include the Eurokaz festival, Zagreb; the Venice Biennale Theater Festival, and the New Territories Festival, Glasgow. Productions with Goat Island include 5 performances, 3 films and teaching in the annual Goat Island Summer School at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Goat Island's annual European Winter and Summer Schools. The company's writing on the subjects of performance and collaboration have been published by Routledge in Small Acts of Repair: Performance, Ecology and Goat Island. Edited by Steven Bottoms and Matthew Goulish.
Managing Director
Cynthia is a creative and dynamic leader in the arts community in Chicago, working in both the public and private sectors. She served as Director of Program Development in the Collaborative Program Division, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs for eight years where she conceived, developed and implemented arts and cultural events throughout Chicago, at the Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park. These free, public programs focused on supporting and promoting the visual art, dance and international communities in Chicago, including:
- Chicago Artists Month – the annual celebration of Chicago visual artists and their work at 220 venues throughout the city in October attracting 60,000 attendees.
- Dance programs, such as DanceBridge – ongoing three month residencies for the creation of new work; Dance Intersections – a collaborative performance series; About Dance a monthly series hosted by dance critic, Lucia Mauro; and Dancing in the Park – site specific performances in Millennium Park featuring a range of styles.
- The MVP Series: Multicultural Voices and Perspectives – ongoing performing arts programs presenting the richness and diversity of Chicago's international communities.
Prior to joining the city, Cynthia was an independent arts consultant in the areas of special events, marketing and public relations with various corporate and non-profit clients. She also directed international events at Navy Pier for six years with The Lakeside Group, including Chicago International Festival of Flowers and Gardens and Chicago International Boat Show, guiding the marketing, public relations, advertising, exhibitor and sponsorship development efforts.
After graduating from the University of Toronto with an Honor BA in Latin American Studies, she did graduate work in Art and Dance Education and Communications. She studied dance with Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal and taught dance fitness at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
She is married, active in her Logan Square neighborhood and in environmental pursuits.
Contact Cynthia at manager@mordine.org
The Company
Leigh Ann Boatman received a B.A. in Dance from Columbia College Chicago. Boatman has performed in works by Paige Cunningham, Ariel Cisneros, Kate Corby, Matthew Hollis, Jonathan Meyer, Kirby Reed and Twyla Tharp. Boatman has been on scholarship with Thodos Dance Company '09 and Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre '08. She has performed in Columbia College Theatre Dept. production of West Side Story, The Gospel Festival in Millenium Park, and the Chicago Music Association Awards.
Emma Draves is a native of Marion, IN. She has performed with Hedwig Dances, Thodos/New Dances, Lookingglass Theatre, and Yo-Yo Ma with the Silk Road Project Chicago. Emma currently dances with Natya Dance Theatre and teaches for the Dance Center of La Grange. Emma is thoroughly enjoying her third season with Mordine & Co. Dance Theater.
Mark Duthu (Slidell, LA) graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a Ballet Major. He has since danced with River North Chicago Dance Company, Thodos Dance Chicago, and Moving People Dance Theater. Mark has also had the pleasure of choreographing dance works in the Chicago land area since 2005. Besides dancing, Mark is a licensed cosmetologist and loves having two careers to be passionate about. He would like to thank his friends and family for all there support over the years.
Adriana Marcial is a graduate of Northwestern University, earning a B.A. in Dance and Communication Studies. At Northwestern she had the privilege of performing works by Jan Bartoszek, Jeff Hancock, and Joseph Mills. Adriana also performs with the Cindy Brandle Dance Company. This is her first season with Mordine & Co. Dance Theater.
Anna Normann grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Dance. As a student she performed in over 20 works including those choreographed by Paige Cunningham, Margaret Morris and the restaging of Trisha Brown's Set and Reset/Reset. Her choreographic works have been seen at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and the American College Dance Festivals in Madison, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a current collaborating performer with Kate Corby's LIVE Animals. This is her first season as an intern with Mordine & Company Theater.
Meghann Wilkinson is a graduate of Northwestern University and has been performing, teaching, and choreographing in Chicago for 6 years. In addition to Mordine and Company, she is currently a member of Lucky Plush Productions and has appeared in Chicago with Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts, Cie. Felix Ruckert, and Raizel Performances. Wilkinson is on faculty at Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and Dance Center Evanston and has taught for the Cecchetti Council of America. She has served as coordinator for the Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance, organized for the Society of Dance History Scholars, and has been a contributor to the on-line travel resource Nile Guide.
