Photo credit: Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami’s Fabian Morales and Claudia Lezcano in ‘Space Between Words’ by Donna Murray. Photo by Julian Duque Photography.⁠

An initiative to give local emerging and seasoned artists a platform to present their choreographic work as well as give Cultural Council members and the community a chance to witness local dance/movement artists and new styles of dance. This performance will present work by a diverse group of Palm Beach County artists who in turn are given the opportunity to perform and connect with a wider, virtual audience.

This performance will feature the work of Libby Faber (Arise Dance Collective), Demetrius Klein (Demetrius Klein Dance Company), Donna Goffredo Murray, Anna Nunes (AGWA Dance Company) and Ericka Squire (Natural Movers//Dance Project).

After the performances, we’ll have a brief Q&A session with the choreographers, moderated by Clarence Brooks.

This performance will be staged at the Council and streamed LIVE on palmbeachculture.com. Don’t miss it!

While these virtual performances are free to view, donations are encouraged to help the Council provide support and services to creative professionals in Palm Beach County. Donations/tips can also be made directly to the artist during the show.

About the Choreographers:
Libby Faber, a native of Palm Beach Gardens, trained at Ballet Palm Beach and was a pre-professional trainee from 2012 to 2016. Faber received her BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School in 2020. During her time at school, she was able to explore her passions for choreography and collaboration. She has performed works by John Heginbotham, Twyla Tharp, Gentian Doda, Bill T. Jones, Peter Chu, Stephen Petronio, Paul Taylor, and Jose Limon. She has choreographed many works for the Independent Student Workshops and was one of six students chosen to choreograph for Choreographers and Composers in 2017.

Demetrius Klein is a performer, choreographer, and teacher. His 501©3 nonprofit arts organization, DKDC/DIY Projects, is committed to the creative process and to producing dance works of uncompromising integrity in traditional and non-traditional settings. Since forming the Demetrius Klein Dance Company in 1986, Klein has made a significant impact on the world of dance; performing, creating and teaching in Palm Beach County. He has presented over 80 works on the stages of major regional venues, nationally and internationally. He and his diverse company members continue to break new ground by actively pursuing and engaging new dance audiences by rehearsing and performing in public places. Klein was named 1998-1999 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He has received three choreographic fellowships from the state of Florida, the Hector Ubertalli Award for Artistic Excellence from the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, and a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship. His work has been commissioned by Ballet Florida, the Wexner Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Southeastern Center for the Contemporary Arts, The Florida-Brazil Festival, Danza Del Lobo, Minnesota Dance Alliance and most recently, the Downtown Development Authority of West Palm Beach.

Donna Goffredo Murray is a choreographer, director, writer, educator, and co-creator of Ballet’s Child, an interdisciplinary, contemporary ballet documenting a young dancer’s recovery from an eating disorder. She earned a BA from the University of Maryland and an MFA from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. For 12 years, Murray directed her namesake dance company based in New York City before relocating to Florida in 2011. Her choreography has been commissioned by Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami and Ballet Palm Beach and has been presented by Dance/USA, National Dance Education Organization, Palm Beach Poetry Festival, Florida Dance Education Organization, Duncan Theater, South Miami-Dade Performing Arts Center and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. In 2017, Murray’s choreography premiered at the Goyang International Dance Festival in South Korea. She is a founder and former director of The Dancers’ Space, a member of the board of directors of the Florida Dance Education Organization, and a guest artist at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Most recently, Murray joined Palm Beach Daily News as a dance critic.

Originally from Madeira Island in Portugal, Anna Nunes has been a resident of Palm Beach County area since 1974. She has studied under various respected instructors and has been teaching since 1987 in all forms of dance including: jazz, modern, contemporary, ballet, and tap to all ages and levels. Although she has taught at several studios, the bulk of her teaching was at Demetrius Klein Dance Company from 1988 to 2006. Some of her choreographic accomplishments include commissioned works for several Demetrius Klein Dance Company festivals and the Young Choreographers/Visiting Artists series; The Florida Dance Festival (where she showcased her work Coming Home); the opening ceremony for The Sunshine State Games; SunFest; Palm Beach Atlantic University Spring Dance Concert; Royal Palm Theatre musicals Dames at Sea, The Goodbye Girl, Company, Dracula the Musical, and Heartbeats; and Fame for Lake Worth High School. Anna has also presented her own concerts, including Exploring the Many Faces of Love in 1999, which received excellent reviews from local media critics. Nunes and her daughter Jessica opened Downtown Dance in 2009, where she continues to direct, teach, choreograph and present multiple productions throughout the year. Nunes also started AGWA Dance Company in 2012.

Ericka Squire is a native of Florida who situates her creative and academic work within the field of dance, anthropology and African Diasporic studies. She has a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Central Florida, a Master’s in Dance Education from Temple University and a MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. She has performed professionally with the Bohemian Ballet Company, the U- Turn Dance Company, and Kariamu and Company: Traditions. As a choreographer/storyteller, Squire is interested in the body—how and why it moves/becomes moved and how to excavate its stories. Thus, when engaging in her process, movers are taken through ‘Body Speak’, a choreographic-incubator crafted by Squire that seeks to unearth the language, intellect, stories, and nuances of the body in order to create works that promote dialogue and evoke change. In 2014, Squire founded Natural Movers//Dance Project and in 2016, she developed ‘Body Speak’ and founded The Natural Movers Foundation—an organization that seeks to enrich the cultural landscape of Palm Beach County by offering master classes, workshops, and a performance platform for choreographers. Currently, Squire serves on the dance faculty at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Resident Artist/Instructor with the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts/De George Academy and as the Manager of Arts and Cultural Education with the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County.

About the Moderator:
Clarence Brooks has toured throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia with Nikolais and Murray Louis, Bill Evans, Marcus Schulkind, Loyce Houlton, Laura Dean, Robin Becker, Deborah Carr, David Hurwith, Ohio Ballet, and Anna Sokolow to name just a few and can be seen in the video documentary “The World of Alwin Nikolais”. A published author, his essay “Dancing with the Issues” was published in One Teacher in 10: LGBT Educators Share Their Stories (Alyson Books). He directs the Repertory Dance Theatre Ensemble which has performed in festivals from Miami to Boston and, last year, the Library of Congress recorded his performance of Talley Beatty’s “Mourner’s Bench” (1947) for the national archive. He continues performing with his own company and freelancing with Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, Bill Evans, and David Parker & The Bang Group. Brooks holds advisory positions with the Florida Dance Education Organization and the FAU Women, Gender and Sexualities Studies and sits on the boards of the Florida Black Dance Artists Organization and Compass, Palm Beach County’s LGBT community services center. An Associate Professor and Director of Dance at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton), he holds an MFA, is a Certified Laban Movement Analysis, and is certified to teach the Evans Method of Teaching Dance Technique. Awards and honors include induction into the OCU Performance Hall of Honor, two Associate Artist-in-Residences at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Japan Foundation Fellowship, and recipient of both the Clyde Fyfe and the Randolph A. Frank Prize for the Performing Arts Awards.

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