Movement Research: Building Our Home

While we look forward to a new future for Movement Research within our first long term home, we are taking a dive into our history and remembering each space we’ve danced, gathered, worked, and held space in since our collective founding in 1978! Each week, we will look back at a different era of the organization. This week we kick off with MR’s first five years, 1978-1983!

In 1978, The School for Movement Research & Construction was founded by a collective of artists. Originating during a time when a number of artist-founded organizations are springing up in the U.S, MR provides its founders with informal environments for dialogue & dancing together, and it evolves into a structure that supports workshops in experimental movement investigations. 

Periodic performance presentations began in 1979 and the first benefit performance in April 1979, featuring Trisha Brown, David Gordon, Valda Setterfield & Douglas Dunn, at 40 Irving Place was called “the concert of the decade” by press! 

In 1980, the organization incorporated as a not for-profit organization and adopted the name it is now known by across the globe, “Movement Research, Inc”. With this incorporation, the organization established its first all artist Board of Directors: co-founders Wendell Beavers, Beth Goren, Richard Kerry, Daniel Lepkoff, Terence O’Reilly, Mary Overlie, Christina Svane & Board President Cynthia Hedstrom.

The first year of the critically acclaimed Studies Project, held at Danspace Project in St. Mark’s Church and the Triplex Theater, began in 1982. Throughout the 1980s, participants include such artists as Mark Morris, Senta Driver, Molissa Fenley, Bill T. Jones, Steve Paxton, Spalding Gray, Eric Bogosian, Bill Irwin, David Gordon, Rachel Rosenthal, Blondell Cummings, Ethyl Eichelberger, David Cale, Pooh Kaye, Robert Whitman, Kei Takei, Joan Jonas, Dana Reitz, Kenneth King, Jim Self, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Remy Charlip, Meredith Monk & such moderators as Paul Langland, William Harris, Sally Banes, Simone Forti, Mary Overlie & Stephanie Skura. Of the Studies Project, Elizabeth Zimmer writes, “…one of the most illuminating discussions I’ve ever been privileged to witness…You should have been there…” 

1983 marks the first year of Open Performance, a monthly series for artists & students to present works-in-progress to small audiences followed by open discussion of the work by audience & artists, originally held in studios at Ethnic Folk Arts at 179 Varick Street and Simone Forti’s Studio at 537 Broadway, now WeisAcres.

Throughout these first five years, there is no Movement Research office, with the organization being run out of the backpacks of the Board of Directors across various studios across lower Manhattan where classes & workshops took place, such as KIVA at 307/309 Canal Street, Dance Theater Workshop (DTW) at 219 W 19th Street, and Performance Space 122 at 150 1st Avenue. 

1984 was a big year for the organization as MR moved into Ethnic Folk Arts Center at 179 Varick Street, strengthening MR’s capacity to deliver programs through affiliation with another organization. Additionally, MR receives a Special Citation “Bessie” Award for the Studies Project for enlightening inquiries and arguments on the how and why of dance, presented by Simone Forti, and the Presenting Series, a precursor to Movement Research at the Judson Church series, is initiated! In 1986 the Studies Project moved to The Triplex after first taking place at St. Mark’s Church and Ethnic Folk Arts Center.

In 1988 the Artist-in-Residence Program was launched, with DANCENOISE, Lauri Nagel, Lisa Nelson, and Susan Rethorst as the first MR AIRs. Within the next five years, the program will evolve to include commissioning funds, residency fees, work-in-process showings on the MR@Judson series, co-production at other spaces, class & workshop opportunities, subsidized and free rehearsal space, and career development support.

The first issue of the Performance Journal was published in 1990! Editor Richard Elovich and Associate Editor Michael Sexton write, With this first issue of Movement Research, we open a new public space for the New York performance community: a textual space in which artists can develop a critical relationship to the work being produced around us…Recognizing a real lack of opportunity for choreographers, dancers, writers, musicians, and performers to engage in each others’ work analytically, we have created Movement Research as a slightly anarchic forum in which opposing ideas and aesthetics can be seriously developed and debated…In a time when the arts and artists are seriously under attack, a dialogue among artists develops both the rigorous introspection and the larger commitment of a community, creating a vision necessary for survival.

In 1991 Richard Elovich resigned as Executive Director and Cathy Edwards and Guy Yarden were hired as Co-Directors. During their tenure, Edwards and Yarden continue momentum built under Elovich and work to expand on the critical role of the artist community in shaping programs. The office at Ethnic Folk Arts serves as meeting grounds for long conversations among artists about aesthetics, performances and classes, and a strong emphasis on inclusive programming begins to take shape, including the start of Movement Research at the Judson Church series, curated by Cathy Edwards and Guy Yarden, with subsequent years curated by selection panels. In the same year the workshop series expanded to include daily classes in the mornings and workshops that reach out beyond the artist community, including a new program for people living with AIDS.

In 1992 the Improvisation Festival/New York launched, initiated by Sondra Loring (MR artist-in-residence) and Julie Carr, with MR cooperation. Over the years, the IF/NY Festival draws artists working in a range of approaches to improvisation from throughout the U.S. and internationally (Spain, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Netherlands and France). The two-week long IF/NY festival provided a stable structure for the exchange of ideas, and a meeting point for artists working with improvisation, teaching and performing, and was the precursor to the Movement Research Festival.

That same year, one of NYC’s most beautiful studios is lost as MR is evicted from Ethnic Folk Arts Center, and the space is leased to a nightclub. On a tip from Bebe Miller, MR collaborates with Context Studios on Avenue A to establish an office and two studios, aiming to create a ‘home’ for artists.

To see all locations we’ve gathered in, check out the Movement Research Map! Be sure to check back each week as we update this map with all of the spaces MR has been from 1978 to now!

In the years 1993 and 1994, Movement Research formalized a work-study program, developed Dance Makers in the Schools, and launched Move to Heal – a free series of classes for people dealing with health struggles such as AIDS and HIV and for their partners and care-givers. The MRX/the Movement Research Exchange also began! In the early years of MRX, national partners include Painted Bride, Philadelphia, PA; Diverse Works, Houston, TX; Dance Umbrella, Austin, TX; & The Wagon Train Project in Lincoln, NE, and international partners include Dans Centrum, Stockholm, Sweden; Certamen Coreográfico, Madrid, Spain; Japan Society, New York, NY; Japanese Contemporary Dance Network, Kyoto, Japan; and Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico. Finally, a Town Hall Meeting on June 14, 1994 provided a catalyst for discussion on authority, diversity and community in the context of the arts, with the discussion focusing on the role MR has in defining cultural exchanges, growing out of divergent opinions on the issue of cultural imperialism as manifested through international MRX exchanges.

1995 is a year marked by a great openness under the new Acting Director Audrey Kindred, with the organization working creatively with artists and by an intellectual engagement with pressing aesthetic, political and social issues, and organizing dynamic panels around contemporary issues including those of diversity and cultural difference.

In 1997 with the closure of Context Studios on Avenue A, the MR office moved to Elizabeth Street. With this move, the MR office and studios are no longer housed in the same location for the first time since 1984, a circumstance that would be ongoing for the organization until 2019!  Movement Research began holding classes, workshops and events in several spaces in lower Manhattan including Bill Young Studio, Battery Dance, The Knitting Factory, Cooper Union, Washington Square United Methodist Church, Soundance Studio, and Jack Tilton Gallery. MR also expanded it’s partnership with Judson Memorial Church, holding Studies Projects and Open Performances in the Judson Garden and Gym at this time.

1998 marks the first MELT Summer Intensive offering four weeks of workshops at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church and Eden’s Expressway!

The Improvisation Festival / New York began to be curated by Amanda Loulaki in 1999, continuing a vital festival approach that includes U.S.-based and international improvisers who perform, teach and exchange ideas.

In 2000, MR expanded to new partnerships for classes, workshops and events at the Chinese Cultural Center, Broome Corner Studio, the Greenspan Center, and the Sandra Cameron Dance Center. 

In 2001 Movement Research took on the annual lease of Eden’s Expressway, owned by Frances Alenikoff, and the MR office moved into 648 Broadway (between Bleeker and Bond Sts), after moving six times from 1997-2001.

In 2002, the first MELT Winter Intensive was held for one week. Over the years, Winter MELT has expanded to offer workshops for 3 weeks! 

2004 is the 25th Anniversary of Movement Research! Mary Overlie, one of Movement Research’s founding artists, writes in the 25th Anniversary Celebration issue of Performance Journal (Issue #27/28): I am awed but not surprised that Movement Research has managed to make it to its twenty-fifth birthday. Awed because Movement Research is a maverick in the field of organizations and therefore difficult to find funding for, requiring by the nature of its objectives great donations of time and energy on the part of the dance community. Not surprised because Movement Research represents a small but necessary voice in support of a new perspective in art, philosophy, science and politics…Because Movement Research is designed to serve a community of artists who believe in non-exclusive art, particularizing the study of the body, non-hierarchical structures in choreography and the connection of movement to the earth, it has an implicit reason to survive. 

The 25th Anniversary Celebration GALA Benefit “MR@25”  honors longtime supporter Micki Wesson and MR’s founders with performances by Meredith Monk, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Julie Atlas Muz, and Ann Liv Young, with Jennifer Miller of Circus Amok as the emcee. The Movement Research Festival is launched, having evolved from the New York Improvisation Festival. Improvisation is Hard, is the first MR Festival to implement a curatorial team structure with Jonah Bokaer, DD Dorvillier, Miguel Gutierrez, K.J. Holmes, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Isabel Lewis and Yvonne Meier. Over 150 artists participate in performances and discussions in 11 venues!

This same year, the MR office moved to Dance Theater Workshop and both the Movement Research at the Judson Church and Open Performance series take place at Dance Theater Workshop while Judson Church is under renovation.

An Artist Town Hall Meeting took place on February 2 with the purpose of engaging in peer discussion on MR, its programs, short and longer-term strategies for survival and viability in advancing its mission in the current ecology. Additionally, three Faculty Town Hall Meetings were held June 27 and October 16-17 with the purpose of creating a dialogic space for discussing emerging dance and movement-based forms and teaching methodologies, and to foster a sense of community among teaching artists while enabling community feedback to inform MR’s future.

In 2005, the Movement Research Performance Journal launches an Editorial Team structure with the publication of Performance Journal #29, Improvisation is Dead; Long Live Improvisation. The first Editorial Team consists of April Biggs, Kimberly Brandt, Levi Gonzàlez, Isabel Lewis, Alejandra Martorell and intern Layard Thompson. The Movement Research Festival 2005: Open Source expands to three weeks featuring over 300 artists in 11 venues throughout the boroughs. Curatorial Team members DD Dorvillier, Margit Galanter, koosil-ja and Michelle Nagai bring together nationally and internationally acclaimed improvisers in a Festival that critiques presentational aspects of performance and festival formats, and offers alternative and emergent practices.

In 2006, Movement Research continued to rely on individuals in its Work-study & Intern Program, who learn and contribute skills in not-for-profit management in exchange for access to classes & workshops. In this year, 26 work-studies and interns keep classes, workshops and MELT intensives running smoothly and provide critical support in office management, marketing/publicity, development, operations, archives and special events.

The same year, Critical Correspondence was launched on MR’s website, spearheaded by editors Alejandra Martorell and Guy Yarden! The Movement Research at the Judson Church series returns to Judson Memorial Church – which has undergone renovations and now has a sprung wood dance floor – with a celebratory Opening Night event featuring performances by Deborah Hay and Juliette Mapp, and a send-off party for Carla Peterson, who departs her role as Executive Director. Barbara Bryan is hired as the new Executive Director!

June 2007 marks the first, a Summer Internship Program, designed to provide college credit and experience in non-profit administration to talented students. The Spring Festival launched for the first time in 2008, making Movement Research Festival a biannual event, and in 2010 Anna Halprin conducted a historic workshop that attracts over 50 dancers!