For Immediate Release
Press Contact: Taimi Strehlow, tstrehlow@NinaWinthropandDancers.org

The Flea Theater presents
DANCE CONVERSATIONS @ THE FLEA
The FREE monthly Tuesday dance performance series featuring new works and lively talk continues

The Flea Theater announces the Winter/Spring 2009 Dance Conversations @ The Flea series, continuing the spirited debate about dance and dancers for the sixth consecutive season FREE OF CHARGE. Inaugurated in September 2003, Dance Conversations @ The Flea is a free monthly performance series. This season, choreographer Nina Winthrop and her curatorial assistant, Taimi Strehlow, curate the series. Dance Conversations @ The Flea presents works-in-progress by dance artists experimenting with new ideas and new forms. Each event in the series features the works of 4 emerging and/or mid-career choreographers and each performance is followed by an open discussion between the artists and the audience, moderated by choreographer Nina Winthrop and other leaders in the field of dance. Upcoming guest moderators include Gus Solomons Jr, Heidi Latsky, Dusan Tynek and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.

Dance Conversations @ The Flea was created in response to a need for a lab-like space in which working artists can engage in a meaningful dialogue with the audience. It is dedicated to nurturing new works and to the free exchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions between artists and audience. Expect the works presented to be in various stages of development - raw, half-baked or fully developed.

The Flea is located at 41 White Street between Church and Broadway, three blocks south of Canal Street in TriBeCa, close to the N/R/Q/W, 6, J/M/Z, A/C/E at Canal, or the 1 train at Franklin. **Please note: the February and March programs will take place at the HERE Arts Center, located at 145 Sixth Ave. (between Spring and Broome — take the C/E to Spring St., 1 to Houston St.or the N/R to Prince St.) Admission is free; tickets are available on a first-come, first served basis at the theater on the night of the performance. All programs begin at 7pm. For more information call 212-226-2407 or visit www.theflea.org.

Dance Conversations @ The Flea Winter/Spring Season:

February 3 (at HERE)
Moderator: Gus Solomons jr
compani javedani
Jo Morris
Ania Paula Paez Pelaez & Leilani Maciel Cabanas
Danielle Russo Dance Company

March 3 (at HERE)
Moderator: Dusan Tynek
Julie Fotheringham and Jarryd Lowder
Wendy Jehlen
Johanna Kirk
Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixir

April 7 (at The Flea)
Moderator: Heidi Latsky
Sarah Council Dance Projects
Mare Hieronimus
Catey Ott Dance Collective
Roxanne Steinberg

May 5 (at The Flea)
Moderator: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Nora Chipaumire
Eun Jung Choi-Gonzalez
Jordan Fuchs & Sarah Gamblin
Claire Porter

Nina Winthrop (Curator) was thrilled to choreograph Violet Fire, an opera presented at BAM's Next Wave Festival in October 2006. The opera, by composer Jon Gibson and librettist Miriam Seidel, and directed by Terry O'Reilly, received its world premiere at the National Theater of Belgrade in July 2006.
Nina formed her company in 1991 and her work has been presented at numerous venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Danspace Project, Joyce SoHo, The Flea Theater and Movement Research at The Judson Church. She was awarded a Bessie Schönberg Choreographers' Residency at The Yard in 2004, a Dancenow/NYC's Silo Artist Residency in 2005, and participated in the Schönberg Choreographers Lab at DTW in 2005. A graduate of Bennington College, Nina danced with Wendy Perron, Susan Rethorst, Yoshiko Chuma, Sally Silvers & Kei Takei. She studied with Erick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham & Deborah Hay. Nina is currently choreographing Times Two, a theater piece by Linsey Bostwick to be presented in February at Mabou Mines' Theater at PS 122.

Taimi Strehlow (Assistant Curator) was previously with HT Chen Dance Company. Before entering the dance world, she was a television producer with A&E, The History Channel and PBS. Her film, "Big Known Names," received a best documentary prize at the 2007 Red Bank International Film Festival and aired last spring on PlumTV stations around the country.