Alison Manning and Duke Dang, Celebrating Rhythm: The Uptown Dance Festival

Join "Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey  and special guests: Duke Dang, Executive Director of Works & Process and Alison Manning, Co-Executive Director of Harkness Dance Center.

In this episode of "Dance Talk” ®, host Joanne Carey chats with Duke Dang, and Alison Manning, about their organizations upcoming collaboration: the Uptown Rhythm Dance Festival. The festival is a collaborative project aimed at celebrating various forms of rhythm dance. Alison and Duke discuss the festival's programming, community engagement, and the importance of inclusivity and accessibility in dance.

The dialogue highlights the festival's diverse lineup of artists, workshops, and the significance of dance in fostering community connections.

Get your tickets, you won't want to miss this festival!

Alison Manning is the former Executive Director and Co-Producer of The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, from 2008-2020. She is founding Co-Artistic Director and Choreographer of DanceTheYard, The Yard’s year-round professional dance company, with choreographic partner and company Co-Artistic Director Jesse Keller Jason.

Alison is a passionate Horton teacher and an avid tap and rhythm dancer and advocate. She discovered her love for the Horton technique as a scholarship student at Jacob’s Pillow, working with the great Milton Myers, and has continued studying with mentors Mr. Myers, Kristina Berger, Karen Gayle and other lauded Horton Teachers through the years. She taught the technique on Faculty at The Yard each summer, and as a guest teaching artist at NYU Steinhardt School, Wesleyan Univeristy, Peridance Capezio Center, and STEPS on Broadway. In addition to teaching, Alison dances and performs with The Bang Group and has worked for The Peggy Spina Tap Company, Xodus Dance Collective, Kinodance company among others. She is the current President of the Marymount Manhattan College Dance Advisory Board as well as a member of the Adjunct Faculty. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from said institution with a BFA in Modern Dance and a Minor in Art History. Alison lives in New York City with her wife and four children and is honored to be shepherding the Harkness School of Dance during this exciting time at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

https://www.92ny.org/

Duke Dang is the executive director of Works & Process, a performing arts organization that champions and resources artists and their creative process from studio-to-stage by partnering with over a dozen residency centers across Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York to provide fully-funded residencies and presents iteratively at the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and SummerStage.  Works & Process was honored with a 2021 Dance Magazine Award and nominated in 2021 and 2022 for the APAP William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence and Sustained Achievement.

Born at a UN refugee camp in the Philippines to Vietnamese parents seeking political asylum, Duke immigrated to California growing up with the assistance of Section 8 housing vouchers, food stamps, and attending Head Start. Prior to Works & Process, Duke worked at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Glimmerglass Festival, and Sydney Theatre Company. He earned in BA in Art History from Boston University and MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University.

To Find out about Works & Process

⁠https://www.worksandprocess.org/

To get your tickets to Uptown Dance Festival

https://www.92n