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Short Bio
Rosy Simas est chorégraphe, enseignante, et thérapeute en travail corporel. Elle est issue d'une famille Seneca de la réserve Cattaraugus de l'état de New York. Rosy enseigne la danse moderne, la technique d'alignement, l'improvisation, le contact improvisation, et la composition. Elle a étudié à Minneapolis (MN), New York (NY), et San Francisco (CA). Ses mentors les plus influents sont Nita Little, Kei Takei, Andrew Harwood, Martin Keogh, Ray Chung, et David Hurwith. Elle fait partie d'un groupe restreint d'enseignants formés sous la direction de Barbara Mahler. Elle est praticienne certifiée du processus Global Somatics™, un enseignement thérapeutique du mouvement somatique. Rosy a suivi une formation de 1300 heures en Global Somatics™ et en Body-Mind Centering® avec Suzanne River, en plus de 600 heures en massothérapie et en shiatsu. Les chorégraphies de Rosy ont été représentées au New York, au Minnesota, en Californie, en Wisconsin (États-Unis) et au Montréal (Québec).
Rosy Simas is a choreographer, teacher and bodywork therapist. Her family is Seneca from the Cattaraugus reservation of New York. Rosy is a teacher of modern technique, alignment technique, improvisation, contact improvisation and composition. She trained in Minneapolis, MN, New York, NY and San Francisco, CA. Most influential in her training has been Nita Little, Suzanne River, Barbara Mahler and Susan Klein. Rosy is one of a handful of teachers in Barbara Mahler's teacher training program. She is a certified practitioner of Global Somatics™ and completed 1,300 hours Somatic Movement Education/Therapy and Body-Mind Centering® study, and 600 hours of training in Massage and Shiatsu. Rosy's choreography has been seen in NY, MN, CA, WI (U.S) and in Montréal (Québec)
Longer Bio
I am the daughter of Laura Waterman Wittstock. I was fortunate enough to be born from a line of strong Seneca women. The Seneca are a Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. My family is from the Cattaraugus reservation in New York. My parents moved around quite a bit and I ended up being born in Florida and raised in Minneapolis, MN. At the time this was the place to be if you were a Native American activist. My mother put me in an outfit and sent me off dancing at pow-wows. Three elders have been most influential in my life, Walter White, Madeline Moose and my uncle Arnold Waterman.
The performing bug set in when I was 12. I attended Children's Theater Company and School. The school/theater was run by w the motto of *learn by doing*. I didn't sleep much during those four years. I then moved to New York, a distracting and a wonderful place to be at 18. I worked my butt off trying to pay rent/eat and in my spare time took acting, dance and voice lessons. At 21 I returned to Minneapolis and joined the University of Minnesota student dance company and spent three years taking class and dancing for some remarkable national/international choreographers.
In the early 1990's I started a dance company, Shattering Feet. We performed everywhere and at any time until the City of Minneapolis crackdown on underground galleries and spaces started closing our regular venues.
About this time I met Barbara Mahler (amazing teacher, choreographer, dancer), now my friend and my primary teacher of 15 years. Mahler's work has been the most influential in my career. I would not still be dancing if it were not for her.
I spent some glorious time in Northern California learning from and dancing for Nita Little, an original member of the Steve Paxton group that created (explored and found) the dance form Contact Improvisation. We started a performing arts center together and kept it going until the dot com boom forced most dancers and choreographers out of the Bay Area. I spent my time in CA engulfed in the study of improvisation techniques. Improvisation has become the foundation for the creation of my dance work.
I returned to Minneapolis to be with my family and take another stab at being part of the community here. I focused quite a while on working with other artists (poets, musicians, visual artists, actors and other dance makers), this was an amazing learning process and I am fortunate enough to have developed a long term artistic relationship with visual artist Patrick Maun (the man behind all the media in my work).
There are numerous people to mention that have been inspirational and influential in my career, life, work. All I can say is I have been lucky to have worked with so many different dancers and other artists and am really grateful for each of those experiences.
Currently, I am creating new solo and group work. I create with composer Matthew Smith, improvise with Jon Davis, study with Barbara Mahler, teach Alignment Technique and and maintaining a private bodywork practice www.blueheronbodywork.com
When I am not making dance, I am distracting myself with things to learn, work at, and see. I spent several years working at a Native American non-profit organization in the areas of technology, education and health/wellness. I am likely going to be in school for the rest of my life. |
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