Richard Move

Richard Move
Richard Move (Photograph by Philip Habib)
Born	New York City
Education	Virginia Commonwealth University (BFA) City College of New York (MFA) New York University (MA) New York University (Ph.D. ABD)
Occupation	choreographer, performer, director, filmmaker
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Website	move-itproductions.com

Richard Move is a present-day choreographer, dancer, performing artist, director, and filmmaker. He is the Artistic Director of MoveOpolis! and Move- It! Productions. Move is well known internationally for his interest in Martha Graham and the ability to recreate her performances.^[1] He is a TEDGlobal Oxford Fellow ^[2] and TEDxWhiteOak co-curator and organizer. Move is Lecturer in Design at Yale School of Drama.^[3] He is Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance at Queens College, CUNY.^[4]

Early life and education

Born in New York City and raised in Virginia,^[5] Move studied theater and dance in high school and caught his first glimpse of Martha Graham's work on a high school field trip to Washington D.C. Move spoke of Graham's dance and said, "The dance was beyond my comprehension at the time, but I understood it was mythic and dramatic and so sexy and violent." He studied at Virginia Commonwealth University as a dance major and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He also trained for three years as a scholarship student at the American Dance Festival. While performing internationally with many dance-theater companies, from the Karole Armitage Ballet to DANCENOISE, Move worked as a go-go dancer and performed in many nightclubs throughout the world. His birth name was Richard Winberg but was given the stage name Move by those he worked with in the nightclub industry. He is co-founder of the late-night cabaret Jackie 60, one of New York City's most notorious and avant-garde nightclubs.^[6] He received a Master of Fine Arts in Media Arts Production from City College of New York and a Master of Arts in Performance Studies from New York University.^[7] Move is presently a Ph.D. (ABD) in Performance Studies at New York University, where he curated and produced the controversial Where is Ana Mendieta? 25 Years Later- An Exhibition and Symposium. Art in America noted, "The overwhelming turnout for the symposium-turned-courtroom drama was much larger than the venue…the only such events to ever explicitly confront the circumstances surrounding her death and to overtly frame Carl Andre's acquittal of her murder as unjust."^[8]

Career and achievements

One of his best known works, Martha@... was created in 1996 and received two New York Dance and Performance Awards. Move has performed nearly 30 dances by Martha Graham including Lamentation, Clytemnestra, Episodes and Phaedra. He is still alive today and continues to create productions based on Martha Graham.

Richard Move has had many successful works throughout his short career. His films include Strangers With Candy (2006), Bardo (2009), recipient of the Jury Prize nomination at Lincoln Center's Dance on Camera Festival and BloodWork-The Ana Mendieta Story (2010), recipient of the National Board of Review Award/CityVisions at the Directors Guild of America. Move's feature film GhostLight (2003) had its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, is distributed by Palisades Tartan and was released on DVD in June 2012. GhostLight also stars Ann Magnuson with Isaac Mizrahi, Deborah Harry and Mark Morris.^[9] Reviews of Ghostlight include "Glorious" by A.O. Scott of The New York Times ^[10] and "Richard Move is magnificent...Graham herself couldn't have done better." by Jami Bernard of The Daily News. ^[11] Move is Director and Producer of GIMP-The Documentary, currently in production, featuring Heidi Latsky Dance Company’s "The GIMP Project." GIMP-The Documentary previewed at the 2014 Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera Festival.^[12]

He has also created many musicals and dance performances. Some of his most famous are Martha@..., Le Petomane (2006 and 2011), winner of the Outstanding Musical Award at the New York Fringe Festival, and Lamentation Variations (2007) commissioned by the Martha Graham Dance Company. Martha@... continues to be of great interest and "[Move] sees no shortage of interest or material."^[13] Some critics do not like Richard Move's versions of Graham's dances and accuse him of giving false interpretations and giving the audience misinformation. Others regard Move as "The definitive, living history of one of dance's great artists." ^[14]Martha@...The 1963 Interview, named "Best of 2011" by ARTFORUM International, Time Out and numerous other publications, had its World Premiere at New York's Dance Theater Workshop in March 2011 and returned for encore performances in November 2011 at New York Live Arts. Roslyn Sulcas' review in The New York Times entitled, "Martha Graham Lives, and Is Interviewed" described Martha@...The 1963 Interview with, "Move brilliantly incarnates her..."^[15] The production also features Tony Award nominated actress and playwright, Lisa Kron in the role originated by the late author and actor David Rakoff, and will be presented at the 2014 Singapore International Festival of Arts.^[16]

At MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art in 2013, Move appeared as Graham in 20 Dancers for the XX Century, described by The New York Times as, "…Move also was the art. The Graham choreography he performed was an exhibit, yet so was he: a dancer as a living archive of dance.”^[17] Conceived by Boris Charmatz’ Musée de la Danse, “… Move and 19 other distinguished dancers inhabited spaces all through the building…” ^[18] The Financial Times stated, “Best of all was Richard Move’s setting…He caught her tragic Clytemnestra between the two massive screens for Douglas Gordon’s life-sized videos of elephants tromping then rolling helplessly on a Gagosian Gallery floor.” ^[19] Move is on exhibit as Graham at Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum in 2014.^[20]

Move was named one of "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine and The New York Times has published five Sunday "Arts and Leisure" features on his work.

As Artistic Director of MoveOpolis! his dance, theater and interdisciplinary works have been presented internationally. MoveOpolis! collaborators regularly include such notable figures as fashion designer Patricia Field (Sex and the City, The Devil Wears Prada), maverick filmmaker and visual artist Charles Atlas ^[21] and writer Hilton Als (The New Yorker). ^[22] Move's The Show (Achilles Heels), originally commissioned and performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project, has been hailed by Dance Magazine as "...a powerful, iconoclastic theater piece that's made to measure for 21st Century."^[23] And, by The Star Ledger as "A brilliant work and the most revolutionary work Baryshnikov has commissioned."^[24] The Show (Achilles Heels) had its New York premiere at The Kitchen, featuring Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Deborah Harry of Blondie and Rasta Thomas in the leading role originally created for Mikhail Baryshnikov. In 2013, the Martha Graham Dance Company premiered The Show (Achilles Heels) at New York's Joyce Theater. The Financial Times review headline read, "Graham's 'Phaedra' was impressive for its storytelling, but it was another choreographer’s work that stole the show,” and proclaimed Move's work an "...hour long tour de force...now set on the Graham company, where it deserves a long life."^[25] The New York Post review called Move's "...aesthetic universal, and he does it so well that it can give you chills." ^[26] The New York Post also named Lloyd Mayor "3 Young Men in Ballet to Watch" for "Achilles, the gender-bending role Baryshnikov originated... in "The Show."^[27]

Move's other choreographic commissions include acclaimed works for PARADIGM (Carmen DeLavallade, Gus Solomons, Jr., and Dudley Williams), the American Festival of Paris, the Opera Ballet of Florence, Italy and for New York City Ballet Principal, Helene Alexopoulos, which The New York Times reviewed as "…stunning…first rate work from both." ^[28] Move also conceives, directs and stages large-scale, multi-media events including productions for the European Cultural Capitol of France, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, and, in 2014, at the Parrish Art Museum.^{[29] [30]}

He choreographed Dame Shirley Bassey's Diamonds are Forever at the Cannes Film Festival AMFAR Gala and directed Isaac Mizrahi in his acclaimed one-man show, LES MIZrahi, "Director Richard Move and Mizrahi have created a triumph." Time Out. He also produced and directed the infamous professional wrestler, The Iron Sheik, in his one-man show, which previewed at Caroline's in New York City.

Move's many television appearances include A&E's Role Reversal, HBO's Emmy Award winning The Artist is Present, Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts, A&E's Biography, BBC's Bourne to Dance and PBS' City Arts, on Move's work, which received an Emmy Award.

His other stage credits include Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The FUSION Theater Company of New Mexico's provocative 2004 production featured Move as Martha in this iconic masterpiece. "No sharper black wit can be found in American theater, and this cast wield that wit with the precision of brain surgeons." ^[31]

Cease and Desist

Move’s Cease and Desist requests include those from the Martha Graham Entities,^[32] The Estate of Ana Mendieta and Edward Albee.

Publication

• “The Sovereign Soloist – States of Exceptional Labor and State of Darkness" in Rhythm Field – The Dances of Molissa Fenley (Seagull Press, 2014)
• “Two Portraits, One Persona” in The Women We Love (Magnus Books, 2015)
• Introduction – “Where is Ana Mendieta?” in Where is Ana Mendieta? 25 Years Later – An Exhibition and Symposium Dossier (Women & Performance, Routledge Press, 2011)
• Introduction – "On Part Real, Part Dream" in Part Real, Part Dream, Dancing with Martha Graham by Stuart Hodes (Concord Press, 2011)
• Exhibition Catalogue – Where is Ana Mendieta? 25 Years Later – An Exhibition and Symposium (Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University, 2010)

His films and photographs have been exhibited internationally at festivals, museums and galleries.

External links

• Archival footage of Richard Move and Yvonne Rainer performing in Debate 2002 in 2002 at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

References