Older Projects, Curations and Collaborations

Kozyworld with Julie Nathanielsz (2016 - 2017)Ithaca, NY and Austin, TX. Julie Nathanielsz, Project Direction.

Heavy Breathing with Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon (2016)
Berkeley Art Museum

Our installment for the Heavy Breathing series was a mosaic of experiments in sound and embodied perception

For more info: HEAVY BREATHING

Collaborations with HIJACK DANCE (2002 - 2016)

Over the years we have been making dance, exchanging knowledge, learning together, Tuning, and performing. They have brought me in their duet wing, Minneapolis, Florida, New York City, Portland, and beyond….

AFTERMATH, part of HIJACK ~ Vimeo

Collaborations with Neil Marcus (2000 - 2015)

Over the years, Margit and Neil Marcus have collaborated on many projects, ranging from formal performances to agit prop, to collaborations in Feldenkrais in art. The pieces are virtual and live explorations into embodiment, creative articulations, and disability as an art.

video of bajisambuco

PPP8 (2013)

Co-curation with Margit Galanter and Abby Crain a night of Oakland Performance, organized by the beguiling East Bay Collective, SALTA.

Collaborations with Niki Ford (2011 - 2013)

For several years, Niki Ford and Margit collaborated in the nexus of ecological performance art, culture research and feminisms, and research. Works spanned from performances such as The Feast, pictured above, as part of Seth Eisen’s Buffet Flats at the Tenderloin National Forest to a residency and panel discussion at Montalvo Arts.

Collaborations with Kadet Kuhne (2010 - 2013)

Kadet and Margit collaborated in several capacities from 2010 - 2013. They made dance and sound collaborations in Margit’s piece, Y, Kadet consulted in the soundsscore Margit created for the culminating Relay performance, and they also created a series of salons in the East Bay, where multiple artists were invited to share their work, followed by discussions, food, togetherness. Some of the artists featured in the Salon included Ali Liebegott, Bill Basquin, Kadet Kuhne and Margit Galanter, Mary Armentrout, Samara Halperin, Violet Harlo, and Vis a Vis (aka Jill Reiter). Wow.

Words and Deeds (2011)

WORDS AND DEEDS was a workshop series crafted to explore how live art is informed by language, and how language is rooted in physicality and movement. 7 Monday night workshops led by different artists whose work elucidates this dynamic intersection: David Buuck and Jessica Tully, Petra Kuppers and Neil Marcus, Sara Shelton-Mann, Margit Galanter, Edris Cooper-Anifowashe, Nita Little, and Violet Harlo. Presented and Curated by Art Workouts, organized by Margit Galanter and Brianna Skellie.

Dance and Design with Margot Lystra (2010 - 2011)

Withness is an exploration of site through the lenses of dance and design. It is an ongoing project between Margot Lystra, Margit Galanter, and the places they investigate.

The treehouse project, conversation

Dance and Design Writings

In the Cave of Crystals (2009)

In the Cave of Crystals was a participatory installation performance. In the first section of this piece, the audience was invited to help make the crystals that comprised the set. The piece was an exploration of seeing and being scene/seen, the fragmentation and power of self-image, and the potential for the brocade/bricoleur of the multiplicity. The continuum was a mirror ball (faceted, round, reflective, disco associations) and a crystal (faceted, communicative, associated with perfection), as well as the range of a mirror itself- if clear, it gives rise to an image and just as swiftly disappears, like thought, and when less so, becomes a place of dwelling self-indulgence and distortion! Source material for this work included The Mirror, by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Out on a Limb, by Shirley Maclaine, and National Geographic‘s article on the newly discovered cave of crystals, where the piece was somehow situated.

Emergent Scores Lab (2006 - 2009)

For three years, Emergent Scores Lab (ESL) met weekly in Troy, NY to explore live art improvisation. In our weekly lab, we made sound, movement and played the space together, seeing what emerged from listening. We sought ways to communicate these emergent scores. It was a simple structure that allowed for freedom of inquiry and paying attention. ESL allowed for participants to experience the continuum from physical expression to ensemble composition. We primarily worked in a closed process, developing an ensemble consciousness and creative language that connected us to one another and the many elements of space.

In the spirit of show & tell, we opened these sessions periodically to the general public. This presented our cumulative process and opened an opportunity for dialogue, which we believe makes the collective work grow. We had some open sessions where we would invite in artists to participate. We had several showings and performances, and saw various artistic projects arise as outgrowth from the creative relationships that developed through this unusual forum.

Emergent Scores Lab (ESL) consisted of seven live artists - Helene Lesterlin, Ione Beauchamp, Jack Magai, Margit Galanter, Micah Silver, Sabrina Schroeder, and Sue Lauther. The group was started by Jack, Helene, and myself. Some of our initial inspirations included “Open Movement” and “Music Dance” programs at P.S. 122 in New York City, which catalyzed artistic collaborations in NYC in the ‘80’s & ‘90’s, as well as various experimental live arts labs that we have participated in around the U.S. and internationally.

New Performance Series (2009)

Co-curated by Margit Galanter and Christine Cole, New Performance Series produced a creative template of artistic presentation and dialogue to Western Massachusetts at Earthdance. The event was structured with three components: dining, discussion, and dance. Throughout the series or performances offered at Earthdance, Margit curated a prominent lecturer/artist to present work previous to the performance as an entryway for insight and discussion. Some featured artists and practitioners in the series were Keith Hennessey and Ishmael Houston-Jones, Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser, Kirstie Simson and Patrick Crowley, Amii LeGendre and Edie Meidav, Scott Kellog and Rafter Sass.

Being Scene (2008)

Being Scene is an ongoing project of investigating the space by creating scenes. This can take place as a class, or a dance performance investigation, in which case Margit often takes on a being wearing particular regalia, in this case a vampy crone. In this show, Margit was stationed on one side of this beautiful space, and Sara Worden was on the opposite side. They were working independently, yet there was a synergistic relationship through timeframe, preparatory collaboration, and resonance.

Being Scene Being Being. Durational piece, as part of Ryder Cooley’s “Animalia.” Proctor’s Theater, Schenectady, NY

Crosspollination (2007)

Crosspollination brought together two forms, BodyMind Centering(tm) and Contact Improvisation (CI), for focused research and practice. Crosspollination was a conference, performance, workshop and archive project co-founded by Christine Cole and Margit Galanter. It gathered Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, founder of BMC and Nancy Stark Smith, one of the original progenitors of the form CI, along with prominent teachers in these fields, including Cathie Caraker and Christine Cole. Participants gathered internationally for this unique event at Earthdance.

End Products with Margit Galanter, Jack and Francis Magai, and Beth Ahlstrand. Revolution Hall. Troy, NY (2006)

In the collaboration End Products, we created a live compost installation in an annual show dedicated to recycled fashion and art, called “Trashion.” For the piece, we found incredible materials from the streets of Troy: large spools, pounds of rice (which we cooked to varying degrees of congee and brick), paper, and on and on. Our objective was to literally create an environment together, and through doing so, shift the composition of the landscape we set up – a living compost! The pics mainly represent the movers, though there was much more festering. This piece is mentioned in an article Margit wrote for Contact Quarterly Summer/Fall 2007.

Movement Research Festival: Open Source (2005)

In 2005, Margit co-curated the Movement Research Festival with dd dorvilier, koosil-Ja, and Michelle Nagai. The subtitle was Open Source, to match the proposal of projects that opened up various nexuses throughout the city for unusual collaboration and experimental work. The festival was a three-week event that included workshops, performances, installations, workgroups, lectures and discussions live video events and more. The festival took place at venues and homes all around the boroughs of NY, with a festival hub at Chashama (around the corner from Macy’s during Xmas shopping frenzy), and included more than 100 participating artists.

For more info on the festival at the MR website, click here.