Barbara Mahler

Barbara Mahler is a choreographer/performer; arts and movement educator, and a certified practitioner and teacher of Zero Balancing. In the mid ‘80s she began creating intimate solo dances for large and small spaces. Her choreographic passion is the solo dance, for herself and others, followed by intimate dances for two and three’s. Movement, from her body, is her primary medium and draws from her life experiences and artistic exposure, creating dances of clarity and intention.

Her solo and group dances have been seen at ARTBARK International, CA; RAD annual festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Link’s Hall, Chicago, Il. ; Breaking Ground – Tempe, Arizona; at the Red Eye and Southern Theaters in MN; and in NY at the Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Judson Church as part of the Movement Research Presenting Series, Danspace Project, numerous times in the NDA annual festival, Dixon Place, 92st Street Y, BAX, Green Space – Take Root and Spring Blooms, HERE, The Flea Theater.

Internationally, her choreographic work has received support from the Arts Council in Montreal, Canada; Danse Alliensen in Sweden (Stockholm and Gothenburg) and the Cultural Arts Ministry in Chile.

She is the recipient of a BAX 2013 Artists in progress award in Arts Education, was accepted for EMERGE 2014, and was a member of LEAP 2011-12, a Queens Arts Council Program supporting development of vision, artistic products and process.  She received a choreographic residency from the CAVE, Williamsburg, NY, a commission for student dance work at Wilson College,PA; and a grant to reset work on ClanceyDanceWorks in Silver Springs, MD.both spring 2015. Her upcoming projects include choreography for a dance film created by Nancy Allison, and travels to Tel Aviv, London, and Berlin to continue her dance research in the fall.

Currently she is on the faculty (since 2004) of Movement Research. She received her BA from Hunter College, NYC, and her MFA from University of Milwaukee/Wisconsin in 2007. She was an artist in Residence with Movement Research for the 2003-04, and 2006 -08 seasons. Movement Research continues to provide a home base for the development of Mahler’s artistic visions and products. She was a recipient of a Sage Cowles Land Grant, and part of the second solo dance artist residency at The Yard (an artist’s colony in Chilmark, Mass.), as well as part of the first summer dance intensive at Ohio State University. The 92 Street Y Harkness Dance Center and the Hunter College Dance Alum Consortium have also supported her work for many years. She was a guest artist/teacher at Hunter College NYC, 2000-11 and is an adjunct evaluator at SUNY Empire State College.

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