Dina Denis

Conditioning & Modern

Biography:

Dina's choreography been presented in various venues such as Mark Morris Dance Center through Nachmo, LaGuardia Community College Performing Arts Center, Hofstra University, the Langston Hughes Library, the Volker-Orth Museum and Bird Sanctuary, Green Space's “Blooms Festival'' and “Take Root'' series, Salvatore LaRussa Dance Theatre's Free Queens Sunday Performing Arts, the Queensborough Dance Festival at the Secret Theatre, Long Island City's “Lot Fest'' and Gantry Plaza State Park as well as in venues in Long Island, Chicago, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Dina's collaborations also include two decades of an artistic partnership with Fulbright Scholar multicultural visual artist Siona Benjamin which included Dina’s image as a dancer have been used in the book, “Growing up Jewish in India,” and Ms. Benjamin’s visual art that is displayed in galleries worldwide. Dina and Siona have traveled throughout the US showing their collaborative performances and artist discussions. Since its inception, DIL has presented live dance and music to nursing homes and senior centers and this program has been generously funded over the years by the Queens Council on the Arts’ (QCA) regrant programs from NYSCA and DCA, along with private donors. In 2020, with the support of QCA and various donors, Dina and members of DIL created a collaborative dance, music and poetry award-winning film “As Time Grows By…” which was first shown, along with a live artist-talk, to a large virtual audience during the pandemic.

Most recently, Dina has been collaborating with multi-instrumentalist and composer Karl Spicer who has been accompanying her as she creates and performs the dance, vocal and musical work “This Moment is Important Too: practices for the wild mild; and My Time is Not My Time.” The work is reflective of Dina life as a householder, yoga practitioner, and reflective dance artist looking for answers within while discovering and using tools in her environment. This work is in continued conception and it has been shown in various phases at Mark Morris Dance Studio (Nachamo) and Salvatore LaRussa’s Dance Theatre Outdoor Queens Festival.

Dina has been focusing her performing and choreographic efforts within Dance Into Light, Inc. Dina has had the pleasure of dancing throughout her professional career with: Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama, Yana Schnitzler's Human Kinetics Movement Arts, Robin Becker Dance, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, Joan Miller's Dance Players, Sheila Kaminsky, Martial Roumain, Abdel Salaam, Dr. Glory Van Scott, Joan Peters, and Val Suarez.

Class Description:

Dina has studied the Lester Horton Technique for over 20 years. She begin studying the Horton Technique at Hofstra University under the tutelage JoLea Maffei. Dina continued her studies with Ms. Maffei at City Center’s Ballet Arts and Steps on Broadway. After Hofstra University, Dina continued her studies at the aforementioned studios and she attended the Alvin Ailey school and studied under teachers: Ana Marie Forsythe, Milton Myers and Troy Powell. Dina also attend the Lester Horton Summit in Washington DC where she learned about Horton’s history, artistic works, collaborators and students such as Alvin Ailey who carried his legacy forward. Dina teaches a classical Lester Horton class using various series, fortifications, preludes and other studies that comprise the technique.

Yoga Description:

A devoted yoga practitioner for over 20 years, Dina also uses her experiences as a dancer, dance educator and somatic enthusiast to guide students on a unique movement journey. Dina strives to bring meaningful yoga experiences to all students at any stage of their practice in order to develop the physical and inner strength needed to feel great! Dina works with her yoga students to develop confidence, energize the body, foster excellent health and while providing her students with yogic opportunities to be better connected with one’s own mind, body and spirit. Dina uses yoga practices such as asana, pranayama, principles, meditation and mindfulness to help people to uncover and trust for their own inner wisdom, foster equanimity and cultivate one’s unique creative voice in order to live vibrantly with clarity, joy and personal freedom.