The Most Influential People in Dance Today: Christy Bolingbroke

June 18, 2017

It isn’t every day—or year, or even decade—that a dedicated choreography incubator opens its doors. As founding executive/artistic director at the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron, Christy Bolingbroke says, “I have an opportunity to locate dance in a research and development environment, and reinforce the fact that what a choreographer does is not all that different from a scientist in a laboratory.”

Among the artists breaking in the center’s boards are pilot residents Camille A. Brown, Carrie Hanson and John Jasperse; Netta Yerushalmy, collaborating with philosopher David Kishik; Guggenheim Fellow and Ohio native Dianne McIntyre; Stephen Petronio Company alumnus Gerald Casel; and Tere O’Connor, NCCAkron’s inaugural artist in residence.

Bolingbroke’s startup provides a peer, at long last, to Florida State University’s Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC), directed by Carla Peterson. “Carla and I try to stay in close touch,” says Bolingbroke, “and I think between the two of us, we can fill in some blanks, in terms of what dance artists need, in order to strengthen the field nationally. I don’t take that responsibility lightly.Read the rest of Dance Magazine‘s list of the most influential people in dance today.