ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

 Jody Oberfelder (Artistic Director) has been choreographing sensuous, humanistic dances and dance films for over two decades. With inventive athletic virtuosity, wit and whimsy, Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects creations are explosive, reflective, and seductive, relating to the vastness and intimacy of personal experience.  Her unique physicality is fueled by energetic innovation. Oberfelder’s choreography is thoughtful, and emotionally expressive, yet rendered with a sense of humor. Ms. Oberfelder has created a body of works ranging from pure movement dance pieces to her more recent choreographic work in opera and theater. Beginning with her acclaimed “Head First” (1986), through her most recent New York Season, “Heads or Tales”, a 20-year retrospective concert recreating pieces from the past and re-envisioning them in a whole new evening-length piece, Oberfelder seeks to connect movement, people, and ideas.

Her work has been aired on television both domestically (on Metro Arts 13) and abroad (on Serbian National Television) she has created choreography for Good Morning America and ABC’s Nightline in Primetime, which won two Emmy awards for Design and Graphics.  Her dance “Rock Me Mama” for new mothers and their babies which first premiered in 1997 was recast in 2010 for her retrospective concert and this cast will perform at the opening of the Working Women’s Conference held in NYC in October 2010. Her dance films have also been screened nationally and internationally. Jody Oberfelder won the first Kinetic Cinema’s ‘Move the Frame’ Video Contest, LineAge won an Audience Choice Award in Cinedans (Amsterdam 2007) and has been screened in the Milan Doc Festival, Edit2008, Budapest, among others. “Rapt,” made with a very pregnant dancer, has been screened in the Dance on Camera Festival at the Walter Reade Theater (2007), Z-Motion (Finland 2008) and OutVideo  (Russia, 2007.)  “Duet” has won awards at both the New York Film Expo (Juror’s Award, 1991) and the Dance on Camera Festival. (Silver Award, 1991)

She is an active dance educator, regularly leading Master Classes that elucidate her distinctive athletic/expressive style.  Recent and upcoming residencies include Alfred University, Trinity College, Middlebury College, Wayne State University, The Yard (at Martha’s Vineyard), Grounds for Sculpture (NJ), Moravian College (Pennsylvania), and the Belgrade Dance Festival.  She is also committed to nurturing young local artists in her teaching work at the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (1999-2009) and the Lincoln Center Institute (1995-present). She is currently a guest moderator for Dance Conversations at the Flea, and guest curator for Kinetic Cinema at The Tank.

In 1988, Ms. Oberfelder formed her own company, Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects (JODP). That same year JODP gained 501(c)3 not-for-profit status, establishing a stable base for Ms. Oberfelder’s choreography.  The company’s committed Board of Directors, dedicated performers, and talented designers have sustained her throughout her prolific career.  Strong and consistent support from individuals and foundations have facilitated Ms. Oberfelder’s vision. Recent key funders include the New York Department of Cultural Affairs (2007-2011), A Joyce SoHo Residency Grant (2007-08) New York Foundation for the Arts BUILD grant (2008) and NYFA Artist Fellowship (1987) Harkness Dance Foundation, (awarded 9 times, spanning 1994-2010) the Chillmark Foundation, (2004, 2005) the John Levy and Victoria Westwood Philanthropic Foundation, (2005) Dance Theater Workshop Suitcase Fund, (2005) the Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006) the Jaffe Family Foundation, (2004, 2005, 2009, 2010) JP Morgan Chase, (2003) the Starry Night Foundation, (1999-2010) , Pdiwe DounsRION Mrxhinf Fidra peofeM (2008)  Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, (awarded 7 times, spanning 1988-2010) the Puffin Foundation, (1995, 2001), The Pfizer Foundation (2009, 2010) and many more.