“Don't look down on me. Don't even look at me as a woman. How about that? Look at me as a person.”
Jody Oberfelder
Interviewed on September 7th, 2022
by Anabella Lenzu
Anabella: What does it mean for you to be a mother and an artist?
Jody: Being a human being, you live in your body and for me, being an artist and being a mother are both part of my living practice in the world. I mean, having a child through your body is especially sensitized to dancers, because we know what it is to feel from your heart, to feel through your body, and to have this person come out of your body. The very first thing I needed to do as an artist who was pregnant was make a film about that. I called it Duet and I needed to dance with my unborn child. It's probably one of the strongest pieces I've ever made. I just started moving with my changing body and then recorded this film when I was huge, around eight months, and I have a small frame, so I was huge. For me, the ongoingness of life and my practice of being an artist is woven into this network of daily exchange with my children and it keeps going even though they're both out of the house now.
Being a mother is part of who I am, as much as being an artist is part of who I am. My art-making got stronger because I tapped into my own humanity, once my kids were born. It was one at a time. While this is fun, the first kid you can take everywhere, but the second kid was much more rambunctious, and with scheduling, I was like “Ahh, how do I do this?” It’s much, much harder with two kids. I feel that the essence of this role in your life, and it is a role, just stepping into your body and dancing is a role. The mixture of who you are as a caretaker woven into who you are as you take care of the art you make is inseparable.
My work changed after having kids. I couldn’t make a piece about “nothing” anymore. My work was injected with this spirit of love, of roles we play, what is a woman? Which, right now, is also a question, but in a different way. It’s more about the role of the gender of being a woman and do you need to divide yourself. Having been a feminist all my life and luckily living with a feminist man who supported what I do, I got this good mix of family and this creativity in raising children. The creativity of, it's a rainy day, what are we going to do? Since I've mentioned play, having kids, they're a really good barometer of when you're taking yourself too damn seriously. When my son said, “You care more about your computer than us,” I was shocked. I realized it was time to close the laptop and take a break. The to-do list never ends. And what to do at this moment was to give my son attention. Many women, and especially the women before us, my mom’s generation, and generations never thought they could achieve success in a patriarchal world. Stay-at-home mom, there's no judgment there, but there was no way I could stay at home and not be a creative person.
I'm still a mother. I am a mother. It's part of my identity. I feel this tremendous freedom now that they're independent; it’s almost like before I had kids, but I'm so much of a deeper soul right now because of the experience of having raised kids in the world. Just have these people who are reflecting back to you, what is life, what is action? What is work? What is play?
Anabella: Wow, Jody. Did you ever imagine yourself without kids? Not having kids? There are some artists whose life is only about creating, because of the body, because of so many things.
Did making the choice to have kids have any connection to the role models that you had when you grew up as a teenager? Maybe how you saw your teachers or choreographers or collaborators having kids or not having kids… in that choice, historically?
Jody: Historically, the early modern dancers devoted their whole lives and bodies to assuming the role of choreographer and that was the end all. That was to give you all the fulfillment in life. I mean, I could work 24/7, but having kids made me step back and become a fully-rounded person. I do not look down on people who decide not to have kids. I was, I would say, a little ambivalent. I waited until I was 36 to have a kid and when Jasper was born I was almost 40. I felt like, If not now, when? My husband was really into having children, but if it had been all my work to do, (hats off to single parents) I don't think I could've done it. At this point in my life, I can't imagine not having had children, because they're part of me.
Anabella: I saw the exquisite film of you dancing while pregnant and I cried. It was so emotional.
I was also talking with Christine Jowers and she told me that she never had courage in life until she had her first kid. How have you changed as a dancer, as a choreographer? You mentioned those changes, but I want to talk more about courage or creativity. What ignites you, being a mother, before and after –– creatively speaking as an artist?
Jody: About the film, it was very much about making movement, listening to my new body, and listening to the forming thing inside of me, which turned out to be a human being. I don't think you ever stop listening to these people who are your offspring.
Before children, I was very athletic. Well before having children, I was also singing in a punk band and I was a little bit more hard-edge. I prided myself on being fast and muscular. I created mining the athletics of my physicality. Before that, I was a cheerleader. I did springboard diving and gymnastics and came to dance late. I said, “I have to do it now. I have to do it now.” After having kids, I wouldn't say I got softer, but I would say I became more rounded. After having children, you are always reflecting back on the larger world and larger humanity and then the smaller network within your home. You cannot be selfish anymore, it's no longer just about you. Your children are for life.
I had a dancer leave my company. She’s been with me for many years. Each time a dancer moves on, I mourn them. It’s a relationship. I had a coffee with my daughter yesterday and she said, “Mom, how many times have you been through that? You'll find someone new, they'll give you fresh blood and you'll be inspired all over again.” Having a dance company is like having a family in a way. You try to bring this generosity of spirit and improvisational feel and let's-compose-together, so when you lose a dancer you've been working with for a while, it's like losing a member of the family. At a certain point, I realized, especially as I'm older now and I'm the same age as some of my dancer's parents, I realized no, they're not your family. They're your colleagues who you want to create that familial spirit of back and forth and understanding that you cultivate in your real family. Thank God you have the real family to back you up, to reflect humanity back to you.
The real difference for me, post-kids, is I will never make a work that isn’t about human beings again. I made a piece about the activity in the brain called Dance of the Neurons –– that was kind of abstract, but it also was kind of funny and human too. Humor and a sense of play are inflections of your relationships with people who keep you witty, who keep you sharp. Then there's a generational thing. Who's a millennial, what are they thinking these days? And you have Gen Zers, Anabella!
Anabella: I have full hands.
Jody: And with the issues in the world, you want to give them the tools and values to help them cope. This is really the role of a mother: to take care and nurture and there is nothing to be ashamed of there. It's a value. The role of a father too. I'm not saying it’s all about women, but women, because we bear the kids and our bodies change, our hormones are active monthly and on and on. It defines who you are as a person, very, very much. How much are we defined by our bodies? I think quite a bit. And then you get past fertility and you're kind of gender-neutral in your body.
I could easily say I'm a she/they; however, I identify as she/her, because I've been a woman and feminist all my life. I absolutely like the masculine side of myself. I embrace courage. We are not weak by being mothers, we are strengthened.
Anabella: Absolutely, but what about the guilt that surrounds being a mother? After speaking with young mothers, I heard about feeling guilty –– like they are not taking care of their kids if they’re spending too much time in the studio and vice versa. How was this for you, in your life? The pulling in two, or many, directions at the same time?
Jody: I'm not going to lie. There are plenty of nights when I would say, “Just go to bed!” so I could get some work done. There were some tough times when you want to be that model mother, but you're not. It’s usually the times when you feel the balance is off. Yes, there are days when you want to go on that field trip with your kid and be supportive, and there are other days when you say, “I'm sorry, I need a personal retreat. I need to go to the studio five days a week and see where this piece is headed.” I was pretty okay with this division. I saw it as two separate versions of me. I resented my husband, at times, because he had a job where he would leave and go to the office, and I took on picking up the kids from school and having a relationship after school. I don't think it crippled me at all, to have put in that time, to have scheduled time to get to know these little people. I'm pretty lucky because, besides terrible teenage years where they're doing their best to kick you out of their lives, the closeness is something that is still happening and it grows deeper.
I want to say something to young mothers. A contact improviser once described how when kids are learning to walk, they hold onto you, and then at a certain point they let go and they can walk on their own. When they're teenagers, instead of gently leaving, they really have to push you and shove you against the wall in a way where it hurts. You're not cool and they have to think you're not cool. You, who was once the hero or heroine of their lives, now have to hear, “Oh Mom, are you really going to wear that? Your hair looks stupid.” They have a lack of respect for who you are, and that's hard to take because you were the one who made their princess outfit. There is this great film with Drew Barrymore called Driving in Cars with Boys. At one point, she throws her hands up and screams “When will this job ever end?!” Talking about being a mother, it never ends, it doesn’t. In terms of jobs, it's kind of fulfilling in most cases.
As an artist, I just had this wonderful experience in Europe. I visited my son, who moved there, and I performed in Amsterdam on a solo piece on a bridge. It was a very simple score. I walked across the bridge with two suitcases. It could be a metaphor for traveling, or burdens you carry around, or a piece of traveling through your life. You hand a suitcase off to someone and this action is like a conversation about life and how you are crossing the bridge of life. It's a powerful piece and it's different every single time. During the three weeks I was away in Amsterdam, I felt a hundred percent an artist, and I just treasured and embraced that. There was no scheduling. There is so much planning that goes into setting up a situation where you can make art: booking the studio space, coordinating people, and getting the material that you need. Some of it I really love and some of it I don't.
I think the inspiration from being a mother has been huge. There are memories packed in my mind from the very beginning when my children were growing in my body to seeing them grow through their toddler years, learning to talk and grasp life. Their wonder infuses your own sense of wonder. You can't be a negative cynic when your children are there and need you. They give you a fresh perspective –– if you listen.
Anabella: They're our little teachers. They reflect us and it's so humbling to see them grow and have conversations. I remember having varying conversations with my kids. Even now that they are teenagers, I love to have a conversation with them. You’re teaching them everything, but then it bounces back to you, and it's wonderful but also scary. What are the things that you, as a dancer and choreographer, have passed on to your kids?
Jody: Well, they're both artists, but they're both chefs. They're creative with food. My son is a chef. Right now he's a corporate chef for Microsoft. He was working for Google, making all the food that these people eat. My daughter is a private chef. They upped the ante on how to present food. I can't just slop stuff on a plate anymore.
They're both super creative in this way. Yana went to LaGuardia Performing Arts High School for singing but decided not to pursue that. Maybe it’s because they saw how hard it is to survive as an artist with the disappointments and the ups and downs –– especially the post-performance drops. When you finish a project, you feel like nothing can replace that. You have the ongoingness of life and your kids remind you of that. You know there'll be another project. You can tell yourself that and write it down a hundred times –– there will be the next creative project –– but still you mourn when each project is finished.
Anabella: What are the things that you, as a dancer and choreographer, passed on to your kids? They are artists in their own way They’ve seen you working so hard and they made their own decisions. I remember my son, he was four years old and I was finishing teaching a class in Peridance Center and I said, okay, let's bring you to the bathroom before we go and he said, “Mama, I want to be a woman because women are the leaders and they tell everybody what to do. You tell the dancers what to do. Grandmother tells everybody in the family what to do.” So he wants to become a woman just to be the leader. And he understood this matriarchal line. He shocked me with this statement and what he gained as I exposed him to dance by bringing him to class.
Jody: I think I passed on perseverance and courage, creativity, and spontaneity. I showed them how to bend when you need to bend and bounce back when you need to bounce back. Fashion, they both look pretty good. This generation doesn't like color so much; they really like gray, black, beige, and white. I think it’s a rebellion because I'm always wearing crazy patterns.
I involved Jana in a piece around the time when I was convinced I have to make art out of life. I have to make them inseparable. It was a cold winter day and school was out for some reason. I took Jana to the studio and started to play with her. The balancé of the feet, and all that stuff, and I put on Beatles music. Then another time, a mother came with her daughter, who was the same age as Yana and a great mover, and they started playing together. Then I started to choreograph just with whoever was in the room. At the time, I was taking a workshop with Martha Myers and I came in and I showed that as my piece. And she said, “You just keep going, Jody, this is great.” I'm not always going to make choreography for my daughter, myself, and my friends, but this was a period I had to go through, creatively. It was a gestation period where, as a Mom, I had to play with my daughter; therefore, play is my choreography right now. Was it the greatest piece of art? I don't know.
Next, I made a piece for mothers and babies called Rock Me Mama, that had maybe six casts of new mothers and their babies. I wrote a song with another woman, Tine Kinderman. We recorded it. *sings: “Rock me, mama, I want you baby.”* The other lyrics said, “You are my yolk, you are my chain,” but it was really about how we felt. The mothers, who I made up with, were professional dancers. I had some great people. First cast Catherine Hurlin (daughter of Denise Roberts Hurlin) was in the first cast and she's now a principal dancer with ABT, but I was her first gig. Then, I made a piece for pregnant women called Expectant Tango. I didn’t care if I was doing something that everybody else is doing, I'm really making art and life come together. I won’t worry about whether it's high art or medium art or low art. Nothing could phase me anymore, it's just like having the gumption to be who you are. Incorporate the elements that are important to you in your work. I still feel I need to do that. Now I’m moving more towards walking-ambulatory pieces with pop-up dances and very intimate audience member participation –– it’s an experience of living.
Anabella: Dance accompanies you all the time. Dance is on one side, and your life is still going, but that's the beauty of you and your work, Jody. You embrace everything and you bring it with you because the dance comes from our own body.
I was interviewing Ara Fitzgerald who said pregnancy didn’t change her body as much as aging did. She’s in her 70’s. For me, having kids changed me overnight –– I was small and now I’m extra large.
Could you tell me how your life as a dancer changed through pregnancy and aging?
This is super important because now the lives of dancers are extended and I'm so happy about it. I was talking yesterday with Sarah Rudner. She is doing things in California with some of the original members of Twyla and some of them are close to their 80s and they keep dancing. I'm 47, and it’s amazing! It gives me hope. When I was younger, I felt like I had an expiration date, but now it doesn't look that way.
Jody: I would say up until I turned about 55, I could do everything. Then I couldn't jump up and down without this and that injury. There was the foot, the knee –– too many injuries to move around. I am living in this body now and if there are limitations, then there are limitations; however, contrasted with that is an expansiveness of life experience. That is what I'm always going to think about regarding dance, movement, and somatic terms.
I took Katy Pyle’s ballet barre yesterday, but it was with another teacher, MJ, and it was an amazing class. My legs were flying and I didn’t want to go center, because I didn’t want to perform. I love the nuts and bolts of ballet. I took David Zambrano’s Flying Low class maybe 10 years ago, and the next day I felt run over by a truck. OK! I can no longer throw myself wildly into the floor, but I know what it is, so I can direct other people to do it. I don't want to dislike myself as an older dancer. I want to embrace it and somehow go deeper because the body still has so much to say. I have to check my own ageism too, not so much in regards to other dancers. Any dancer who keeps going, I think you go, girl. You go, guy. It happens more when I’m in line at the supermarket and I just sort of write someone off if they're 10 years older than me. Then I think, they were the original hippies. They got this whole thing started –– have some respect for the time that someone grows up in. I don't know it all and I certainly want to keep learning from younger people. I don't want someone to say, “This is how you write a press release.” Meanwhile, I've been writing press releases for about 40 years. You know how to talk about your work. On the other hand, the outside input, and perspective of a younger person is vital.
I just had this wonderful conversation with someone who runs a PhD program called Trans Art Institute . It's a practice-based university. I was really considering going back to school. I didn’t but we had many one-on-one talks about the art we're making. I like to think that my mind is stimulated and my body is stimulated. My soul and spirit are constantly renewing because aging is something where you can put yourself down and beat yourself up for all you're not anymore. Everybody gets a little twinge when you look at older pictures and you think, “I was so young then,” but what good does that do? Your kids are kind of a barometer, wow if they're that old, then I'm that old –– they’re signifiers.
My body is kind of a mesomorph; I'm muscular and strong. I'm still that way. I got rounder and had more breasts when my kids were younger, but now I have to eat to keep on weight. I’m very physically active. A day doesn't go by –– well, maybe one day a week because I decided to let everything go slack, but I do some kind of body practice every day. I bike everywhere, practice yoga, Qi Gong, pilates, gyrotonics and Feldenkrais Technique with a wonderful teacher who I found through Movement Research, Rebecca Davis and I've been studying with her for about three years now. Since before Covid, I have been learning how to be aware of my body without pushing –– doing 5% and finding out more by doing less. It’s never been my nature.
Anabella: How did you manage to reserve time for yourself?
Jody: My second kid was a little nudgy. He was more difficult than my daughter because he's a guy and hyperactive. That works out really well now that he is a chef and has to move fast, but I would like to go back in time to be with that hyperactive kid and not be annoyed. Treasure the time when they're little because it does not last forever and they'll both be in school. Then you'll get your six hours guaranteed to be your time. That's the longest you're going to get while they're of school age. They don't want anything to do with you once they're over 13, but you still have to make sure that they're growing into good people and have good morals and values.
How did I manage to carve out that time? If I didn't have a practice of some sort, I would've gone berserk. I just knew that this was what I needed. If I had a babysitter for two hours, twice a week, sometimes just that little bit kept my toe in. I remember going to the studio, leaking breast milk and just feeling like it's not my body anymore. You just accept it and know that you're gonna get your whole self back eventually and your whole self will be more.
Anabella: That's why, I call you. Thank you so much for sharing this, because sometimes, you don't see the big picture, the whole arc of life. We live in the moments of now –– maybe it’s changing diapers or making sure everyone is fed, and we cannot see the bigger picture ahead. Especially in this culture in America where the kids go out on their own so young. In Argentina or Italy, where they came from, the kids stay home until they marry. That's not the case here, the kids go too soon. This is precious time, as you said, so try to enjoy it because everything changes.
Jody: Jane Comfort, who has kids about four years older than my kids, had an empty nester party when the second one went off to college. I thought it was sweet and my heart was aching a little bit, not having the physical presence of them. Now I see it as okay because you've nurtured this nest for so long. It's not just them that gets to fly away. You fly too. I don't have to take care of this nest anymore. They know you're there because you did a good job integrating children into your life. I understand the feeling of the mother who thinks “What do I do? I'm not able to be a dancer or choreographer anymore.” Just keep going and even if you do five minutes of choreography a month, it's still exercising your creative brain.
Anabella: Absolutely. The dance that happens at home, the routine that we have with the kids, it’s choreography! Dance is your own life.
Jody: Exactly! Even at the playground, I remember going over to the jungle gym and just hanging and doing crunches to stay strong because I didn't have time for class. Play with them because it's such a short period of time. Really, it’s a decade. Also, how society has a lot of work to do on how we look at women who are past 30. We are not here on earth to just be little, beautiful playthings, to be looked upon as objects. The world has advanced a lot to challenge the male gaze. In fact, people identifying as they/them, and how they are no longer dressing up as little dolls, demonstrate this progress. Whereas my daughter's generation was all about Britney Spears and belly buttons showing all the time. There is still that now, but you can also choose to have a big shirt over it. I'm very aware. I'm very aware of fashion, age, and generations.
You cannot let yourself feel washed up because you're a mother. Society has to take you seriously, it should be, “and you're a mother.” Looking at people who are older, society should not look at older women as ugly and we shouldn’t keep faking looking young, be who you want to be. If you want to color your hair, color your hair. I'm not into injections or sanding your face to give this illusion, but if that makes you happy, do it. I just think that we need to grow into ourselves as our children's bodies may become older and longer and taller than you. Regarding our age, we need to say, “This is this version of me that's more.” We're more because we've lived more life. I hate that joke: what's the alternative? To be dead? If you're going to get wrinkles, that's because you've covered a lot of expressions in your base.
Anabella: Absolutely. It also has to do with, like you’ve said, embracing the changes of the body as dancers, along with the connectivity that we have with ourselves, the acceptance, and the somatic. Try to accept who you are, otherwise, how can you perform?
Jody: Well, I think you're beautiful. And it's not like, “Where's that skinny Anabella I knew 20 years ago?” I don’t think that at all.
Anabella: That's why I am doing this interview with you because we have to talk about these things. We are still ruled, in a certain way, by the need to look a certain way or to separate our motherhood and artistry. Why can’t we just embrace it all? It’s not just about performance art; dance and life go together. Just because you’re a mother doesn’t mean you are doing less at your job or aren’t as serious. People think like this, then say they aren’t going to hire mothers because it will be too complicated.
Jody: The gatekeepers have a lot of work to do. I'm not going to mention any names or anything, but they have to look at you as a full human being. If this is part of your life, this is part of your art. They're judging you as a person, not your art. A lot of people are still very old school and think you can’t be a hundred percent an artist and raise a family. They don't do that to men. Men go off to work and the little woman is supposed to be home in the kitchen in an apron when they come home like, “Here honey, have a martini.” That’s so old. Women as servants is an old cliche; however, if women ran the world, it would be a much more nurturing place. Have you watched this TV show, Borgan? It's Danish with subtitles. So you have to read quickly, but it's about a woman politician who grapples with her focus. I just finished season three,it has a lot of stories about strong women and what they have to go through –– what they have to give up.
I had a colleague who went off on tour for three months and left her child at home, and I remember thinking, how could she do that? But that was her choice, I know I couldn’t do that when my kids were little. Now I can travel anywhere.
Anabella: There is time for everything in life, you just need to have patience –– just like when the kids start to learn how to read and write, you need to have patience. You mentioned earlier that you're a feminist and how it's hard to deal with “the gatekeepers” to continue showing your work. What does it mean to you to be a feminist now, a feminist choreographer?
Jody: We're onto other things, besides equity for women. The Venice Biennale for the first time, curated a concert with all women's works, just to make that statement. The dance world has always been imbalanced with nine female dancers to every male dancer.
But now everything's turned on its head because feminism isn't where it's at. Feminism has paved the way for an awareness of gender and how you want to be defined. I know that I have to check a lot of boxes every time I apply for a grant, and I certainly do not want to bore myself with where I identify, and it's getting to be that if you're not BIPOC or if you’re married then you're so boring.
If there's room to explain, I'm attracted to women, but I’m living in a monogamous relationship. I'm not acting with men or women right now, but I have a fantasy life. There's no place on a form to check that off. The thing is gatekeepers need to look at who's making interesting work and who's advancing the field and what is the field. What are we calling choreography? Maybe it's not proscenium stage dancing. I have never been in a clique or in one box, and I kind of want to be friends with everybody and every box. It's just my nature, but I’ve been doing my own thing for forever. In the last five years, I have been okay with that and stopped running to get acceptance –– to be included in this group or that group. However, history will tell who was making dances in this decade, then this decade, and the following decade. How history defines you, as being part of this generation or that one, but we're all going to keep doing our “blah, blah blahs,” and hopefully it's more articulate than that.
I just got this wonderful book that's all about critical theory centered on Flemish dance. It’s heavy stuff you can’t read when you’re tired: Making and Theorizing Contemporary Dance by Rudy Lerman. It's good stuff. She interviews dancers and makers on collaborative art, this concept of building material with who is in the room, when is it fresh, and when is like squeezing blood from a stone. It goes both ways. There’s a honeymoon period, and then you hope you keep learning from each other. There needs to be more writing on dance, more language about dance. “Where's a dance reviews? Where's a dance feature?” Our art form is not being looked at enough.
My niece, however, has a stellar review in the New York Times today. She’s a writer for the New Yorker. Her name's Rachel Avivand she came out with a book about psychiatry. She has all these different stories of different people and also her own story. It's just amazing. I can't believe I'm related to her. She's really a great writer. She does investigative reporting and tells these stories that are page-turners –– easy to read and very thoughtful.
Anabella: It really comes back to what you said about empowering ourselves and having these dialogues. Most of the moms are too busy to even schedule an interview with me!
Jody: Oh, that makes me want to cry. We're on this whole thing about valiant effort and the courage of being a woman who decides to have kids and not be put down for creating good rainy-day activities. You taught your kid, who's now a chef, how to make pretzels, or make cheesy noodles by grating cheese and stirring in pasta. You can't take responsibility for how they turn out eventually, but you can give them creativity, which I think goes hand in hand with being a mover and a choreographer. You make something up! And this whole thing with feminism, as kind of an old word, well I'm still a feminist. Previously, Feminism was saying, “Don't look down on me because I'm a woman.” Now, it has shifted to “Don't look down on me. Don't even look at me as a woman. How about that? Look at me as a person.”
Anabella: Thank you, Jody, it's been a pleasure to talk to you and I'm very moved by the way that you take things, you embrace it naturally.
Jody: Be round and cope with what life gives to you. Go after what you want.
Jody Oberfelder is a director, choreographer, and filmmaker. She creates art which aims to illuminate life. Whether stage, film, site or installation, her works expand how one experiences dance. Her works often provide audiences with experiences of intimate engagement whether in a vast space or guiding journeys through theatrical environs, historical habitats, bridges, museums, or ordinary places. Oberfelder created film called DUET when she was eight months pregnant. Sheperformed live in front of it when pregnant with her second child. She has also created a dance for 9 pregnant women and a mother child dance called “Rock Me Mama.” He body trilogy: 4Chambers, (2013-14) The Brain Piece (2015-18) and Madame Ovary (2019)
Over the last five years, Jody has been devising an ambulatory performance piece which offer audience members an accessible chance to view and be a part of site-specific dance performance. The goal is to allow participants to experience moving through and creating history as we pass thorough life. Walking to Present, commissioned by Dance Munich (to be performed in May 2023) has had iterations in Brooklyn at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Oberfelder’s recent piece Life Traveler has a simple score: a one-on-one encounter on a bridge: the performer carries with two vintage suitcases, one of which is handed off to the passerby. This work, so far, has beenperformed in Düsseldorf, Amsterdam London, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt. Oberfelder seeks, through her art, to connect people.
Anabella Lenzu: Originally from Argentina, Anabella Lenzu is a dancer, choreographer, scholar & educator with over 30 years of experience working in Argentina, Chile, Italy, and the USA. Lenzu directs her own company, Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama (ALDD), which since 2006 has presented 400 performances, created 15 choreographic works, and performed at 100 venues, presenting thought-provoking and historically conscious dance-theater in NYC. As a choreographer, she has been commissioned all over the world for opera, TV programs, theatre productions, and by many dance companies. She has produced and directed several award-winning short dance films and screened her work in over 200 festivals both nationally and internationally.