Mary Seidman: Dancer, Teacher, Choreographer, and Artistic Director of Mary Seidman and Dancers, began her early training with Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury from Utah, two master choreographers and experts in the field of dance education for young people. Ms. Seidman studied in Boston, Mass. with Susan Rose and Joy Kellman and upon arriving in New York in 1980, began training at the Merce Cunningham Studio, studying technique and composition with Merce. She also studied ballet with Jocelyn Lorenz, in NYC.

Ms. Seidman is a faculty member at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY,  teaches for the Dance Education Lab at the 92nd Street Y, and is Secretary of the American Dance Guild.  She currently tours colleges and universities as a guest teaching artist and choreographer, most recently working at Palm Beach Atlantic University, Ohio University, Skidmore College, Hofstra University, North Carolina School for the Arts, Mt. Holyoke College, Baltimore Community College, University of Maryland, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, Rhode Island University,  Duke University, New World School of the Arts, Rutgers, and Long Island University.

Since forming her company in 1990, her choreography has been described as “elegant and accessible,” and “stunning…pure dance work with threads of emotional nuance woven into the whole”…and “cutting edge choreography and bravura execution… be prepared for the sacred and profane, Seidman spares no emotions.” The company performs at such well known venues as Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Symphony Space, Jacob’s Pillow, St. Mark’s Danspace Project, Symphony Space, The Flea Theater, La MaMa E.T.C., the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in SC. The company has had a strong outreach program, performing in museums, outdoor stages, aquariums, schools, and outdoor festivals such as the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Outdoor Festival Sitelines 2005.

A gifted teacher, Ms. Seidman won the honored Hilla Ribay Teaching Artist Award in 1998 from the Solomon Guggenheim Museum’s Learning Through Art Program. Ms. Seidman has been invited as a guest teacher to several arts conferences and symposiums and is known for her excellence in teacher training as well as her specialty with children of all ages. She has also taught through the Young Audiences of NJ, CT., and NY, Morris NJ Arts Council, Suffolk County, NY BOCES, Duchess County and Westchester County NY BOCES, New York Foundation for the Arts, Early Stages Program, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, and has been on faculty at Peridance Center, NYC. From 1990-98, Ms. Seidman created and operated her own school of dance, teaching New York City children, ages 18 months to 13 years of age.

Ms. Seidman has published several articles on dance with Dance Teacher magazine and Dance. She also writes critiques of dance performances for EYEONTHEARTS. Her lecture on The History and Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts has toured to several colleges and universities for dance and arts administration majors.