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Dance Generators was founded in Massachusetts in 1997 by Amie Dowling, a former member of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Under Dowling's direction, the company established a strong reputation in the Pioneer Valley and held residencies in schools, senior centers, universities, art spaces, and youth programs across Massachusetts. For ten years, Dance Generators was a company-in-residence at Available Potential Enterprises (APE) in Northhampton, MA.
In 2006, Dowling relocated to San Francisco and started a new branch of Dance Generators at the University of San Francisco’s Performing Arts & Social Justice Department with leadership by Natalie Greene (2008-2018) supported by Kristen Greco (2010-2015).
Back in Massachussetts, the original company continued with leadership by former company members Kristin Horrigan (2006-2014) and Maureen Shea (2014-2015). Dance Generators on the East Coast has since ended, after an exciting 18 years in residence in Western Massachusetts.
Currently, Dance Generators remains an active company on University of San Francisco campus and in the Bay Area’s dance field with Director, Liv Schaffer (2018-2026). The company continues to perform in schools, senior centers, festivals and community events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Amie Dowling Founder / Dance Generators
creates dance and theater for the stage, for film and in community settings. For the past several years, her work has considered the politics and representation of mass incarceration. Well Contested Sites, a collaboration with Bay Area artists, some who were previously incarcerated, won the International Screendance film prize. Her most recent film, Separate Sentence, examines the intersection of gentrification and the generational impact of incarceration. She has presented work nationally and internationally at such venues as Busboys & Poets (Washington D.C.), Lincoln Center (NYC), Regards Hybrides (Canada), Cinéma Jean-Eustache (France), Passangen Art Gallery (Sweden), and the Juming Museum (Taiwan). Professor Dowling’s writing has been published recently in Performing New Lives, Contact Quarterly, Jesuit Higher Education, and InDance. She is an artist in residence at the San Francisco Jails and at San Quentin Prison, where she is a member of the Artistic Ensemble.
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