This article appeared in the Jan. 8, 2004 Jewish Advocate.

Local dancer creates unique styles and forms

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

Nicole Bindler’s name is ubiquitous in the local dance community as an active organizer of dance events as well as a freshly innovative performer. She has appeared locally at Green Street Studios, The Dance Complex, Mobius, Zeitgeist Gallery, The Berwick Research Institute, Artists @ Large, Loft 211, CasaNia Studio and the Boston Dance Company, as well as in Western Mass., Lowell, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, Chicago, and Berlin. She describes her work as “poignant, tragi-comic dance theater pieces that subvert gender roles and images of women in popular culture,” which she effects with the use of “props, costumes and an original dance vocabulary that combines visceral, athletic movement with subtle, unusual postures and gestures.”

Bindler is well-trained for the complexities of her multimedia approach. A Licensed Massage Therapist, she holds a degree in Muscular Therapy from the Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree in Dance and Poetry from Hampshire College. She has studied Modern Dance, Contact Improvisation, Composition, Martial Arts, Yoga, Butoh, Pilates, Body-Mind Centering and Feldenkrais, and teaches “Mindful Modern,” a release-based dance class, at Cambridge’s CasaNia Studio. She enjoys being on both sides of the stage.

“I still perform more often than I produce, but my desire to produce came out of my experiences touring and meeting fabulous artists who I wanted to bring to Boston,” she recalled, adding that musicians are able to tour frequently since they can hear each other's recordings in advance, whereas independent dance artists often lack mutual familiarity. “I'd like to continue to build a touring network for independent dance artists, especially those who are doing improvisational, experimental and/or political performance,” she said.

Born in 1977 in New York, Bindler, a Somerville resident, was raised in a Jewish household with a strong emphasis on social justice. “My grandfather, Boaz Siegel, was a famous Michigan Labor attorney; my grandmother, Bess Siegel, was a teacher, and political activist in Detroit during the formation of the United Auto Workers,” she said. Bindler’s grandmother, who lives in Laguna Hills, California, danced with the “New Dance Group,” an entourage that performed in Union Halls and progressive meetings and events. “They were trained by many choreographers, including Martha Graham, who did residencies with the group,” said Bindler.

Boaz Siegel, who died in 2002, was an attorney for over 50 years. “Michigan Congressman Sander Levin, who worked as a labor attorney three decades ago under Siegel's tutelage, has said his old boss' contributions ‘are immense’,” said Bindler. Siegel taught contracts, labor law and administrative law at Wayne State University from 1941 to 1972, was Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg's appointee on the first U.S. Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Plans, and served on the National Academy of Arbitrators.

“My grandparents have inspired me both artistically and politically,” said Bindler, who belongs to Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, a Boston-based group formed in October 2000, in the first weeks of the current Intifada, to press for a just resolution of the conflict between the Palestinian Arab and Israeli Jewish peoples. “In our work, we are both inspired by and committed to the tradition of justice that infuses Jewish teachings, Jewish practice and Jewish history,” she said. Bindler, who seeks to foster cultural bridges though artistic exchange, has worked with Zaitoun Dance Troupe, a Palestinian Dabke (folk dance) group, teaching them Modern Dance in exchange. With JWJIP, she has organized several peace demonstrations, including a Nov. 2002 Harvard Square die-in which mourned both Israelis and Palestinian victims of Middle East violence. In April 2002, she produced a fundraiser for the nonprofit Grassroots International with Zaitoun at Cambridge’s Green Street Studios. This past March, she performed with members of Zaitoun for an audience of 50,000 at the Worldwide Peace demonstration on the Boston Common.

On Saturday, Jan. 31 at 8p.m., Bindler will be performing with Deborah Butler from Boston and Rythea Lee from Western Mass, in a dance performance for the Studio Series at CasaNia Studio, located at 46 Porter Rd. in Porter Sq., Cambridge.

Upcoming performances include Sat., March 27 with Hana van der Kolk from New York, and Melissa Putz of the PIMA Group from Philadelphia. On Sat., May 22, she will appear with Marjorie Morgan from Boston and Cathy Paine from Baltimore.

Suggested donation is $8. Call 617-491-5144 for reservations. http://casania.com

Bindler will also be performing in Chicago in July and at the High Zero Festival this fall in Baltimore. For information on Bindler’s class, please visit http://www.luciddesign.com/casania/nia.html#mindmodern, or email nmbF95@hampshire.edu.