Creative Field: Choreographer & Visual Artist
Employer: Woodstock Recreation Center (dance instr)
Email: pbri@aol.com
Phone:(802) 698-8318 (primary); (207) 522-1498 (secondary)
Website: peggybrightmandancer.weebly.com
Facebook: peggy brightman
Life, for me, is a continual exploration of gesture and movement — finding and creating meaning.
In my teens, I took dance at Smith to get out of the gym requirement and fell in love! My studies with Merce Cunningham, Limon, Murray Louis, and others led to 10 years of performing with Concert Dance Co. of Boston and a body of work for two Boston dance companies: Mass. Dance Ensemble and Choreo, Inc.. I directed modern dance at Walnut Hill School for the Arts for ten years, also teaching at Radcliffe, Tufts, and Columbia University where I earned my EdD in Arts & Ed. There I began sculpture, drawing, and other visual explorations which continue to this day in clay, bronze, stone, print-making, and photography, with work exhibited in various New England galleries.
In Maine in 2002, I founded Moving Spirit Dancers, creating many new works performed in over 24 different venues: sacred spaces, nursing homes, and art galleries. In 2012 I moved to Vermont in 2012, and created a similar group– Moving Spirit-Vermont, which continues with exploring and performing dance in sacred spaces. We perform new work two or more times a year for services at the North Universalist Chapel Society in Woodstock.
My sculpture, photography, and other work has been exhibited at AVA and Artistree galleries; two stone pieces are currently part of Kira’s Garden at AVA.
Upcoming exhibits, performances or readings:
Peace of Wild Things: a Dance Meditation– May 31st at the North Universalist Chapel Society, Church St.,Woodstock, Vt. Minister Daniel Jantos and choir director Diane Mellinger, are joined by the Moving Spirit Dancers in a sacred service with new work choreographed by Peg Brightman.