Trigger Warning: The contents of this production contain topics of rape, sexual abuse, and violence and may be disturbing to some viewers. Please step away and take care if needed.

Program details:

Featuring the EMPOWER Center
Format: Panel
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The EMPOWER Center
A comprehensive health center for people in the sex trade. The sex trade includes but is not limited to street-based, brothel, and web, gang and family-facilitated prostitution; stripping, sexual massages, pornography, and escort service. Through free, high-quality, and trauma-informed medical, clinical, legal, and case management services, we help people in the sex trade lead healthy and independent lives.

Mitha Choudhury, Program Coordinator
Stephanie Reilly, Senior Staff Attorney
Georgia Vasilopoulos, Case Manager
Gabrielle Prieto, Senior Peer Care Navigator
AlidaTchicamboud, Economic Empowerment Specialist

Artistic Presentation by Angie M Jean Marie, student at Kean University

Featuring Gibney’s Move to Move Beyond with Amy Miller
Format: Interview
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Dance performance and social justice powerhouse Gibney has developed an innovative and effective program, Move to Move Beyond, that uses the transformative power of movement to make a difference in the lives of intimate partner and gender-based violence survivors. Launched in 2000 in partnership with Sanctuary for Families, Move to Move Beyond provides a safe environment for building self-esteem through positive physical expression and has vividly demonstrated that movement, physical awareness and creativity can play a remarkable role in healing trauma. The program has since expanded to include Safe Horizon, Barrier Free Living, Sakhi, Community Health Action of Staten Island among many other New York City organizations. Over 365 Move to Move Beyond workshops are offered annually to individuals and families who are on journeys to healthier futures. Open to anyone. No dance background necessary. 

Amy Miller is a dancer, choreographer, educator, administrator and advocate.  Senior Director of Gibney Dance Company, Miller has recently performed works by Gina Gibney, Hilary Easton, Keely Garfield, Mariangela Lopez, Joanna Kotze, Reggie Wilson and Shannon Gillen at Gibney Dance’s Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in NYC.  A former member of the Ohio Ballet, Miller spent a decade performing masterworks by such choreographers as Anthony Tudor, José Limon, Kurt Jooss, and Paul Taylor, as well as Lucinda Childs, Laura Dean, and Alonzo King among many others. She was a founding member of Cleveland-based GroundWorks DanceTheater, where she collaborated on new work with such dance-makers as David Shimotakahara, Dianne McIntyre, Alex Ketley, Keely Garfield, David Parker and Gina Gibney. Miller remains the Artistic Associate of GroundWorks, where she has choreographed twelve works for the company. Such composers as the genre-defying Ryan Lott (aka Son Lux), and Oberlin Conservatory of Music professor and composer Peter Swendsen have worked with Miller on a wide range of musical scoring for dance. Miller and Swendsen’s ongoing collaboration has produced numerous projects for GroundWorks, as well as solo works, and a premiere with Gibney Dance Company. Her solo work has been seen in New York City at Judson Church, Mark Morris Dance Center, and Scandinavia House and has been produced at Spoke the Hub, West Fest Dance Festival, the West End Theater’s Soaking WET series. Prioritizing esthetic versatility, Miller has fostered numerous collegiate teaching residencies including Cleveland State University, Bowling Green University, Oberlin College and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.  This past summer, Miller was honored to be on teaching faculty for the Young Dancers Workshop at Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, ME. Interested in finding ways to foster both artistic excellence and social engagement in all her work, Miller strives to prioritize both components in equal measure.  Miller focuses on Gibney Dance’s Community Action program through facilitating movement workshops with survivors of trauma, conducting both local and international trainings for artists interested in engaging in social action, developing healthy relationship workshops for young people, and raising awareness about the role of the arts in violence prevention. Miller has conducted Gibney Dance Global Community Action Residencies at Mimar Sinan University and Koc University (Istanbul), University of Cape Town (South Africa), DOCH: School of Dance and Circus (Stockholm), MUDA Africa (Tanzania) and most recently in Gisenyi, Rwanda. Miller holds a BFA in Dance, has received an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship for her choreography, and was honored to receive an Arts & Artists in Progress “Pay it Forward” Award from Brooklyn Arts Exchange.