About Us

Conversations with Susana Weingarten

Susana: “Since we moved from New York City in 1986, were Tom was dancing with The Paul Taylor Dance Company, and I had moved there from Mexico City, (were I was born and raised with much pride), we have not stopped enriching our lives and others with the art form of dance, which implies infinite transformative ways for every one and every age to be a part of it.

I moved to New York City to continue my formal dance training with many dance masters that I had the good fortune to meet in Mexico and study with in New York including: Takako Azakawa, Kazuko Hirabayashi, David Hatch Walker, Louis Falco, the Alvin Ailey School, and many more masters through an old fashioned apprentice system that I grew up in through hard work and respect.

Tom and I got married after a while of dating in New York City, and had a son named Max, who we brought to Cleveland 3 years later when he was ready for pre-school, and to recruit the help of Tom’s family while we would be working to create The Tom Evert Dance Company.

We began with a big splash in Cleveland arriving from New York City from the Paul Taylor Company and a hot Latina that complimented Tom’s American Athletic and Visual arts background.

For 10 years we maintained a company of strong dancers that were faithful to Tom’s work and technique, and worked intensively throughout northeast Ohio, we traveled nationally and internationally and we certainly created a name for ourselves. I became a choreographer in 1993, and the need to continue with this creative endeavor grew in me.

In 1996 our lives changed in that we restructured the company and renamed it, Tom and Susana Evert Dance Theatre, as Tom and I started down a different path. We began to study the Great Spiritual Traditions of mankind, and our work became the mirror of our searches. It was a radical change from the mainstream modern dances we had become known for. We did not maintain dancers on a full time contract, and we decided to keep a lower public profile, but continued performing locally, nationally and internationally.

I developed my dream of choreography and drama, as Tom and I experimented freely, creating solos, duets and some evening-length works with advanced students and with great professional dancers, in a process we cal in the business, “ a pick up company”. This next decade (1996-2006) would be an interesting time in that we created many works and kept collaborating with many visual and performance artists, and garnered great reviews from our touring dates.

Our vision was changing with time as the artwork became more about our lives what we care about and how it resonates on a deeper level. We also have been improvising quite often with a group of fantastic musicians, “Facing East” who are just great to work with because we share the same spiritual visions and are devotees of The Great Sage The Avatar ADi DA Samraj , whose teachings involve every aspect of human life that is free, happy and non-separated from God, or Reality as we all are always already, but we unfortunately do not know it.

John Wubbenhorst and Ken Anoff of two of several musicians of “FACING EAST” www.FacingEast.com

Collaboration with NASA engineers at Ingenuity Festival 2006
the BP Building, Downtown, Cleveland, OH

We have been teaching for many years for all grades, schools, professionals, non-professionals, and we both enjoy and love the relationship created through the art of moving, because this is not just about dancing with the beat (which is a already a big deal), but it encompasses the vast qualities that other methods and techniques to stay in shape do not provide such as breathing deep and learning much about how to take responsibility of our own lives through taking care of our bodies.

As we continue teaching, we have pioneered many new approaches for students and teachers as we serve our art and the educational systems.

Please visit our educational page where we explain all these programs in detail*

We believe that humanity needs to move more, but in a conscious and feeling way. Faster and harder is not necessarily better. We believe that everybody can dance, and even though not everybody is a performer, everybody can enjoy and benefit from the healthy, happy, natural and sensual way that that mankind has danced since ancient times.

We invite you to visit this site and be free to call us or write you with any question, idea or commentary.

Much Peace and may you also find the freedom and love that dance provides to anyone who is open to it.

DANCEVERT
Susana Weingarten
Tom Evert
(CO-DIRECTORS)

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