Janis Brenner

17 Feb Janis Brenner

Janis Brenner is an award-winning dancer/choreographer/singer/educator and Artistic Director of Janis Brenner & Dancers in NYC. Known for her “meticulous artistry,” she has toured in 36 countries and received “Best Performance” and the Critics’ Choice Award at the United Solo Theatre Festival Off-Broadway for the interdisciplinary, one-woman show Inheritance: A Litany (score by Jerome Begin), NY “Bessie” Award in Meredith Monk’s work, Lester Horton Award for Choreography in L.A., grants from Fund for US Artists at International Festivals, Asian Cultural Council, Trust for Mutual Understanding, O’Donnell Green Music & Dance Foundation, US State Department, US Embassy for tours to Moscow, Bosnia, Jakarta and Dakar, and a commission for The Memory Project from the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her work has been commissioned/restaged on more than fifty companies and colleges worldwide. Ms. Brenner was with Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble from 1990 – 2005, 2014, recording on ECM Records, and danced with the Murray Louis Dance Company working with Rudolf Nureyev, Placido Domingo, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Bat Sheva Dance Company, and Alwin Nikolais. She was on faculty at The Juilliard School from 2009-2021, currently teaches at Marymount Manhattan College and Steps Conservatory, and teaches improvisation, composition, voice and JB repertory worldwide. She was Director of Choreography at NCI in 2010-11 and 2017-18. Her second solo show, She Remembers her Amnesia (score by Jerome Begin) has also received critical acclaim and is currently touring, as is Inheritance: A Litany. Since 2022, Ms. Brenner has had two gallery exhibits of her mixed-media collage work in NYC.