A State of Dance

This month's guest is Remi Wörtmeyer, Artistic Director of BalletMet, and a multi-award-winning choreographer, dancer, designer, and educator. Born in Adelaide, Australia, Wörtmeyer trained in classical dance at The Australian Ballet School and went on to perform with The Australian Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and as a principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet. His international career has taken him to stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House, New York's Metropolitan Opera House, London Coliseum and Sadler's Wells, St. Petersburg's Alexandrinsky Theatre, New National Theatre Tokyo, the Grand Theatres of Shanghai and Hong Kong, and major venues in Beijing and Paris. Wörtmeyer's creative practice extends across choreography,  fashion design, and sculpture. His choreographic works have been created for organizations including Dutch National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Benois de la Danse, while his pas de deux Penumbra was created for Roberto Bolle and Melissa Hamilton and his ballet Significant Others, inspired by artists Sonia and Robert Delaunay, has been presented by Atlanta Ballet. His fashion and sculptural work has been exhibited internationally, and his collaboration with haute couturier Ronald van der Kamp brought his handmade sculptural jewelry to Paris Fashion Week. Named Artistic Director of BalletMet in June 2024, Wörtmeyer now brings this expansive multidisciplinary vision to Columbus while continuing to choreograph and create work nationally and internationally. OhioDance: A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of each month through November 2026. This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of dance in Ohio. In 2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call this the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2026 we have highlighted 46 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio.⁠ vdc.ohiodance.org⁠ If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to⁠ ohiodance.org⁠ and click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate button.

This month's guest is Brandon Ragland, Artistic Director of Dayton Ballet, and an accomplished dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts leader. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Ragland trained at the Alabama School of Fine Arts before earning a B.S. in Dance-Arts Administration from Butler University. He began his professional career with Alabama Ballet, performing classical and neoclassical works by choreographers including George Balanchine, Christopher Bruce, Roger Van Fleteren, and Septime Webre. In 2010, he joined Louisville Ballet, where he spent 13 years as a leading artist performing works spanning classical ballet and contemporary choreography. Throughout his career, Brandon has developed a multifaceted practice encompassing performance, choreography, teaching, and artistic leadership. His choreography has been presented by organizations including Louisville Ballet, Alabama Ballet, Ballet Arkansas, AROVA Contemporary Ballet, Next Generation Ballet, and others, while his contributions to the arts have been recognized with honors including the Lift A Life Foundation Emerging Leader in the Arts Award and Louisville Magazine's Best Artist Award. As Artistic Director of Dayton Ballet, he brings these experiences together in shaping a vision that honors ballet's traditions while creating space for new choreography, new stories, and the continued evolution of the art form. OhioDance: A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of each month through November 2026. This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of dance in Ohio. In 2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call this the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2026 we have highlighted 46 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio.⁠ vdc.ohiodance.org⁠ If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to⁠ ohiodance.org⁠ and click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate button.

This month's guest is Dominic Moore-Dunson, an award-winning choreographer, director, and educator based in Akron, Ohio. A 2025 Lloyd Richards New Futures Fellow and Dance Magazine "25 to Watch" artist, he is Co-Founder and Creative Director of MooreDunson Co., a family-led creative studio he leads alongside his wife, Ashley Moore-Dunson. His work spans dance, theater, and immersive performance, using his signature Urban Midwest Storytelling approach to explore memory, identity, safety, belonging, and the complexity of family and community. Dominic's work has been presented nationally and featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Akron Beacon Journal. He is a 2024 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award recipient and Headlands Center for the Arts Fellow, and the creator of works including the inCOPnegro Trilogy, The Remember Balloons National Tour, and The Block. Across his artistic and educational practice, he brings together movement, storytelling, cultural reflection, and community engagement. OhioDance: A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of  each month through November 2026. This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through  increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of  dance in Ohio. In 2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate  diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and  weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call this the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2026 we have highlighted  46 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio.⁠ vdc.ohiodance.org⁠ If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to⁠ ohiodance.org⁠ and  click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that  come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate  button.

This month's guest is Kevin Ward. Mr. Ward is an acclaimed dancer, choreographer, educator, musician, and arts leader. He joined Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in 1980 and served as its Artistic Director from 1999 to 2007, helping guide one of the nation's leading Black contemporary dance companies. After working with the National Dance Institute and New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe, Ward returned to DCDC in 2022 as Senior Artistic Advisor. His honors include three Ohio Arts Council Fellowships, the OhioDance Award, and the Kennedy Center's Masters of African American Choreography Medal. OhioDance: A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of  each month through November 2026. This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through  increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of  dance in Ohio. In  2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the  achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate  diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and  weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call this the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2026 we have highlighted  46 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio.⁠ vdc.ohiodance.org⁠ [https://us2.mailchimp.com/mctx/clicks?url=http%3A%2F%2Fvdc.ohiodance.org&xid=7457ab4d48&uid=6658474&iid=0aa4c26b4e&pool=cts&v=2&c=1690495018&h=3d08a0a96f0253c527182e727095a91239c27228891ad793c1d128808ab1f4d3] If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to⁠ ohiodance.org⁠ [https://ohiodance.org/] and  click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that  come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate  button.

This month's guest is Hannah Kosstrin. Dr. Kosstrin is a dance historian and movement analyst. Her scholarship focuses on Jewish dance in global contexts including dance histories of the United States, Israel and the Jewish diaspora, Latin America, Europe, South Asia, and the African diaspora; gender and queer theory; nationalism, migration, and diaspora studies; Laban movement notation and analysis; and digital humanities.  She is Director of Ohio State's Melton Center for Jewish Studies, Associate Professor in the Department of Dance, and has appointments in the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures, and is affiliate faculty with the Center for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. Her new book Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations (Oxford University Press) examines Jewish diasporic dance practices of choreographers who migrated between Israel and the United States between the Cold War and Covid. Her article "Whose Jewishness? Inbal Dance Theater and Cold War American Spectatorship" (American Jewish History, 2020) was awarded a Gertrude Lippincott Award Honorable Mention from the Dance Studies Association. Dr. Kosstrin's work also appears in Dance Research Journal, Dance Chronicle, The International Journal of Screendance, Journal of Jewish Identities, Dance on Its Own Terms: Histories and Methodologies, Queer Dance: Meanings and Makings The Futures of Dance Studies and the Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance She is project director for KineScribe, a Labanotation app supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Reed College, and Ohio State, and Faculty Lead for LabanLens, a Laban-based HoloLens application supported by Ohio State. Links: Kinescribe [http://kinescribe.org/] Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/kinesthetic-peoplehood-9780197696804?q=kosstrin&lang=en&cc=us] - Discount code for 30% off: AUFLY30 Honest Bodies: Revolutionary Modernism in the Dances of Anna Sokolow [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/honest-bodies-9780199396931?q=kosstrin&lang=en&cc=us] - Discount code for 30% off: AAFLYG6 OhioDance: A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of  each month through November 2026. This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through  increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of  dance in Ohio. In  2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the  achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate  diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and  weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call this the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2026 we have highlighted  46 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio.⁠ vdc.ohiodance.org⁠ [https://us2.mailchimp.com/mctx/clicks?url=http%3A%2F%2Fvdc.ohiodance.org&xid=7457ab4d48&uid=6658474&iid=0aa4c26b4e&pool=cts&v=2&c=1690495018&h=3d08a0a96f0253c527182e727095a91239c27228891ad793c1d128808ab1f4d3] If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to⁠ ohiodance.org⁠ [https://ohiodance.org/] and  click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that  come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate  button.