MARIANA Bekerman
While in school, Bekerman danced for Ann Reinking and studied with such well-known choreographers as: Parsons Dance, Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, David Dorfman, Sean Curran, Doug Elkins, Shapiro & Smith, Gus Solomons jr, Tere O’ Connor, Elisa King, Deborah Zall, and Penny Frank, among others. She also began presenting her own work, which inspired her to pursue the art of choreography.
After receiving her degree, Bekerman danced and choreographed for various companies, resorts, choreographers, off-off Broadway plays, and music artists, both locally and internationally. She performed with Pink Inc. Performance Co. and the Seeddance Company, and choreographed “resort-style” shows at an all-inclusive resort near Cancun, Mexico for a year. Free-lancing as both a dancer and choreographer upon her return to NYC in 1998, she choreographed for The Ballad of Keshanli Ali at Tribeca PA Center and continued to dance for various New York-based choreographers. Bekerman also danced and choreographed for various music artists, rehearsed with mime teacher Richmond Shepard, and danced for an independent film, Altar Dance, directed by Joe Clifford.
In her previous life as a top Vogue dancer, Mariana emerged from the underground scene with trophies in hand and a strong movement style that she incorporates into her current choreography. In 2000, she founded MBDC and began to make work that fused eight years of classical training in ballet and modern jazz with New York City’s club dancing cultures of underground house and Vogue, along with references to hip-hop and break dancing. To date, Mariana has choreographed more than seventeen original dances for the Mariana Bekerman Dance Company, presented her work at more than thirty venues and festivals, and self-produced six dance concerts, including one at the Joyce SoHo in NYC. In addition, she continues to free-lance as a dancer/choreographer and teacher for other artists, organizations, schools, and productions.