From the Washington Jewish Week:
"With its founder stepping aside, will the Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange retain the Jewish themed-choreography that has characterized the visionary multigenerational dance company?
Longtime choreographer, dancer and community facilitator Liz Lerman has announced that she is leaving the Dance Exchange that she founded in 1976 on July 1. Nine-year company veteran Cassie Meador, a dancer, choreographer, teacher and facilitator in her own right, will take on the artistic directorship of the company, leading Lerman's hand-picked cadre of artist/educators in continuing its renowned choreographic and performance projects.
Asked about how she envisions the future of Dance Exchange without an artistic director deeply committed to and interested in Jewish history, culture and spiritual inquiry, Lerman said, 'I think partly what's going to happen at Dance Exchange is going to depend on the artists who are there. [Dancer] Shula Strassfeld is staying and she just did a beautiful program at Rodef Shalom [in Falls Church]. The Dance Exchange is going to be a living breathing entity. Cassie, for example, has really deep environmental concerns, and I think you'll see a period of time when the work coming out of the Dance Exchange will have that character. I've connected her to Arthur Waskow, and I think there will be strands of that because of the partnership, not because Cassie is Jewish.'"
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