Gileadi Dance Co
Miriam Gileadi, director of Gileadi Dance Co., connects the dots between her dance and music explorations.
Tell us about yourself and Gileadi Dance. What should our readers know about you?
My name is Miriam Gileadi. I am the owner/director of Gileadi Dance Co. I’ve been singing and dancing professionally for 10 years in a variety of projects. The company has three board members: Jake Winkelkotter, who is the Rehearsal Director, Tara Jo Meredith, our Project Assistant, and myself. The three of us perform for the company, and I bring in various performers and artists in accordance to each project’s needs.
What is your overall mission and/or statement with your work?
The mission of Gileadi Dance Co. is to realize dance expression at its fullest creative and expressive potential. This occurs through awareness of internal impulses informing the external body. Collaborating various art forms into dance facilitates internal connection, communal awareness, and causes a ripple effect of creative transformation. We strive to explore this expansively within our art community.
What inspires your work?
I am a “jack-of-all-trades” when it comes to the arts. Raised in an artistic family, I have practiced many art forms throughout my life. These days I function as a dancer, singer, musician and writer. I am greatly inspired by musical composition and its connection to movement. I believe dance and music are one; as a pair, they holistically express an internal impulse. I choreograph through rhythm, melody and sounds that guide kinesthetic responses, which illuminate a visual story.
How does downtown SLC inspire and inform your work?
Downtown SLC has greatly influenced my work experimentally and idealistically. Last year, Gileadi Dance Co. did an experimental busking series of performance art on the corners of Downtown SLC, set against the background of pedestrians, historical buildings and driving cars. Salt Lake City is hungry for unpredictable and enticing art that creates fresh experiences with audiences. I look at what artistic exposure Salt Lake City might be missing and work to uniquely fill those gaps––we still have many stones to turn in this city.
What is your vision for downtown SLC in 2 years? 20 years?
I would love to see downtown Salt Lake City evolve into an integrated artistic community. I want to see artists across all disciplines commune and collaborate to create extraordinary stories. Currently, I think the city is palatable––there is great potential for collaboration amongst artists of diverse backgrounds to develop intertwined expression. Art reflects the times, and our time expands one voice into many voices.
What dream venue would you love to activate downtown?
I want to see the older buildings and vacant storefronts become inhabited by artists, as has been done historically in major cities. It would be an amazing experience to encourage the city’s revival by populating older buildings with artists. I think we could reimagine formerly ignored areas or buildings as a home base for our artistic community. I would love to have the opportunity for Gileadi Dance Co. to reimagine an older, run-down building in the heart of downtown as a rehearsal and event space.
What’s next for you? Where can we see your upcoming works?
This year, Gileadi Dance Co. continues artistic experimentation and breaking out of “traditional” dance company rituals. Last year, the company premiered a show that was met with incredible turnout and feedback, and now we’re focusing that success back into the community––expanding creative possibility by bringing various artists together and showcasing them in unique locations of Salt Lake City. In a similar fashion to our previous busking experimental work, the Salt Lake community is sure to see us in a variety of unexpected places soon.