INTERVIEW WITH CHOREOGRAPHER SAM MANDELBAUM

 

Sam Mandelbaum has a theatre background, mostly acting. During his BFA training he was challenged to learn to shed habitual movement through the rigor of the Alexander Technique as well as his teachers’ weird trips into their own esoteric, (sometimes erroneous and dangerous in hindsight), but nonetheless fascinating beliefs about movement. These were offered just to make actors more plastic in creating character, but he missed the point and got really into kinesiology, fitness, bodywork, and eventually dance. In 2021/22, he studied closely with Ellen Bartel, completing the ACC somatic movement educator program, and has been a Continuing ED Riverbat ever since.