Biographies
Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble
From a dance comparing the extinction of the dinosaurs with the fate of jocks to a “reverent parody” of Hamlet, from vaudevillian handshakes to ancient Chinese stories of flying machines, the Ensemble, co-founded and co-directed by Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern, is known for its highly physical and often humorous choreography. Their performance, educational and written work integrating the worlds of mathematics and dance in surprising and groundbreaking ways anticipated the spread of arts integration methods. They have toured throughout North America and in Europe and Asia, most recently performing in Houston, Madison, Buffalo, Hungary, France, at the Museum of Mathematics in New York, and at the National Science Museum in Seoul, South Korea. The company has received five National Endowment for the Arts awards for their cross-disciplinary performance work and Schaffer and Stern are Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Teaching Artists. Visit www.mathdance.org, and view their TEDx Manhattan Beach video.
Dr. Karl Schaffer
Karl Schaffer is a dancer, choreographer, and mathematician. His concert The Daughters of Hypatia celebrating women mathematicians throughout history has toured nationally and his concert Mosaic deals with peace, justice and culture in the Mideast. He has performed and/or taught contemporary dance, tap, Tai Chi, Bharatya Natyam, Flamenco, and folk dance. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics from UC Santa Cruz and teaches math at De Anza College.
Mr. Erik Stern
Erik Stern is a choreographer, dancer, musician and interdisciplinary educator. His work Demolition Derby brought together Alzheimer’s organizations and corporations. His collaborative projects Pattern Play and DanceScienceFest are being presented nationally. A Professor of Dance at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, he received his B.A. in Biology from UC Santa Cruz and an M.F.A in Dance from CalArts.
Monsieur Gregg Lizenbery
Gregg Lizenbery is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading performing artists in contemporary dance and as a master educator in Laban Movement Analysis. After attending the University of Utah, he became a principal dancer with the original Utah Repertory Dance Theatre (1967-75), appearing in choreography by José Limón, Anna Sokolow, Donald McKayle, Paul Sanasardo, John Butler, Glen Tetley, Matt Mattox, Viola Farber, Ethel Winter, Doris Humphrey, and Jennifer Muller. In 1975 he co-founded the Bill Evans Dance Company and was co-Director and principal dancer until 1981.
As a master teacher, Lizenbery was part of the National Endowment for the Arts-in-Education Program from 1976 through 1982. He received Certification in Laban Movement Analysis (CMA) in 1982 and has been in demand nationwide for his unique and lively application of LMA to performing techniques. As a Guest Artist/Educator, he has taught at the José Limón Studio in New York and at numerous universities, including Harvard, Duke, University of California campuses, Arizona State, University of Illinois, Ohio State, Western Michigan University, Texas Women's University, Columbia College Dance Center, and Stanford University, and was in residence at the National Theater of Taiwan.
Choreographic works by Lizenbery have been performed by companies across the country. His nineteen-year collaboration with Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble led to two evening-length concerts. Thunderous reviews for this company applaud the dance-theatre works for their witty and wry comments on society.
During his extensive performing career Lizenbery has also been Guest Artist with the Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, Cliff Keuter’s NewDance, and Tandy Beal Dance Company, and he has appeared in the national broadcast of the PBS program VOICE/DANCE, with Bobby McFerrin. His solo concert, MEN DANCING, is a retrospective of men in American dance, and it has toured nationally and internationally. Dancing Men of the 20th Century, a video documentary based on the solo concert, was broadcast on PBS in July 2000, and is available for educational distribution.
Extensive research on the eight choreographers represented in his concert led to several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to create an hour-long documentary on the life and works of Donald McKayle. His craft and artistry have touched every venue for dance from television and film to Broadway and the concert stage. Donald McKayle: Heartbeats of a DanceMaker was broadcast nationally on PBS in February 2004, and is available for distribution through Dance Horizons.
Gregg Lizenbery was elected as a board member (2004-06) of the American College Dance Festival Association and presented the keynote address at the 2004 Utah Dance Educators Organization; he was elected Vice President of the Council of Dance Administrators (2006-2007) and President (2007-2010); he was designated the 1987 Visiting Scholar to Western Michigan University, and is a permanent member of the Distinguished Artists Forum for the California State University system. The Hawai‘i State Dance Council recognized him with the 1999 Excellence in Performance Award. He is currently a Professor, Director and Graduate Chair of the dance program, and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. (www.hawaii.edu/theatre/)
Scott Kim
What I do
Since 1990 I have been a full-time independent designer of visual puzzles and games for the web, computer games, magazines and toys. My puzzles are in the spirit of Tetris and M.C. Escher — visually stimulating, thought provoking, broadly appealing, and highly original. I have created hundreds of puzzles for magazines, and thousands for computer games. I am especially interested in daily, weekly and monthly puzzles for the web and portable devices.
How I work
I start by understanding your business goals and practical concerns. Who is your audience? What result should your game accomplish? What are your budget and technical constraints?
I then produce mockups of several possible games. Once we have chosen a direction, I write a detailed game design document specifying how the game is to be built. I can work either with your in-house production staff, or provide complete production services through my network of associates. Sometimes I build games from scratch; often it is easier and less expensive to customize one of my existing games.
Throughout the production process I work closely with programmers and artists to monitor progress and resolve questions. I participate in testing sessions. For web games, I participate in ongoing fine-tuning and maintenance.
My background
My background includes work in graphic design, user interface design, programming and mathematics education. My colleagues include leading puzzle designers around the world, computer puzzle game designers, and mathematics educators. I talk frequently at game design and mathematics education conferences. I have written two books: Inversions, and The NewMedia Puzzle Workout. I have a BA in music and a PhD in Computers and Graphic Design from Stanford University. (www.scottkim.com)