Janis Brenner


Janis Brenner is an American dance artist, choreographer, and singer. She is the Artistic Director of Janis Brenner & Dancers in New York City.

Biography

Brenner has performed internationally in the field of contemporary dance. Her honors include a 1997 New York Dance & Performance Award, otherwise known as the Bessie Awards, for her work in Meredith Monk’s The Politics of Quiet and the Lester Horton Award for Choreography from the Dance Resource Center in Los Angeles. Her work has been supported by organizations including the NY Foundation for the Arts, the Fund for US Artists at International Festivals, the U.S. State Department, Asian Cultural Council, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, UNESCO, and US embassies in Moscow, Jakarta, and Dakar. She has also received a commission for the interdisciplinary work, The Memory Project, from the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris.
From 1990 to 2005, Brenner performed with Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and continues to present several of Monk's solo works. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the Hollins University/American Dance Festival graduate program in 2009. She was a faculty member of The Juilliard School until 2021, serving as a choreographic mentor for the Choreographers & Composers' course, and teaching creative process. Brenner was on the board of The Gender Project in NY and is on the advisory board of The Yard in Chilmark, Massachusetts. In May 2006, Brenner was inducted into the Farmingdale High School "Wall of Fame" on Long Island as an honored alumna.
She is current part of the faculty of Marymount Manhattan College and at STEPS Conservatory.

Choreography

Brenner's collection of works includes:
PieceYearRef
Anima1981
Primadonna1981
Morning Dance1981
Guilt1985
Inviolentimes1985
Small Town Girl?1985
Still There1987
Suspicions1987
Pieces of Trust1989
Anticipation1989
The Shekhinah/Voices1989
Liquid Sand/Current Winds1989
Remains and Remembered1990
Non Sinatra Songs1991
Pieces of Trust 1991
Layers1992
Plateau #21993
Ton of Led1994
The Memory of All That1994
Shun-Woa 1994/2007
A Matter of Time1995
About Bob / What About Bob1996
On the Rim of Thought1998
Heart STRINGS1998
Under Renovation1998
The Memory of All That: Part I, Part II1999
The L Word2000
A "Peace" for Women2000–2001
The Last Ones2001
Common Ground2001
The Gender Project: Women Hitting the Wall2001
Contents May Have Shifted...2002
Lake2004
Laugh/Cry2004
The Sound of Moving2006
Natashka's Tanze2006
Room2006
The Awkward Stage2007
Lost, Found, Lost2007
Paradise Songs2008
Corporeal Rupture2008
Dancing in Absentia2009
A Delicate Case2010
Dance from the Heart: Men2010
she was not needing to be changing2018
Inheritance: A Litany2022
She Remembers Her Amnesia2022
Interesting Women 2025
The Memory ProjectOngoing

Awards