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Shimon dance companies had wide appeal attracting an audience of devotees from every demographic, unusual for any type of entertainment. Standing Room Only and standing ovations were the norm and the press eagerly followed. Shimon’s unique way of collaborating with filmmakers, lighting designers, and individual dancers on three continents revealed a universal approach to connecting with art, dance, and music audiences all over the world. We very much wish to bring our collaborative spirit to CBA to work with your phenomenal artists and scholars.

“‘WAVES’: Resounding”

“If the energy had been any higher at last weekend’s performances at the Shubert of WAVES VII, by the 25-member troupe from Shimon Braun’s Jazz Dance Center, the theater might have ignited”

- Laura Fortenbaugh Welcomat

“ . . .wild variety of items . . .slick in preservation . . the young dancers generate a bright rhythm and energy, with hard-driven, taut backing from a seven-piece orchestra . . .organized by Shimon Braun, director and choreographer of the troupe, in efficient show-biz terms . . .the most innovative and imaginative dance to emerge from street culture since the Lindy-hop…”

-Clement Crisp Financial Times London . Frankfurt . New York

Area of Research bio

We are passionate artists, choreographers, dancers and most recently authors working together for more than 30 years in partnerships with artists in different fields. Our research and expertise lies in the genre of choreography and artistic collaboration.

Shimon has lived a rich artistic life which has spanned some of the most monumental events of the past century, from escaping the Nazi occupation of Braun’s native Poland, the Israeli Six-Day War, to the avant-garde dance scene of 1960s New York City. Having lived a life of strife and triumph, his vast lived experience molded an artistic Oeuvre which help shape the emergence of Jazz Dance in Israel and the United States.

Select highlights of his career include performing works by Donald McKayle, Glen Tetley, Robert Cohan, Martha Graham and Norman Morrice, training under the instruction of the revered choreographers’ Jack Cole, Luigi, JoJo Smith, Hanya Holm, and Matt Maddox. He has collaborated with prominent directors and filmmakers choreographing for the feature film Kazablan directed by Menachim Golan (distributed by MGM), and “Jazz Plus”, an art film about his company Jazz Plus which received accolades from the Venice Film Festival. Shimon’s dance company Waves received the “Best Cultural Addition to the City of Philadelphia” award as well as sold-out performances in London, New York and standing-room-only concerts in Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

Shimon taught at universities such as the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, choreographed for the nationally syndicated show aired in 75 major markets, This Weeks Music, was deemed “Best of Philadelphia” for his studio Jazz Dance Center, and having his dance company declared a “Phenomenon” by the New York Times, to name a select few.

Shimon and Meghan met in Philadelphia where their first project was co-directing together the Waves Dance Company. Meghan has helped shape the performances with Waves and Jazz Plus over the years and their latest collaboration has been archiving Shimon’s choreography, photos, and artwork and co-writing their up-coming book in progress Waves, A Choreographic Journey of Survival and Triumph which is another aspect of our project.

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Description of our work

Throughout his creative life, Shimon sought to open creative channels in trained and untrained artists alike; creating cohesion of diverse artistic abilities and sensibilities in the process. He created three successful dance companies by embracing this philosophy, which is centered around celebrating the individuality of the dancer. He seeks to identify the specialty of each dancer before creating a work which captures the spirit of the group as a whole. Because of the proficiency of dancers and their varied styles, Shimon was able to combine all of those elements into a kind of unification of contrasts. His philosophy shares that choreography is less about talk than about reading the language of movement. He was always aware of how the body must respond to the beat with rhythmic waves and isolations, and then comes the melody, and its expression appeals more to the soul. We wove our artwork accordingly—both physical and soulful.

After its days as a counter-culture tour de force in 1970s Santa Fe, Shimon brought Waves to Philadelphia. Shortly thereafter, Waves received the “Best Cultural Addition to the City” award. From sold-out performances in London and New York as well as standing-room-only concerts in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. He has collaborated with prominent directors and filmmakers choreographing for the feature film Kazablan directed by Menachim Golan (distributed by MGM), and “Jazz Plus”, an art film about his company Jazz Plus which received accolades from the Venice Film Festival.

The New York Times declared Shimon’s company Waves “A phenomenon.”  Likewise, the Philadelphia Inquirer commented that Waves was “like a tidal wave of entertainment, engulfing viewers in its powerful wake.”

We very much wish to bring our collaborative spirit to CBA to work with your phenomenal artists and scholars. We hope to share Shimon’s artistic practice in the form of a mini-documentary which captures Shimon in the studio and on location collaborating with dancers and filmmakers, creating choreography through the camera lens point of view, in preparation to record a compilation of his most successful works. Performances which were unable to be captured in the past due to the technology not being widely available at the time.  

We would like to share Shimon’s story in retrospect; re-imagine his choreography with the backdrop of New York City as a lifelong experienced artist wanting to collaborate on a deep artistic level with the CBA Cohorts and share this record of living history; what is it about Shimon’s artistic process which is unique to him, what is his artist vision now as he reimagines his choreography, how his collaborative nature has evolved and bring all of this to the project table.

Shimon’s unique way of collaborating with filmmakers, lighting designers, producers, and individual dancers on three continents revealed a universal approach to connecting with art, dance, and music audiences all over the world.

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The nature of what we do is so multifaceted we are in the process of writing a book as well.

About Waves: A Choreographic Journey of Survival and Triumph

Waves is a story of survival. A story of love breathed in the form of jazz dance told through vignettes about the life and artistic practice of Shimon.

 Shimon has lived a rich artistic life which has spanned some of the most monumental events of the past century, from the Nazi occupation of Braun’s native Poland, the Israeli Six-Day War, to the avant-garde dance scene of 1960s New York City.

He studied with Martha Graham, Luigi, Matt Maddox, Jack Cole, and most of the other great choreographers of his generation before having an epiphany one night while watching a go-go dancer in an Israeli nightclub. Shimon felt as if he saw her life story in front of him. The radical expressiveness she exhibited through her dance, completely absent of inhibition, moved him deeply. Although he was able to discern she had never taken a dance class in her life, the profound vulnerability and direct nature of her movement triggered a lifelong search for Shimon. He sought to open similar emotional channels in trained and untrained dancers alike, creating a cohesion of diverse artistic abilities and sensibilities in the process.

Inspired, he conceived a new kind of choreography.