INTERVIEWS
"We are so lucky that we get to work in an environment that is creative and new and challenging and pushing boundaries."
VENETIA STIFLER
"None of us had money to pay an administrator of our dance company – we could barely pay the dancers."
Chicago native Venetia Stifler is the Executive and Artistic Director of The Ruth Page Center for the Arts and the Artistic Director of CDI/Concert Dance Inc., founded in 1981. She trained with dance artists Jennifer Mueller, Alwin Nikolais, and Merce Cunningham and performed professionally for over a decade. Previously, Stifler served as the Coordinator of Dance at Northeastern Illinois University.
​
June 28, 2018: Venetia Stifler chronicles her dance training, including her early years growing up in Chicago and later in New York City. She describes her body of work and choreographic processes and analyzed how she acquired and applied skills in administration and leadership. The history, present, and future of the Ruth Page Center for the Arts was also discussed at length.
"Now, The Chicago Project is my
signature piece."
"Then I got really bold and I thought, 'Let's re-do Billy Sunday.'"
"When I started, I thought I had to make up every step. That was the model."