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. and at STEPS Conservatory. Primadonna 1981 Still There 1987 Suspicions 1987 Pieces of Trust 1989 Anticipation 1989 The Shekhinah/Voices 1989 Liquid Sand/Current Winds 1989 Remains and Remembered 1990 Non Sinatra Songs 1991 Pieces of Trust (duet version) 1991 Plateau #2 1993 Ton of Led 1994 Shun-Woa (Original title: Uzu Maki) 1994/2007 A Matter of Time 1995 About Bob / What About Bob 1996 On the Rim of Thought 1998 Heart STRINGS 1998 Under Renovation 1998 The Memory of All That: Part I, Part II 1999 The L Word 2000 A "Peace" for Women 2000–2001 The Last Ones 2001 Common Ground 2001 Contents May Have Shifted... 2002 Lake 2004 The Sound of Moving 2006 Natashka's Tanze 2006 Room 2006 The Awkward Stage 2007 Lost, Found, Lost 2007 Dancing in Absentia 2009 Dance from the Heart: Men 2010 she was not needing to be changing 2018 Inheritance: A Litany 2022 Interesting Women (final scene only) 2025 The Memory Project Ongoing Awards 1986 – New York Dance On Camera Festival award. 1993 – Richard Porter Leach Fellowship for the Arts from SUNY Empire State College. 1996 – Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for the collaborative work "Tom's Renaissance". 1999 – New York Dance and Performance Nomination (Bessie nomination) for her performance in "Solo for Janis" choreographed by Richard Siegal. 2017 – Best Choreography Award for Eva Petric's Eden, transplanted at United Solo Theatre Festival 2018 – Best Production Award for Inheritance: A Litany at the United Solo Theatre Festival Off-Broadway 2019 – "Critic's Choice" Award from All About Solo Critics' Award for Inheritance: A Litany at the United Solo Theatre Festival Off-Broadway Copperfoot Award for Lost, Found, Lost at Wayne State University

Collaborators

In 1984, Brenner appeared in The Tales of Cri Cri: with Placido Domingo, Mireille Mathieu and Ofelia Medina, created Miguel Alemán, with composer Francisco Gabilondo Soler, and director Federico Weingartshofer.

From 1990 to 2005, Brenner has performed with Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble. She continues to perform a vocal suite from Monk's "Songs from the Hill" in concert. She and Theo Bleckmann recorded their work "Mars Cantata" in 1997. In 1998 she appeared in Too Much On My Plate with choreographer Claire Porter. She was also a co-choreographer for Michael Moschen and a soloist with Annabelle Gamson's company, performing historic repertory of Mary Wigman and Isadora Duncan (1984–87). Brenner worked with Rudolf Nureyev, Plácido Domingo, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Joseph Papp, the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, and Alwin Nikolais when she was a soloist with the Murray Louis Dance Company (1977–84).