Photo by Alexandra Chan
some biographical things
Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş is choreographer, writer, and filmmaker from Northern California currently researching the intersections of language and movement through interdisciplinary collaborations with composers, designers, animators, coders, writers, and dancers. She was a choreographer at World Stage Design 2022 / Scenofest at the University of Calgary at Alberta, Canada, where she premiered first feature-length dance-film scene r-eco-ver. She is currently the next editor-in-chief of FastForward Magazine, a writer for Dance Art Journal, an administrative liaison for Marin Poetry Center, a teacher with CalPoets and Poetry Out Loud, and a future Djerassi Resident Artist. She was recently awarded an M.A. in Dance Philosophy & History from University of Roehampton, London, where she was commissioned by Sadlers Wells, The Place, and Rich Mix London among other theaters to conduct interviews and write reviews on cutting-edge dance companies and choreographers.
Since presenting her undergraduate thesis strikethrough, at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, it has been featured by Dance Art Journal, samfiftyfour literary, Inbtwn. Magazine, Poethesis Mag, Loculus Collective, SAFEhouse Arts, Mark Foehringer Dance Project | SF, Interdisciplinary Arts Collective, Noori/TWIG Media Lab, and The Museum of Wild & Newfangled Art, and has been adapted for dance & poetry workshops at NYU Tisch, Big Sky Workshop, The Collective SF, Roco Dance & Fitness, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, Mill Valley Public Library, The Writers Nest, and CalPoets.
Maxine graduated magna cum laude from NYU Tisch with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Minor in English and American Literature. At NYU Tisch, she danced in the works of Sidra Bell Dance NY, Lar Lubovitch, Wayne McGregor, Trisha Brown, NiNi Dongnier | Field Motion, Aaron Samuel Davis, and Cari Ann Shim Sham*, among others. Maxine has guest performed for David Diggs, The Collective SF, Isadora Duncan Dance Company, Eclipse Dance Theatre, CALI & Co Dance/Matt El Music, Logos Dance Collective, and most recently Monsoon Dance Company. She supplemented her training at SF Conservatory of Dance, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, performing the works of Ohad Naharin, Christian Burns Amy Seiwert, Eléonore Valère Lachky, and Vittoria De Ferrari Sapetto. Her dance films have been screened at World Stage Design 2022 (Canada), Event/Horizons 2021 (USA), West Wave Dance Festival (USA), SzólóDuó International Dance Festival (Hungary), FilmFest by Rogue Dancer (Online), Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema (USA), room83spring (Online), and kNOwBOX Dance Film Festival (USA/South Korea).
Maxine’s poetry has been published in Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Gallatin Review, October Hill Magazine, Literary Yard, Red Cedar Review, and NYU Under the Arch | Voices, and recently was awarded the Rubin Prize for Poetry by the Gallatin Writing Program for her poem, “A Series of Rogue Geographies.” She served as editor for NYU Under the Arch | Voices from 2018 to 2020, where she curated cross-disciplinary collaborations between graphic artists and writers, and as an editorial writer for Inbtwn. Magazine from 2017 to 2020, an online and print magazine aimed to increase engagement between writers and visual artists. She has also served as a virtual reality reviewer for XR Libraries and has interned with literary organizations Poets House and The Writers Nest. In May 2020, she published her first novella, through Eileen with VerbalEyze Press, and in May 2022, she published her first micro-chapbook ♡-shaped-☐ with Ghost City Press. She currently collaborates with award-winning poet, Rebecca Foust.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
2023 - Resident Artist - Djerassi Resident Artists Program
2022 - Choreographer - World Stage Design 2022 / Scenofest - University of Calgary at Alberta
2021 - Guest Judge - Marin County Poetry Out Loud
2021 - Alternate - US-UK Fulbright Student Program - University of Roehampton Award in Dance
2020 - Rubin Prize for Poetry - The Gallatin Review
2020 - Best 20 Films of the Ork_Kota Platform - Szólóduó International Dance Festival
2019 - NYU Conference Grant - NYU Student Government Assembly
2019 - First Place in Choreography - Dance Prix de New York
2018 - Guest Judge & Sacrificial Poet - Mill Valley Public Library
2017 - AP Scholar with Honor Award - The College Board
2017 - Lilian Roth Award in French - Just-for-Tam Scholarships
2016 - Opening Poet for Hamilton's Daveed Diggs - San Francisco Jewish Community Center
2016 - Second Place in Choreography - Paula Levine Choreographers Contest