dannIGeeLIVE with Karine Plantadit & Monique Martin

dannIGeeLIVE with Karine Plantadit & Monique Martin

Thursday, July 14, 2022

7 pm event/doors 6 pm

Tickets are $10 at the door. 

Wine Reception to follow.

Danni Gee is the host of the weekly Instagram series, dannIGeeLIVE, where she livestreams from her living room, conversations with artists and educators across disciplines and genres. She created the DIY series in April 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to support her artistic community. And now, for the first time ever, she is hosting her show with a live, in-person audience at The Greenwich House Music School where she’ll be joined by independent producer and curator, Monique Martin, and leading modern dancer and Tony-nominated artist, Karine Plantadit.

Danni Gee has over 35 years of experience in the Arts and Entertainment industry. She has performed as a principal dancer with PHILADANCO! The Philadelphia Dance Company, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and as a vocalist, she has performed with artists such as Kathy Sledge, of Sister Sledge, Gloria Gaynor, and Cher, as well with her own indie rock band, Suga Bush. Danni returned to dance in 2006 when she accepted the position of Dance Curator for City Parks Foundation SummerStage, New York’s largest, free outdoor festival. Over the years, she has engaged and commissioned such established companies as Parsons Dance, Dance Brazil, Kibbutz Contemporary Company, Ballet Hispanico, Martha Graham Dance Company, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Along with providing performance opportunities for many emerging choreographers and companies, she has also successfully presented several special theatrical evenings including Notes of a Native Song featuring Stew and the Negro Problem; the 45^th Anniversary Celebration of the hit Broadway show, The Wiz; a concert version of Fela! The Musical; and the 20^th anniversary of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. This year, Danni will be celebrating her 15^th season with SummerStage by presenting a roster that highlights BIPOC women leaders in dance.

Karine Plantadit is a dancer and performer. She was born in France and raised in Cameroon. She moved to Cannes at age 14 to study dance. She subsequently moved to New York City to study dance at the school of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, after seeing them perform in Paris, eventually joining the premiere company and becoming one of its most celebrated dancers.

Since leaving Ailey, Karine has found much success in theater and film. She was part of the original cast of The Lion King, lit the great white way on fire with her star turn in Twyla Tharp’s  Movin’ Out, and was nominated for a Tony Award in the category of Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of the role “Kate” in the musical Come Fly Away. Along with her many Broadway credits, including featured roles in the musicals Saturday Night Fever and After Midnight, she has appeared in numerous tv shows and films, namely So You Think You Can Dance, Sex and the City, and alongside Salma Hayek on the big screen in Frida.

She is currently a senior judge and instructor for the renowned Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) dance organization and an internationally certified yoga instructor and life coach, regularly making guest speaking appearances and instructing at some of the most prominent and prestigious dance schools and yoga studios around the world. And with her 20-plus years of experience in the Broadway and dance community as an artist, and because she knows the demands of this level of performance, she recently created the Conscious Comeback Program to meet the needs of the community in this unique time and use her connection with yoga, meditation, and healing practices to help artists, including the cast of Hamilton and the dancers of Alvin Ailey, enhance their performance and reach their highest potential in their long-awaited return to the stage.

As a propagator of art, culture and ideas, Monique Martin brings her passion and experience in community building through the arts to elevate and instigate. An independent creative producer, artist, curator, and marketing consultant, she has partnered with and produced for Joe’s Pub, Disney Theatricals, The Apollo Theater, The New Victory Theater, Southbank Centre/UK, The MET Museum, Park Avenue Armory, NJPAC, Queens Theater in the Park, and HBO.

As Programming Director for the River2River Festival, SummerStage and Harlem Stage, she expanded the curatorial breadth by including contemporary circus, and international artists. She is an experienced commissioner of new work, working closely with artists from ideation to successful premier. She is an ardent facilitator of collaborations across cultures, sectors, and genres, and has partnered with cultural consulates and embassies from around the globe.

She is currently focusing her work on New York City’s continued re-opening, supporting artists and arts organizations in presenting outdoor, virtual and hybrid arts, and making her first contemporary circus.