Nikki Chalas Named New Executive Director of ZviDance

Nikki Chalas, a rising arts executive with over ten years of experience in the dance and theatre industries, has been named Executive Director of ZviDance.

Emerging from a background as a performer, with credits spanning from dancing with K.C. and the Sunshine Band, to creating movement for Nickelodeon's Dora la Exploradora, Broadway and off-Broadway shows, Nikki Chalas brings a new energy and a fresh perspective to performing arts management, with a unique understanding of artists needs. As a New York City-based arts executive and creative producer, Nikki has worked with many dance-based theatrical companies and productions both in the United States and around the world. Prior to her appointment to ZviDance, Nikki was the Executive Director of the U.S. Operation of The Aluminum Show, where she served as Production Manager and Creative Supervisor, leading the show on major tours throughout Spain, Russia, Italy, and France. Nikki also held the position of Creative Consultant on Breaking Surface - Flying Dance Theatre Over Water and has worked with KEIGWIN AND COMPANY in multiple capacities, including assisting choreographer, Larry Keigwin, on many independent projects. Nikki's international experience particularly drives her desire to work on new, innovative projects - and with companies who have the depth, experience and resources to support this kind of ambition. Nikki holds her BFA in Dance and minor in Theatre from The Ohio State University. Having known Zvi Gotheiner for many years, Nikki is thrilled to be joining ZviDance as Executive Director and is looking forward to leading the company in the upcoming years.

"This is a very exciting time for ZviDance. Nikki Chalas' appointment significantly contributes to the company's gaining momentum. With her diverse background and experience, I am confident in Ms. Chalas' ability to elevate the company to its next level in the upcoming years," said Zvi Gotheiner, artistic director of ZviDance.

"I have long admired Zvi Gotheiner's work and the collaborative nature of his projects. I have been developing a unique trajectory of working with Israeli-born artists - I find their minds to be incredibly innovative and I respect their strong work ethic. I am thrilled to be joining the company at such a vital time in its growth," said Ms. Chalas.

ZviDance brings its audiences a passionate vision of community in a modern age. A collaborative alliance among artists, the company's stirring work celebrates diversity by melding movement genres into the distinct dance vocabulary constantly evolving and refusing to succumb to dialectics of the medium. Led by Israeli-born Artistic Director Zvi Gotheiner and Executive Director, Nikki Chalas, the company is shaped by a collaborative model of creation, involving the ensemble and designers from the initial research phase, so as to constantly push the methodology and ethics of a creation process within an inter-disciplinary format. In the last 20 years of existence, ZviDance has received critical praise and stable funding for its artistic projects, a work that fearlessly refuses to be bounded to specific thematic or aesthetic dogma. The company performs frequently at home in such New York venues as the Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. ZviDance has toured across North America to festivals such as Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and The American Dance Festival, and abroad to Germany, Poland, Russia, Israel, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador and Japan.

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