Catherine Coury
Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist and co-founders of Marcat Dance Company?
Cat: ...As a company we ask ourselves what we can make of the situation. Mario has been creating choreography on the terrace and we have been connecting with old artist friends from around the world and we have time to think about what our values are and what we want to do going forward. There are benefits. The beauty is that artists and people are sharing their vulnerability and through this vulnerability we are being able to see. Hofa Sheckter shared this video segment of him talking with music that I wouldn't have been able to see. There is gaga offered 8 times a day when before I would never be able to do that. There is a sensitivity and connectivity that is really beautiful that is affecting us.
Mario: The biggest thing for me is the fact that this is happening. Marcat and the inspiration for the company comes from nature. We live in nature and right now we take this stop because nature needs to breathe right now and we feel like this is normal to say but it is needed. I know people are passing away but this is a way of nature talking to us saying you need to care for me more and as humans you have the power for that and this is why it doesn't feel drastically negative. There is something behind this...
Catherine Coury is a performer and the creative assistant of Choreographer Mario Bermudez Gil, co-founder and manager of Marcat Dance, as well as a Gaga Teacher (Movement language of Ohad Naharin/Batsheva Dance Company) and Ilan Lev Practitioner. In 2019 Catherine was awarded “Best Dancer” from Certamen Coreografico Distrito de Tetuan, Madrid, and in 2020 she was nominated as a finalist for the Premios MAX in the category of ¨Best Female Interpreter¨. Dedicated to dance education, Catherine frequently teaches at conservatories, universities, and companies around the world and in 2019 launched the first ever Study Abroad Program for the University of Michigan (USA) in Spain in partnership with Marcat Dance. Prior to Marcat Dance, Catherine lived and worked in New York City for five years freelancing with choreographers Shen Wei, Shannon Gillen, Andrea Miller, and Loni Landon. As a performer she toured internationally in venues including the Lincoln Center (NYC), Art Basel (Miami), Festival de Danse (Cannes), and Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre (Moscow), among others. As a dance administrator, Catherine played an integral role in the development of Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance and The Playground NYC. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Catherine received her BFA from the University of Michigan.