NANCY SPANIER

PAUL OERTEL

Nancy Spanier is an internationally recognized multidisciplinary artist whose work is "choreographed" in the broadest sense of the word. She coined the term Performance Inventions to describe the expansive scope of her creative practice. A choreographer, filmmaker, textual architect, and master teacher, her work defies conventional boundaries.

Spanier creates performances that speak to our time, concerns, myths, and histories. Drawing on the body, voice, light, film, sound, and the environment as her artistic vocabulary, she moves fluidly across disciplines, pioneering new forms of expression while illuminating the full spectrum of human emotion.

Guided by a search for greater clarity, insight, and understanding, she creates works that explore new perspectives and solutions.

CAREER OVERVIEW - DOWNLOADABLE PDF

Paul Oertel is a multidisciplinary performing artist with more than five decades of international experience as a performer, teacher, and creative mentor. He is best known for his work in innovative dance theatre, as well as for his teaching in the expressive arts.

Finding form for creativity is Paul Oertel's life's work. His practice weaves together theatre, dance, poetry, music, voice, and contemplative disciplines.

Whether through movement, song, music, writing, voice, or the visual arts, he embodies the principles of his evolving philosophy of the Discipline of Freedom while encouraging others to discover and cultivate their own artistic expression.

A catalyst for transformation, Paul is an inventive educator, a provocative performer, and a subtle mentor.

CAREER OVERVIEW - DOWNLOADABLE PDF

BIOGRAPHY

Nancy Spanier (born in New York City, 1942) is an American choreographer, dancer, director, filmmaker, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice has explored the intersections of dance, theatre, music, visual art, and film for more than six decades. A former performer with the José Limón Dance Company and other influential figures in modern dance and experimental theatre, she founded the Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre of Colorado in 1974, later transforming it into Performance Inventions to reflect her expanding artistic vision. Through her choreographic, theatrical, and videodance works, Spanier has created a distinctive body of work presented throughout the United States and Europe, with commissions and support from foundations, museums, universities, and cultural organizations. Her career as an artist and educator has been marked by collaboration, experimentation, and a continual exploration of new forms of performance.

Now based in southwestern France, she continues to conceive new “performance inventions” and mentor artists across disciplines with her lifelong artistic partner, Paul Oertel.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Performance Inventions | 1987–Present, USA and France | Founder, Artistic Director, and Choreographer

Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre | 1974–1986, Boulder, Colorado | Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer and Performer

Xoregos Dance Company | 1967–1969, 1972, San Francisco, California | Performer and Choreographer

Duke Ellington | 1968, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco | Performer in Sacred Concert

Charles Weidman | 1965, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco | Performer in Christmas and Easter Oratorios

Merry-Go-Rounders | 1962–1964, New York | Performer in works by Geoffrey Holder, Pauline Koner, Lucas Hoving, and Fred Berk

Marion Scott Company | 1959–1962, New York | Performer

Tamiris-Nagrin Company | 1959–1962, New York | Performer

Pearl Lang Company | 1956–1957, New York | Performer

Metropolitan Opera | 1957, New York | Performer in The Magic Flute

José Limón Dance Company | 1954–1956, New York | Performer in Doris Humphrey's Day on Earth.

SELECTED CHOREOGRAPHIC WORKS

Breughel Branle, 1969

I Am a Bow in Your Hands, 1969

Parched Plain, 1969

Homage to Magritte, 1970

Private Spectacle in Ten Ridiculous Acts, 1970

Mauvais Jeu, 1971

Glass Camellias, 1972

100% Company, 1973

Swine Luck, 1973

Time Wounds All Heals, 1973

A Peep Show: For Women Only, 1974

Déjà Vu, 1974

Peak to Peak, 1975

Abundance, 1976

Show on Earth, 1976

Canti d’Innocenza, 1977

I’ll Take Romance, 1977

Scenes, 1977

Arena: A Documentary in Five Rounds, 1978 

High Country: A Celebration, 1980

On the Sunny Side, 1981

Pageant in Passage, 1981

Triptych, 1981

Maiden Forms, 1982

Androgenes, 1983

Denver Art Museum Performance, 1983

Eternal Rendezvous: A Trilogy, 1983

Gentle Men, 1983

Hieroglyphics, 1983

Tribe, 1983

Migration: Heat of Angels, 1984

Spheres of Influence, 1984

Fatal Attraction, 1985

Trial by Journey, 1986

Flesh Chronicles, 1988

Hamlet Reclassified, 1988

On the Sunny Side: An Outrageous Cabaret, 1991

Temps et tant d’amour, 2002

VIDEO WORKS

Flesh Chronicles, 1990

Échos, esprits et traces dans l’ancien hospice de Hautefort, 2002

Flesh Sites, 2007

Of memory, 2009

Le jardinier de la Gafferie, 2010

Post-Op, 2014

In Splendid Unison, 2017

A Last Sonnet, 2025

TEACHING AND ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Master Teacher | 1969 - present

USA, France, Denmark, England, Wales, Scotland, and Italy.
Workshops in Choreography, Improvisation, Contemporary Dance Technique, and Piece-making.

Professor 
Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Colorado | 1969–2003

Faculty | Director of the Movement Program
National Theatre Conservatory, Denver Center for the Performing Arts | 1985–1994
Courses: Contemporary Movement and Improvisational Performance Techniques.

Guest teacher | 1976 - present
At institutions including New York University Tisch School of the Arts, the National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center, University of Colorado, Middlebury College, Aarhus Theatre School (Denmark), Örebro Länsteater (Sweden), the Copenhagen Actors' Union and the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Bali.

Founder & Director of Instruction
The Dancentre, Boulder, Colorado | 1980–1987
Workshops in Contemporary Movement and Improvisation.

SELECTED AWARDS

Creative Fellowship in Choreography, Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities; Legends in Dance Award, Carson Brierly Library, Denver, Colorado; Best of Boulder, The Daily Camera, Boulder, Colorado; Pacesetter Award, The Daily Camera, Boulder, Colorado.

ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

Videos of the Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre are held in the permanent archives of: The New York Library for the Performing Arts, New York City; Middlebury College, Vermont; California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, California; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.  

PUBLICATIONS

Larisa Oancea. Nancy Spanier: The Arc of a Dancing Life. Performance Inventions, 2021. 

BIOGRAPHY

Paul Oertel (born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1949) is an American performing artist, dancer, singer, actor, teacher, and Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner whose international career spans more than five decades. He has performed at major theatres and festivals throughout the United States and Europe and is a founding member and principal performer of Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre/Performance Inventions. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, he earned an M.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has taught extensively at universities, conservatories, and arts institutions nationally and internationally. Since 1985, he has also deepened a practice in Jin Shin Jyutsu, an art of harmonising the body's life energy. Throughout his career, Oertel has integrated theatre, movement, voice, and contemplative practice into an evolving artistic philosophy he calls The Discipline of Freedom.

Now based in southwestern France, he continues to create new "performance inventions" and mentor artists across disciplines in collaboration with his lifelong artistic partner, Nancy Spanier.                                                              

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Performance Inventions | 1987–Present, USA and France | Founding Member and Performer

Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre | 1974–1986, Boulder, Colorado | Performer

International performing career spanning more than five decades (since 1971), with events throughout the United States and Europe, including major theatres and venues:

Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.)

Telluride Dance Festival, Colorado

Denver Center for the Performing Arts

Denver Art Museum

Denver Museum of Natural History

Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles)

Schimmel Center for the Arts (New York)

Théâtre Tristan Bernard (Paris)

Edinburgh Festival (Scotland)

Aarhus Festival (Denmark)

Svalegangen Theatre (Aarhus, Denmark)

Facing America Festival (Germany)

Other performances in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, Nürnberg, Regensburg and Tübingen.

SELECTED PERFORMANCES

Repertory performances with the Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre, 1972–1985, in New York, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington D.C., Vermont, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Berlin, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Amsterdam, and Paris, among others.

The Traveler, by Jean-Claude van Itallie (1986) — presented at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles. Director: Steven Kent. Choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

Trial by Journey (1986) — World Premiere, University Theatre, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Director and choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

Flesh Chronicles (1988) — performed with Jean-Claude van Itallie, Peter Goldfarb, and Allegra Ahlquist; premiered at Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder, Colorado. Director and choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

Hamlet Reclassified (1988) — a one-actor performance presented in theaters throughout Colorado, Vermont, Sweden, and Denmark. Director and choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

The Balcony (1988) — Performance coach for the mise-en-scène of Jean Genet’s play at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Director: Jean-Claude van Itallie.

Sunnyside Inside Cabaret (1991) — presented at Svalegangen Theatre, Aarhus, Denmark (1991); Galleria Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, CO (1991); Facing America Festival, Erlangen, Germany (1992); The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, CO (1992); and the Opening Dedication Ceremony, Boulder Public Library, Boulder, CO (1993). Choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

Temps et tant d’amour (1998) — presented in venues throughout France and the United States. Director and choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

On the Sunny Side: An Outrageous Cabaret (2001) — presented in venues throughout Germany, France, and the United States. Director and choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

Échos, esprits et traces dans l’ancien hospice de Hautefort (2002) — videodance aired on French television. Director: Nancy Spanier.

Beatles Buffet (2005) — presented in venues throughout Germany, France, and the United States. Director: Nancy Spanier.

Flesh Sites (2007) — videodance screened at the Sans Souci International Festival of Dance Cinema, Boulder, Colorado, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. Director: Nancy Spanier.

Le Jardinier de la Gafferie (2011) — videodance screened at Punt Multimedia, Barcelona, Spain, and the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, Boulder, Colorado. Director: Nancy Spanier.

Post Op (2014) — videodance screened at the American Dance Festival, Durham, North Carolina, and the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, Boulder, Colorado. Director and choreographer: Nancy Spanier.

In Splendid Unison (2017) — dance documentary screened at the Sans Souci International Festival of Dance Cinema, Boulder, Colorado (2018), and by Middlebury College at the Mahaney Arts Center Dance Theatre, Middlebury, Vermont. Director: Xavier Hirissou, in collaboration with Nancy Spanier and Paul Oertel.

A Last Sonnet (2025) — a videodance screened at the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, Boulder, Colorado. Directors: Nancy Spanier and Xavier Hirissou.

TEACHING AND ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Workshop Leader | 1974 - present

USA, France, Denmark, England, Wales, Scotland, and Italy.
Workshops in Creativity and Expressive Performance.

Developer of The Discipline of Freedom, an original approach to artistic training integrating theatre, movement, voice, improvisation, and contemplative practice; taught internationally since 1974.

Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner | 1985-present

Integrating this Japanese healing art into his artistic and teaching practice.

Faculty member at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado | 1974-2005

Teaching in both the Interarts and Contemplative Psychology programs.

Guest teacher | 1976 - present
At institutions including New York University Tisch School of the Arts, the National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center, University of Colorado, Middlebury College, Aarhus Theatre School (Denmark), Örebro Länsteater (Sweden), the Copenhagen Actors' Union and the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Bali.

ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
Videos of Paul Oertel performing with the Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre are held in the permanent archives of: Lincoln Center Dance Collection, New York Public Library, New York; Middlebury College, Vermont; California Institute of the Arts; University of Nebraska.

PUBLICATIONS

Paul Oertel. Discipline of Freedom: Teachings on Voicework and Artistic Expression. Audio CD.

Paul Oertel. Discipline of Freedom: Reflections on Artistic Expression. Audio CD.

“Paul Oertel: The Voice as Artist”. Interview by Antero Alli, Towards an Archaeology of the Soul: A paratheatrical workbook, Vertical Pool, 2003.

“Self Expression and Healing: An Interview with Paul Oertel.” Interview by Tami Simon, Health & Nutrition.