Milka Djordjevich is a choreographer, performer and educator who questions preconceived notions of what dance should or should not be. Her work has been shown at many venues across the country, including the American Realness Festival, BAMPFA, the Chocolate Factory Theater, Danspace Project, the Hammer Museum, the Kitchen, Machine Project, MAK Center, PICA’s TBA Festival, The Philadelphia Thing, REDCAT, Santa Ana Sites and the Whitney Museum, and internationally in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, and the UK. Djordjevich was a 2020 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award recipient, a 2017-2018 Princeton University Hodder Fellow, a 2006-2007 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and a 2008/2010 danceWEB Europe Scholar. She has had residencies at Abrons Arts Center, ARC Pasadena, Baryshnikov Arts Center, CAP UCLA via Los Angeles Performance Practice, Fabrik Potsdam, Jacob's Pillow Lab, LMCC Swingspace, MANCC, PACT-Zollverein and Workspace Brussels, among others. Other projects include serving as guest editor for Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence, initiating the Monday Morning/Night Class series at Pieter and teaching in higher education. Djordjevich has co-authored works with composer Chris Peck, filmmaker Justin Streichman, choreographer Dragana Bulut, designer Samuel Yang, and artist Marcos Luytens. In 2016, Djordjevich established STANA, an organization cultivating local, national and international dance connections.

Follow Milka on Instagram @thisismilka and her website www.thisismilka.com

EXCHANGE #7
In conversation with Milka Djordjevich (Los Angeles, California)
Recorded on July 24, 2021

This is an edited version of Joanna and Milka’s two hour conversation and includes topics such as: her experience with ballet, dreams of becoming a music video back up dancer, what it was like to work in Europe and NYC for many years before returning to southern California, near where she grew up, and the challenges of being a choreographer in the last few years.

*To turn closed captioning on or off, click on the CC icon in the bottom right corner of the video.

Below is the raw movement exchange relayed from Megumi to Milka. You will see Megumi doing her original movement and then you will see both of them doing Megumi’s movement, which Milka learned. Milka will add onto this and that movement will be passed onto Yebel Gallegos in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Below is the raw movement exchange relayed from Milka to Yebel. You will see Milka doing her original movement and then you will see both of them doing Milka’s movement, which Yebel learned. Yebel will add onto this and that movement will be passed onto Sarah Beth Oppenheim in Silver Spring Maryland.

Photos by (left to right): Maria Baranova, Brian Rogers, and Justin Streichman (last two)

This project is commissioned in part by the American Dance Festival (ADF).

Logo design by Chris Cherry