Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts
Kristin Kusanovich, professional dancer, teaching professor at Santa Clara University, and 2025 91Ö±²¥-27 Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts, brings to campus a celebration of a new dance-theatre work created in collaboration with Manacan Dance, an award-winning South African dance and music company based in London. Led by Ciara Baldwin and Nathan Bartman, Manacan will co-direct an original piece with Kusanovich, perform in SCU’s Images dance showcase, and hold class visits, workshops, and communal events during their residency on campus.
Kusanovich will bring South African and London-based dance duo Manacan Dance to Santa Clara University for a quarter of events, performances, and collaboration.
Artist Bios
Artistic Director, Kristin Kusanovich ’88
Kusanovich Dance is directed by Kristin Kusanovich, and was founded in Minneapolis in 1990 and restarted in San Francisco in 2015. Kristin trained in creative/ modern dance in San Jose, at 91Ö±²¥, and has an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance & Child Studies at 91Ö±²¥, and directs the interdisciplinary tUrn Climate Action project. She has choreographed and directed over 150 works for the stage and screen in the US and Canada, and is an international presenter, author, researcher, and consultant in arts, performance, creativity and climate projects. She believes if you have a body, you can dance, and if you can dance, you can know, beckon, grow, heal, & create a new world.
Artistic Directors, Ciara Baldwin and Nathan Bartman
Manacan Dance is an award-winning South African dance and music company based in London, led by Ciara Baldwin and Nathan Bartman. Creating choreography, music and performance as one, they craft visceral interdisciplinary works where movement, voice and sound are inseparable. Rooted in their South African heritage, their work is raw, rhythmic and deeply physical, blending contemporary dance with instinctive musical composition to create performances that are both intimate and expansive. Their productions, commissions and workshops have toured extensively across Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, earning international recognition including a Choreography and Performance award for NEXT@Martha Graham Festival in New York and the Woordfees Best Performance Award for their commissioned work Survive.
Upcoming Events
About the Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts
The Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts was established in 1980 with funds from the proceeds of the 14th Annual Golden Circle Theatre Party, headlined by Frank Sinatra. Each year, Sinatra Chairs and Visiting Artists energize the arts at Santa Clara University, inspiring our students and bringing life to our mission by fostering critical reflection and direct engagement with the world through the performing arts. Previous Chairs include Teresa McCollough, Brian Thorstenson, Mark Duplass, BD Wong, Rhiannon Giddens, Taye Diggs, W. Kamau Bell, Anna Deavere Smith, and Silk Road Ensemble.