Aviva Geismar is an Associate Professor in the dance program at Queensborough Community College and artistic director of Drastic Action, a contemporary dance company using dance to create opportunities for serious reflection, self-expression and empowerment. Her choreography has been performed in numerous national and international venues including The Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, Inside/Out at Jacob’s Pillow, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Symphony Space, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Studio 303 (Montreal). From 2006-2010 she led “Dancing to Connect,” an intercultural performance and education project, developed in collaboration with Battery Dance company which brought Drastic Action to numerous cities across Germany. In 2016 “Dis/Location (Fort Tryon)” explored the immigrant experience in Washington Heights through creation of a site-specific piece and creative dance workshops at a local school. Her current multi-phase project, “Dis Place,” explores our national legacy of cultural and geographic displacement in the form of “urban renewal.”