Nancy Van Ness

Nancy Vining Van Ness is a dance innovator who created the system of dance and musical accompaniment used by American Creative Dance, an ensemble of dancers and musicians in New York. She has performed and directed in the United States and performed at the Atelier de la danse in Paris, the oldest modern dance institution in that city. She was a member of the Barbara Mettler Dance Company in Tucson and founded Dallas Dance Vision where she did much of the work of putting her system of dance and musical accompaniment in practice. 

Van Ness founded American Creative Dance in 1995. Her vision for performance is dance free of classical and other dance conventions and performance where all the artists create instead of a choreographer and composer or author doing so. American Creative Dance is the vehicle for continuing production of new dance, music, and theater. 

Van Ness has danced in New York with the art installations of artist Jaime Davidovich and interpreted a monologue by author Suzanne McCoy. She studied intensively in Buenos Aires with tango legend, maestro de maestros, Puppy Castello. 

She and her partner George Lilly, in daring departure from tango work seen today, danced to three of Astor Piazzolla's classical compositions, played by brilliant young cellist Wendy Law. The collaboration resulted in a trio for two dancers and cellist. 

Van Ness also starred in the romantic comedy film Tango Passionwhich has been presented at film festivals in 2007.

The author of articles published in the United States east coast tango magazine ReporTango and in the Women's International Perspective online journal www.thewip.net, Van Ness is writing a book about being an avant garde modern dancer who has taken up tango.