In the late 70s and early 80s grocery stores began carrying non-brand name or generic foods, the labels for which were either all white or yellow with bold black lettering indicating what was in the container e.g. Sweet Peas, Fruit Cocktail, Corn, etc. My friends and I called these products black label foods. I loved the no frills, you get what you see impact of these black label products. There was no hiding a product’s actual quality or contents behind glossy marketing, hype, or branding. That is the no nonsense ethic I want to infuse in Black Label Movement. I also embrace the layered meaning “movement” evokes. It speaks about actual movement, but it also could describe a social movement which feels right for what BLM hopes to be. Eventually, I want BLM to have an identity independent of my name with my and BLM Artistic Associate Emilie Plauche Flink’s work showing along side the work of other company members like an artists’ collective. – Carl Flink

Carl Flink, Artistic Director

Carl Flink is the current chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the Nadine Jette Sween Professor of Dance at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Minneapolis, Minnesota based performance group, Black Label Movement (www.blacklabelmovement.com).

A Limón Dance Company member and soloist during much of the 1990s, Flink has also danced for Daniel Nagrin, Creach/Koester Men Dancing, Bill T. Jones, Paul Taylor, Shapiro & Smith Dance, David Grenke, Joanna Mendl-Shaw, Nina Winthrop, Paula Mann and Janis Brenner. His choreography has been commissioned or presented by the dance programs of Stanford University, the University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, Mount Holyoke College, Brigham Young University and Roger Williams University, as well as Ballet Arts Minnesota and the Limón Dancers’ Choreography Project. In May 2008, he received a Boomerang Fund for Artists, Inc. Award and a 2008 McKnight Fellowship for Choreography. In 2010-11, Carl will conduct teaching or choreographic residencies at the University of Illinois – Champaign-Urbana, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Carleton College, Northfield, MN. He will also create a new commission to premiere at the Columbia College Dance Center in March 2011 for the Chicago-based Same Planet Different World Dance Company.

Beyond the dance world, he graduated from Stanford Law School in 2001 and worked as a staff attorney with Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. protecting the legal rights of low-income family farmers and promoting sustainable agriculture until 2004. Carl also holds a B.A. in Political Science and Women Studies, summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota. Most importantly, he raises his three daughters Willa, Freyja and Iris with his life partner and BLM Artistic Associate Emilie Plauché Flink.

Emilie Plauchè Flink, Artistic Associate

A member and soloist with the Limón Dance Company from 1989 – 1999, Emilie also performed for and was greatly inspired by Annabelle Gamson and Martha Clarke. She has also danced in works by Ralph Lemon, Doug Varone, Phyllis Lamhut, Garth Fagan, Jiri Kilian, Anthony Tudor, Colin Connor and Paul Taylor, among others. During her time with Limón, she was a frequent faculty member of the Limón Institute in New York City and conducted master classes across the country. In the spring of 1998, she was a Sage Cowles Guest Artist at the University of Minnesota’s Dance Program along with her husband and former Limón partner, Carl Flink. As a choreographer, she has created commissioned work for San Jose State University, The Carlisle Project, Roger Williams University, Chattanooga Ballet, Of Moving Colors Dance Company, Baton Rouge Ballet, and Minnesota’s Springboard Dance Company. Emilie is the mother of three daughters; Willa, Freyja and Iris. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the Juilliard School.

Sharon Fischlowitz, Executive Director

Sharon Fischlowitz is the Executive Director of Black Label Movement. Formerly the Executive Director of Minnesota Justice Foundation, she served in various roles from VISTA attorney to Executive Director. She earned a Comparative Arts degree from Washington University and a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law and has been connected to dance through Carl and Emilie for many years.