I am a Brooklyn-based dance artist and co-founder of VIA Dance Collaborative, the formation of which I realized when awarded the Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center Institute in 2003. My work has been presented at Jacob's Pillow, the CCN-Ballet de Lorraine (Nancy, France), The WUK (Vienna), The Firkin Crane (Cork, Ireland), the McCallum Theater (California), the East Street Theater (Massachusetts), Island Moving Company at The Great Friends Meetinghouse (Rhode Island), in topos, topio curated by Donna Faye Burchfield in The Philly Fringe Festival, and widely in New York, at spaces including Joyce SoHo and Dance Theater Workshop (DanceNow/NYC), Dance New Amsterdam, Center for Performance Research, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and Dixon Place. Lullaby in Surrealism, my last evening-length work with Easter and Briggs, was presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater and Jacob's Pillow in 2008-2009. Our next evening length collaboration, Record, will be completed May 24-27 2012 at One Arm Red in DUMBO. My choreography has been supported by grants including the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Fund for Creative Communities and Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. I received a 2011 Blank Canvas Residency at The Firkin Crane in Cork, Ireland and am a recipient of the pilot Parent/Choreographer Space Grant from BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange. My work has also been supported by and by space grants and residencies at One Arm Red, the Chen Dance Center, the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, and Summer Stages Dance. I am currently a lecturer at University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute, and have taught at SUNY Fredonia (Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance), and as guest artist at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), Dickinson College, and Performática (Puebla, Mexico). New York teaching includes Dancepants, CLASSCLASSCLASS and DNA Modern Guest Artist Series. I have also had the privilege of dancing for Helen Simoneau since 2006. I completed my MFA in dance on fellowship through Hollins University/The American Dance Festival in 2011 and hold a BFA from NCSA. From 2008-2011, I served on Dance/NYC’s Junior Committee, and I was a 2009 Access Dance/USA Scholarship recipient. I am currently serving my second term on the selection committee for The NY Dance and Performance Awards aka The Bessies. Seth Easter and I had a son, Eden Farrow Easter, born November 8!
My vertical and deep relations trace their way back to Eastern Europe and England. In my memorable past, somewhat traceable, I find connection in my grandparents and their stories about their parents. I experience this history in values of honesty and hard work and not compromising but being polite. Never lying. And of faith, of poetic language and valuing the arts and of… drawing a picture – directing a play – making a dance – writing a poem – learning a language – reading a book – attending the symphony – sitting in rehearsal – pursuing your dream – writing a sermon – building a house – volunteering for something you believe in – walking in the woods – helping others – sweeping a chimney – baking a pizza – picking blueberries – owning a circus – watching the ocean – digging a grave…
