"infuse[s] [her] stage presence with fluidity, power and a promise of taking no moment for granted. . ."
Caroline Palmer, STAR TRIBUNE
My art is being human.
I began my career at the age of 17 as a ballet dancer. Now at 32, I am a barefoot freelance dance artist and choreographer who “infuses [her] stage presence with fluidity, power and a promise of taking no moment for granted...” -Caroline Palmer, Star Tribune
I have lived multiple dance lives as my career has moved through various dance forms.
Hailing from the small town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, I spent my youth studying at En Avant School of Dance. Upon invitation, I moved to Duluth, Minnesota at the age of 15 to intensively study, perform, and tour internationally with Minnesota Ballet. After completing a traineeship with the company, and fueled by a desire to explore the potential of my dancing body, I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to study modern and contemporary dance forms at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance in 2014.
My body became my home.
While at the University, I performed in works by Helen Tamiris (under the direction of Dianne McIntyre), Donald Byrd, Nora Chipaumire, Uri Sands, and Larry Keigwin as part of University Dance Theatre.
Additionally, I have attended training programs with American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Arts Minnesota, Donald Byrd, Guthrie Theater, Minnesota Ballet, Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater, and Velocity Dance Center, as well as various Alexander Technique, Improvisation, and Feldenkrais workshops.
I am deeply devoted to rigorously expanding my range in an effort to encompass movement forms that are as broad as the human experience; to excavating my physicality and emotions within the context of each work; to sharing my strong presence, intense physicality, embodied musicality, insatiable curiosity and unwavering commitment with audiences. This devotion culminates in stunning artistry and performances that are vulnerable, honest and undeniably me.
I am a highly sought after dance artist across genres and have built lasting relationships with many notable choreographers. I have originated roles in work by Patrick Acogny (Contempo Physical Dance), Berit Ahlgren (HoneyWorks), Dimitri Chamblas, Karen L. Charles (Threads Dance Project), Non Edwards, Eric Sean Fogel (Minnesota Opera and Portland Opera), Nildinha Fonsêca (Contempo Physical Dance), Jennifer Glaws (Jagged Moves), Helen Hatch (Hatch Dance), Jennifer Ilse (Off-Leash Area), Nic Lincoln, Alanna Morris (I A.M. Arts), Valerie Oliveiro, Kerry Parker, Stuart Pimsler (Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater), Jenn Pray (Dance & Other Behaviors), Ashwini Ramaswamy (Ragamala Dance Company) and Marciano Silva dos Santos (Contempo Physical Dance).
I share suspended moments in time with audiences through the conveyance of rich physical manifestations of musical and emotional experiences that reflect the depth of the human experience.
In 2020, I embarked on a personal movement research project entitled tangibleconduits, an improvisation-based study through which I discovered how movement flows through me differently when I follow my own desires versus receiving external choreographic direction. This research culminated in my choreographic debut - a solo entitled tangible conduits which was selected for Inbox@Artbox, a festival presentation of Twin Cities choreographers in Minneapolis in October 2020.
In 2021, I created a second solo entitled Oldfound which premiered at Live @ The Shed in St. Paul. I was also in residence at Tofte Lake Center (Ely) as part of the National Emerging Artists Program researching my third solo work - ink rivers, which premiered in 2022 at Live @ The Shed in St. Paul and featured original music composed and played live by critically acclaimed guitarist Daniel Volovets.
Through the research and development of my own work I have come to I have come to the profound realization that my unique movement voice, whether utilized in my own work or in the work of others, is the fullest manifestation of how I exist in the world. It is where all my dance lives breathe together freely in harmony and dissonance.
I have cemented my understanding of what is most important to me as a performing artist - sharing my humanness. I do not desire to be set apart from an audience in performance, but to journey hand-in-hand as both leader and follower. To that end, though I have a long history of proscenium performance, I have come to prefer performing in intimate spaces where I can experience everyone as they experience me.
I exist in a state of constant embodiment of the multiple dance lives I have lived as my career has moved through various dance forms, coupled with my unique sensibility.