My choreography engages my background in hyper-formal concert dance training and looks for ways to disrupt it. I explore dance as a type of visual essay and consider how movement can express non-linear, relational narratives. Through the juxtaposition of virtuousic movement with distilled imagery, I aim to create a contemporary magical realism that reflects and re-imagines how the body makes memory and the present visible.
Dawn is currently a visiting artist at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA as the Postgraduate Fellow in Dance (2010-2012). Prior to Dickinson she was an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland College Park for the 2008-2009 and the 2009-2010 academic years. She continues to make creative work in New York NY in addition to her teaching through out the Mid-Atlantic region.
Her creative work has been presented by Danspace Projects Out of Space at Bric Studio, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Body Blend at Dixon Place, Progressive Arts Network, Aunts, University Settlement, Urs former dance palace in Brooklyn, Mt. Tremper Arts, and the 2006 MFA Show at the Reynolds Industries Theater at the American Dance Festival. She has been a guest artist at Hollins University, and M.I.T. Other teaching includes The American Dance Festival's 2010 Six Week School, The Ailey School, Dance New Amsterdam, the North Carolina School of the Arts, American Dance Festivals Four Week School, as well as for the annual ADF Young Artist Tuition Scholarship audition tours. In addition to her own choreography, Dawn has performed in the work of Karinne Keithley, Regina Rocke, and Aynsley Vandenbroucke Movement Group. She has been a performing member with Theater et al, directed by Brian Rodgers at The Chocolate Factory in Long Island City. She appears in, as well as assisted Thomas Defrantz with a film for The New York Historical Societys New York Divided exhibit. Additionally, Dawn presented her research on New York Citys Cabaret Laws at the 2006 annual Society for Dance History Scholars Conference in Banff Canada, and her article The Right to Move was published in the Movement Research Performance Journal.
Most recently Dawn has also performed in works by Jen McGinn, including Naughty Bits at DTW's 2009 Fresh Tracks, and with Dahlia Nayar at the 2009 Venice Biennale Danza and the National Botanic Gardens in Washington, DC.
She has an MFA from Hollins University/The American Dance Festival.
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