dance and choreography bio & press
I took ballet at a neighborhood school during my teens, eventually joining the company and performing ballets Nutcracker and Cakewalk in Chicago and environs. After high school I moved to New York, where I studied ballet with Jocelyn Lorenz, Kim Abel and Maggie Black, modern at the Martha Graham School, and jazz with Luigi, Betsy Haug, Phil Black, and Michael Owens. I danced with companies including Meg Eginton, Joanne Fregalette Jansen, Erroll Grimes, the Latin Rhythms Dance Co., and Diane Martel, appearing at the Joyce Theater, Whitney Museum, DTW, Lincoln Center, St. Marks Church, the Kitchen, and DIA among others. Other credits include Off-Broadway, film, music video, and TV, along the way working with luminaries such as Bill Irwin, Bob Bowyer, and Horace Turnbull. I moved to Canada in the late 90s where I studied acting with Patrick Christopher and performed in plays including Unidentified Human Remains, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Red Noses. I have also studied the Alexander Technique extensively.
Upon returning to New York, I began to teach and choreograph and my work has been presented internationally.
After a long hiatus from dance, I returned to teaching and to creating work in 2018. My current work is best described as "Dance Theater" because I use text and narrative as well as dance.
Playwright John Steppling has said that all good theater is about crime, homesickness and exile. That's my starting point.
Although dance is my prime connection to the stage, I like putting it in places it doesn't usually fit.
Upon returning to New York, I began to teach and choreograph and my work has been presented internationally.
After a long hiatus from dance, I returned to teaching and to creating work in 2018. My current work is best described as "Dance Theater" because I use text and narrative as well as dance.
Playwright John Steppling has said that all good theater is about crime, homesickness and exile. That's my starting point.
Although dance is my prime connection to the stage, I like putting it in places it doesn't usually fit.
Some Press:
Dance:
"Strong, personable dancing" -- Jennifer Dunning, NY Times
"...sharp and powerfully performed," -- Christopher Majka, The Globe and Mail
"...astonishing physical grace" -- Theatrum Magazine
Choreography:
"unique, abstract and poetic...an evocation of what is lost, and what we are now in danger of losing" -- Andrew Walker White, DC Theater Arts
"a strange, beguiling night at the theatre"-- Jack Read, Broadway World
"Throughout the work, a narrative develops about various animals (extinct, endangered, feral, domestic, and the most vexing of all: the human animal) that’s punctuated by accomplished dance pieces that borrow from the likes of Martha Graham, Lar Lubovitch, Debbie Allen, and Merce Cunningham. But these gestural quotations are expertly mixed in the cauldron of House’s artistry to evoke memory, loss, and the sometimes-failed attempt at survival" -- Frank Garrett, Theater Jones
Dance:
"Strong, personable dancing" -- Jennifer Dunning, NY Times
"...sharp and powerfully performed," -- Christopher Majka, The Globe and Mail
"...astonishing physical grace" -- Theatrum Magazine
Choreography:
"unique, abstract and poetic...an evocation of what is lost, and what we are now in danger of losing" -- Andrew Walker White, DC Theater Arts
"a strange, beguiling night at the theatre"-- Jack Read, Broadway World
"Throughout the work, a narrative develops about various animals (extinct, endangered, feral, domestic, and the most vexing of all: the human animal) that’s punctuated by accomplished dance pieces that borrow from the likes of Martha Graham, Lar Lubovitch, Debbie Allen, and Merce Cunningham. But these gestural quotations are expertly mixed in the cauldron of House’s artistry to evoke memory, loss, and the sometimes-failed attempt at survival" -- Frank Garrett, Theater Jones
