Lauren Simpson Email and Phone Number

My work is rooted in collaboration, improvisation, and experimentation. I was recently named one of four Artists in Residence at ODC Theater in San Francisco (2018-2021). My dances explore the embodiment of speed, attention, focus, boredom, and stimulation as we understand it in both our actual bodies and virtual bodies.

Three year residency at ODC Theater.

I taught the field-based “Dance in San Francisco” course to undergraduates as well as several semesters of in-studio practice courses at all levels of contemporary modern dance technique. I also led recruitment efforts by visiting high schools and college fairs and as well as facilitated faculty retreats for continuing teacher development.

I taught various in-studio movement technique classes and I developed a new embodied dance history course, “Move and Be Moved: 100 Years of American Dance History.” It was both an experiential and theoretical approach to performance studies which examines American concert dance through socio-cultural lenses, physical workshops, and seeing and writing about live performances. I also worked closely with well-known dance choreographers: Liz Lerman, John Jasperse, Andrea Miller, and Aszure Barton.

CRLS is a culturally and socio-economically diverse public school (Title 1). Generally accepted as one of the most robust arts programs across public high schools in the country, our dance program offered three levels of contemporary dance, dance history, choreography and courses in collaboration with other departments. I taught all classes and directed the after school dance program and produced three dance performances per academic year. I wrote and implemented new curricula to match state standards and engender cross disciplinary learning. I developed and taught a course which collaborated with the Film & Media Studies department.

Each week MT classes offer contemporary movement taught by a rotating group of working artists and master teachers from Boston and beyond. Along with my co-founder, Annie Kloppenberg, we have brought in recent master teachers such as David Dorfman, Angie Hauser, Kyle Abraham, and Gallim Dance.