about marion:

I am an artist - dancer, choreographer, vocalizer/soundmaker and educator - currently living on the unceded land of the Munsee Lenape and Canarsie peoples, known today as Brooklyn. My parents are both from Latin America and they are both Mesoamerican Archaeologists, so I was raised in many places. As a child, I developed a practice of being with a vast imagination—in the back of a car driving for hours through rural Oaxaca, playing in the dirt at an archaeological site, so many airplane rides to visit family. In my dreams and imagination, I gave myself permission to be wild and take up space. I began to understand dancing and making dances as a way to dream, to make dreams alive, and to invite others to witness your imagination. 

I graduated with honors from Vassar College (2009), where I studied Geography-Anthropology and was a member of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre. I began my career as an artist in New Orleans- I choreographed, performed, taught and helped build a grassroots community dance organization out of my friend’s living room when there were no viable spaces in our neighborhood to take class, rehearse or share work. 

Since moving to NYC, my work has been presented by Danspace Project, Gibney, Center for Performance Research, Movement Research at Judson Church, Brooklyn Studios for Dance, New Dance Alliance, Triskelion Arts, Green Space, Dance Now NYC, Dance HOLO and the Domestic Performance Agency. I have been an artist in residence at The Chocolate Factory Theater, Mana Contemporary, Gibney, The Field Center, New Dance Alliance, Amherst College, Turkeyland Cove Foundation, Catwalk Art Institute and Arts on Site. I have toured my work and teaching practice nationally to Seattle WA, Amherst MA and New Orleans LA. As a performer I have had the pleasure of working for Joanna Kotze, BAND|portier, Laura Peterson, Michelle Boulé, Athena Kokoronis, Tyler Rai, Shandoah Goldman, Melissa Riker, Annie Kloppenberg, Michiyaya and as a guest performer with David Dorfman Dance and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. 

My teaching practice is influenced by continued lessons from mentors/teachers/friends - Kendra Portier, Michelle Boulé, Jennifer Nugent, Joanna Kotze, Samita Sinha, Miguel Gutierrez, John Jasperse, Anna Sperber, Yanira Castro, Janet Panetta, Lisa Race and Barbara Mahler.

Website: marion-spencer.com