Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Jinza Thayer- Season 4, Episode 50

Jinza Thayer received her BA from Johns Hopkins University and an
MFA from George Mason University. Recognitions include being a
two-time semi-finalist for France’s Rencontres (Bagnolet); a 2010
SAGE Award; and support from the Minnesota State Arts Board,
American Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, and McKnight Artist
Fellowship. She has created over 60 original works and presents
her work as Movement Architecture – a blend of dance and theater
in structured environments. Jinza is a registered Somatic
Movement Therapist and Movement Educator (ISMETA) and has taught
somatic movement re-patterning and modern dance training for the
past 20 years.

“I bring all of who I am into expression when I work– genetics,
experience, and ways of perceiving. Through my choreography, I
work with internal somatic processes to source the body's wisdom
and instigate movement. Those ideas are then made manifest
through immersive installations -- metaphorical spaces that the
dancers navigate in the same way that we, as individuals navigate
our own mental models.”