Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Morgan Thorson Season 1 Episode 3

Since 2000, Morgan Thorson has generated a body of work that
investigates the
conventions of western concert dance through interdisciplinary
collaboration. Engaged
in critical dialogue with the form, and inspired by a topic,
physical process or point of
view, her work honors the body as a complex means of expression
as it relates to the
site in which it is situated. For Morgan, dancing provides
communication and connection
to people, silence, rage, space, beauty and itinerant
imagination.
A composite of original movement, sound and scenic materials, her
landmark
productions include Public Love, Still Life, YOU, Spaceholder
Festival, Heaven,
Docudrama, Faker and Doppleganger. Her work has been commissioned
and presented
by Walker Art Center, Portland Institute of Art’s TBA Festival,
PS 122, ICA Boston, ODC in
San Francisco, On The Boards, INOVA gallery, Portland Art Museum,
and Legion Arts in
Cedar Rapids. In 2015, she was featured in Local Time, a
three-month exhibition at the
Weisman Art Museum.
A MacDowell Artist Colony Fellow (2018, 2012), Morgan’s honors
include the Doris Duke
Performing Artist Award (2016), and United States Artist (2012),
Guggenheim (2010),
and McKnight (2009, 2002) Fellowships. In 2015 She has received
support from The
Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (2016, 2011,
2009) and the Jerome
Foundation (2002-2007). She twice received the Sage Award for
Outstanding
Choreography. In 2012, Morgan was in residence at the Centre
Choreographique
National De Franche-Comte in Belfort, France.
A certified Skinner Releasing Technique instructor, she is a 2016
Creative Campus Fellow
at Wesleyan University where she engages students and professors
in interdisciplinary
practices, developing pedagogy in Dance, Archaeology, and
Religious Studies.