My choreography has been described as haunting, spunky, full of imagination, and relentlessly quirky. I define my work as physically-motivated dance theatre which says YES to authenticity and honesty.
I make dances to wrestle with my despair and to let us laugh and cry at the same time.
Magic, myth, and memory are part of my work. Because of this, what I create looks and feels whimsical.
I am energized by collaborative processes with other artists, which I understand as a practice of charting the shared borders of our imaginations.
Audience members are my collaborators, too.
Born and raised in rural Ohio, Betsy Miller is a dance artist, educator, and facilitator now based in Salem, Massachusetts. Her choreography blends improvisational practice, ritual, athleticism, and theatricality through collaborative practices, and has been presented in New York, Ohio, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Iowa, Nevada, and Texas. She has performed with Lostwax Multimedia Dance and Fusionworks, and has recently appeared in works by Kathleen Hermesdorf, Heidi Henderson, Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, Audrey MacLean and Rachel Boggia, and in collaborations with Matthew Cumbie, Lida Winfield, and Shawn Hove. She has recently presented at the International Association for Dance Medicine Science (Helsinki, Finland), Dance Studies Association (Vancouver, Canada), National Dance Education Association (Miami, FL), and TEDxSalemStateUniversity.
Miller was a 2017 Bates Dance Festival Emerging Artist, a 2016 Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellow, and a 2019 Next Steps for Boston Dance Awardee. She has received support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Somerville Arts Council, The City of Salem, Gloucester Cultural Council, The City of Providence Department of Art, Culture & Tourism, and The Ohio State University.
Currently serving as Associate Professor of Dance at Salem State University, Miller has been on faculty at Providence College, Connecticut College, Dean College, and AS220 (Providence, RI), and regularly teaches and performs as a guest artist throughout New England and beyond. She holds an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University and a BA in Dance from Connecticut College. More info at betsymillerdanceprojects.com
