Artist Bio

Haley Dennis is a movement artist based in Los Angeles, CA. She holds a degree in Dance and Cultural Studies from Columbia College Chicago (2019), where she studied under the mentorship of Darrell Jones, Lisa Gonzales, Peter Carpenter, Margi Cole, and Ellen Chenoweth. At Columbia, Haley pursued an independent study in dramaturgical writing. This study honed her knack for research by way of improvisation, performance writing, and performance theory. Haley was a development intern at Movement Research (NY) in 2017 and engaged in a work exchange at FRESH Festival (SF) in 2018. Haley believes that to be a choreographer is to be in community with other bodies. She makes collaboration a priority in a lot of her work by building relationships with creators across mediums. Haley is constantly examining her institutional dance training and personal practice in order to co-create new paradigms that investigate ritual vs. innovation, often advocating for the thing that could potentially be left behind. Haley’s pursuit of dance-making as both an intellectual and physical agent cultivates a sense of eagerness within her somatic and interpersonal worlds. Haley is currently investigating the standing relationship between somatic realms and technology as she researches the creation of an interactive website, The Organ of Form, a platform in which all bodies have the opportunity to form understandings of the internal structures of their body and the internet. The interaction of the site will provide users with agency to cultivate embodiment based on personal exploration and attention. This platform will operate as its own “wikipedia:” an archival and reciprocal space of information for new avenues of thinking about embodiment. The exposure to one system is the understanding of all systems, in turn emphasizing the union of community. When we witness the exposed structure of coded digital information, we are encouraged to explore our body’s fascia: the connective tissue beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles from other internal organs. Haley believes that digital and fascial awareness will act as a springboard to understanding the interconnectivity of bodies, communities, and systems.