Carla Peterson and Annie-B Parson

ANNIE-B PARSON founded Big Dance Theater in 1991 with Paul Lazar. She has choreographed and co-created over 15 works for the company, ranging from pure dance pieces, to adaptations of plays and literature, to original works combining wildly disparate and imaginative materials.

Her awards include a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography, a 2002 and 2010 BESSIE award, and NYFA Fellowships in 2005 and 2000. BDT received an OBIE in 2000 and the first Creativity Award from Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2007. She has been nominated for the prestigious CalArts/Alpert Award seven times. She was awarded company residencies at The Yard on Marth's Vineyard in 1996, 1998 and 2002. Ms. Parson was a YCC choreographer at The American Dance Festival where she worked with composer Richard Einhorn to create City of Brides.

Outside of Big Dance, Ms. Parson created choreography for David Byrne in 2008/09 for his world tour. She will work again with Byrne on HERE LIES LOVE at the Public Theater in 2012. She directed and choreographed for the string quartet ETHEL in their first foray into dance. This piece premiered, and was then remounted at the Winter Garden. She created two works for The Othershore dance company that were seen at Ringling Festival and BAC. Her dances are featured in the upcoming film Ride, Roar, Rise about David Byrne. She will be making dances for Nico Muhly's new opera Dark Sisters. She received a Lucille Lortel nomination for her choreography in Sarah Ruhl's Orlando.

Since 1993 she has been an instructor of choreography at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing. She has also taught nationally and internationally including Tokyo and Spoleto, Italy. She was recently featured in BOMB magazine, and wrote a piece for Dance USA on the state of dance/theater in the U.S.

Carla Peterson