Kathy Westwater
Kathy Westwater, 2017 recipient of the Solange MacArthur Award for New Choreography, has choreographically pursued experimental dance forms since 1996. Her work, described in The Brooklyn Rail as “at the limits of the human,” responds to the societal landscape in which it manifests by reimagining the body’s movement potential.
With an eye to contemporary experience, Westwater’s major works have explored the built environments of monuments, landfills, and parks; phenomena of war and pain; intersections of human and animal culture; psycho-physical states of fear; and interactive virtual environments. Her work has been presented by Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Dance Theater Workshop,
Danspace Project, 92nd Street Y, Joyce SoHo, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Franklin Furnace, Dixon Place, Performance Space 122, Movement Research, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Summer Stages Dance Festival, Reed College, Pratt Institute, Temple University, and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Westwater has received commissions most recently from Lumberyard and Temple University, and from Dance Theater Workshop and Danspace Project; and awards from Foundation for Contemporary Art, Puffin Foundation, Franklin Furnace Fund, Meet the Composer, and New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2018 she was awarded major residencies at Petronio Residency Center and Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography.