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Aretha Aoki is a choreographer, performer, and teacher originally from unceded Coast Salish territory (Vancouver, B.C.) and currently residing in Wabanahkik (Maine).
Her work in collaboration with Bessie nominee, sound designer and artist, Ryan MacDonald, has been performed nationally and internationally. She has received funding through the Kindling Fund, Maine Arts Commission, New England Foundation for the Arts, Northampton Council for the Arts, and the National Association of Japanese Canadians. She is part of the NEFA RDDI New England cohort (2021/2022), and an artist with the inaugural Seed Program (2015/2016), a residency exchange with Vermont Performance Lab and Studio 303.
Aretha was a collaborating performer with Emily Johnson/Catalyst Dance for seven years (Terrible Things, the New York performances of The Thank-you Bar, Niicugni, SHORE, and Then a cunning voice and a night spent gazing at stars). As a performer, she has worked with robbinschilds, Rebecca Serrell Cyr, devynn emory, Vanessa Anspaugh, Heather Kravas, Juliette Mapp, Daria Fain, Maura Donohue, Elizabeth Ward, Martin Lanz, Faye Driscoll, Lisa D’Amour & Katie Pearl, and others.
Aretha is Associate Professor of Dance at Bowdoin College, where she teaches Advanced Dancing for Challenging Times; Movement, Breath, Healing: The Politics and Practices of Self-Care; Modern Technique; Repertory; Choreography; and Improvisation. In addition, she has taught college students at Smith College and ACDFA, and children and adults of all ages at community centres throughout Lower Mainland Vancouver. As a teaching artist with Learning Through the Arts, Aretha worked with public school teachers to integrate dance into the British Columbia curriculum. Since 2014 she has been leading the workshop, The Dancer is a Haunted House—based on her choreographic and performance research—at various locations in NYC, San Francisco, and New England. Aretha was Associate Editor at Contact Quarterly (CQ) from 2013-2016, and co-curator of the 2016 Movement Research Spring Festival in NYC. Her lyric essay, "The Practice of Form: A Class by Ralph Lemon" appeared in CQ W/S 2016. Aretha holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University and a MFA from Smith College.
Additional Content:
Institution/Business Type:
Artist / Creative (Individual)
Legal Status:
Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship
Year Founded:
2019
Institution/Business Type:
Artist / Creative (Individual)
Legal Status:
Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship
Year Founded:
2019
Primary Discipline:
Dance - GeneralAdditional Disciplines:
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$50 - $500Teaching Settings:
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$50 - $500NEST Eligible Artist
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$5,000 - $20,000State of Residence:
MaineMinimum Number of Performers:
3Maximum Number of Performers:
6