Pamela Newell

Pamela Newell is a Canadian with deep roots in New England.  She grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, studied at the 5-college Dance Department in western Massachusetts and spent several years choreographing, performing and teaching in Boston.  In 1992, she moved back to Canada where she was a vital member of the Montreal dance community as choreographer, performer, scholar, educator and writer for nearly twenty years. For more than ten years she toured the world as a dancer and later rehearsal director for Compagnie Marie Chouinard, reaping critical acclaim as a “virtuoso” and “transfigured by passion” for her performances. 

Since 1988, she has created numerous choreographic works, among them Being Susan Sontag (2006) and Ultreya! or my soul has legs (2004), which was described in Montreal’s La Presse as “absolutely magical…her dance gives off a particular aura, a subtle mix of sensual power and meditative, ethereal communion”.  Deeply committed to improvisational dance practice, she has been the member of several improvisational collectives including Chalk and the IMF.  Her work has toured Quebec and throughout New England.  She has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, as well as other independent funding organizations.

Pam’s writings on dance have appeared in diverse books and periodicals and her research on the role of the dancer in the choreographic process won awards for scholarly excellence. Her teaching engagements have included Concordia University (Montréal), Université du Québec à Montréal, Trinity College (Hartford) and Harvard University.  As well, she has been a guest artist at Connecticut, Kenyon, Smith and Middlebury Colleges, Wesleyan and Yale Universities and at festivals around the globe. 

Deeply influenced by somatic practices, her dance teaching and mentoring are guided by a highly-developed, phenomenological exploration of bodily experience.  Pam is a certified Laban Movement Analyst and holds a Master’s Degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Now based in New Haven, CT, Pam is an visiting guest professor at Trinity College in Hartford and a dance and theater faculty member at the arts magnet high school Educational Center for the Arts.