SIDRA BELL

Sidra was commissioned as the first black female choreographer to make works for New York City Ballet (NYCB) in the fall of 2020 (Fall Digital Season) and 2021 (Fall Fashion Gala/Innovators & Icons Program). Recent features of her historical work at NYCB include Essence Magazine, NY1, News12, Cero Magazine, and Amsterdam News. She was the choreographer of ARENA in collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Derek Fordjour for his feature solo show at Petzel Gallery in Fall 2023 (New York Times Critic Pick). She was nominated for Outstanding Choreographer at The Bessies in 2022 and 2023. She was featured on air for a special segment on the TODAY Show “How choreographer Sidra Bell is blazing a trail for next generation: Groundbreaking dancer and choreographer Sidra Bell talks making history at the New York City Ballet and blazing a trail for future generations”

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Her career has spanned over 20 years and her choreography has been seen throughout the United States and in Denmark, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, China, Canada, Aruba, Korea, Brazil, and Greece. Bell has created over 100 works notably for BODYTRAFFIC, Ailey II, The Juilliard School (live music collaborations with Dennis Bell and Jacob Cooper), Whim W’Him, Nevada Ballet Theater, Nashville Ballet, Boston Conservatory at Berklee College, Point Park University, River North Dance Chicago, Big Muddy Dance Company, Ohio State University, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sacramento Ballet, Boulder Ballet, New Dance Partners Kansas City, Ballet Austin, Springboard Danse Montréal, Boston Dance Theater, St. Louis Dance Theatre (Big Muddy Dance Company), GroundWorks Dance Cleveland, Robert Moses' KIN San Francisco, University of North Carolina School of the Arts (live music collaboration with Nia Imani Franklin), Mutual Dance Theater Cincinnati, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet Schools, Robert Moses' Kin, University of Texas at Austin among many others. 

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Sidra Bell Dance New York (SBDNY, Inc.) her nonprofit dance troupe celebrated its 20th anniversary in December 2021. The company tours internationally collaborating with cutting edge institutions in dance, theater, and design. Its body of work has been presented in venues across the globe including the critically acclaimed evening length works ReVUE, STELLA and MÖNSTER OUTSIDE (National Dance Project Award Winner and collaboration with Swedish band New Tide Orquesta). The company received a 2023 Creative Capital Award in collaboration with composer Immanuel Wilkiins (New York Time Best Jazz Albums 2020). Mainstage presentations of her company include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met Breuer, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Aronoff Center Cincinnati, Manship Theatre Baton Rouge, Cape Fear Community College Wilmington, NC, Kelly Strayhorn Theater Pittsburgh, One Dance Week Bulgaria (Plovdiv), Vara Konserthus (Sweden), Kungsbacka Teater (Sweden), Emens Auditorium Indiana, New York Live Arts, Dance Theater Workshop, The Duo Theatre, Gibney, Tangente Montréal, and 92Y. Company creative residencies have been presented and hosted by Dance Theater Workshop, New York Live Arts Studio Series, Contemporary Arts Center technical residency, PearlArt Pittsburgh, Kelly Strayhorn Theater & Alloy Studios, Vara Konserthus Sweden, LevyDance at ODC Theater San Francisco (Rainin Foundation/NEA), CPR-Center for Performance Research Mellon Residency, MAD at Stella Adler, Arts Umbrella Vancouver, Point Park University, and SITE Sweden.

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Bell has been a cultural ambassador for contemporary dance in Bulgaria (America for Bulgaria/Trust for Mutual Understanding/Derida Dance Center) and Turkey (the U.S Embassy & Motto Dans Kolectif). Through these engagements she was featured on the local news in Istanbul and met with the Mayor of Sofia. She has been an extensive collaborator for acclaimed director and composer Karmina Sîlec for her groundbreaking work in vocal theatre and opera. She was an collaborator and movement advisor for Fauvel (Slovenia 2015), Threnos (Slovenia 2020, BABA (San Francisco 2023), and Old Man and the Sea (Arizona State University & University of North Carolina Chapel Hill 2024 with Sîlec, Paola Prestini, and Beth Morrison Productions). She is was a Master Lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia (2012-2024), and a artist-in-residence at Harvard University and two-time visiting lecturer at Harvard University (Office of the Arts and Theater, Dance, & Mdia). She has also held Adjunct Professor positions at Ball State University in Indiana, Georgian Court University in New Jersey, Marymount Manhattan College, LINES B.F.A. Program at Dominican University and Barnard College. She has a B.A. in History from Yale University (named a Yale Scholar) and an MFA in Choreography from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance (Patricia Kerr Ross Awardee). She was a University of Minnesota Theater Arts & Dance Cowles Visiting Artist and an artist in residence at Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle). Her body of work was featured in the Harvard University Theater, Dance & Media course Contemporary Repertory: Dance Authorship in the 21st Century University of Oklahoma named her the Brackett Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair in 2021 and she was the 2019 Honoree at CPR-Center Performance Research’s Gala in New York City and a 2018 Honoree at Michiyaya’s Gala in New York City.

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She has won awards, notably a 1st Prize for Choreography at the Solo-Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany in 2011 for Grief Point and a 2015 National Dance Project Production Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Her work Conductivity won a 2nd prize for the performer at the Solo-Tanz Festival. Grief Point. and Conductivity toured through Germany and Brazil. February 3 was named SIDRA BELL DAY by Mayor Thomas Roach in the City of White Plains, NY. In 2012, she was commissioned as the choreographer for the feature film TEST set in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS crisis in 1985. TEST was awarded two grand jury prizes from Outfest. She has been a pedagogue teaching her methodology in special engagements at prestigious programs for dance and theater including University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Stella Adler Studio for Acting, International Festival of Dance in Goiania (Brazil), University of Colorado Boulder, Derida Dance Center Bulgaria, Jacob’s Pillow, Movement Invention Project, SpringboardX, Movement Invention Project (Founding Collaborator), University of Wisconson-Madison, Vancouver’s Arts Umbrella, Montréal’s Ballet Divertimeno, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Toronto’s Canadian Children’s Dance Theater among many others . She was the inaugural teaching artist at University of the Arts Sophomore Performance & Coaching Project where she has led a teaching team under her pedagogical methods since 2012. Bell is the founder and creative director of the award winning MODULE Laboratory™, a New York City based immersive platform centered in improvisation for intergenerational movement and theater artists. MODULE Laboratory™ has been presented at New Dialect (Nashville), Arcos Dance (Austin), Drexel University (Philadelphia), The Ohio State University (H.A.T.C.H. Columbus), Greenstreet Studios (Boston), LINES Ballet School (San Francisco), PeartArts (Pittsburgh), Nevada Ballet Theater Education (Las Vegas) and also been produced at TanzFabrik (Berlin). In 10-years the laboratory has brought together over 500 artists from around the world.

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Bell has been a featured guest speaker at Shack15 (Djerassi in San Francisco), The Juilliard School (dialogue with Tommy DeFranz), MIT Design Panel, Harvard University, Yale University Master’s Tea and panels, Cornish College, Goucher College, Derida Dance Center (Bulgaria), The Spence School, University of Minnesota, University of the Arts Knowing Dance More, Boston Conservatory at Berklee College to name a few. She was named Distinguished Alumna in 2022 at The Spence School NYC. She is on the boards of CPR-Center for Performance Research and Sprinboard Danse Montréal. She is on the advisory committee for Michiyaya Dance.

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Currently, she is mining her living archive in an action installation entitled RETURN TO FORM that includes ephemera, objects, costumes, sculpture 3D renderings, print books, film, documentary footage, interviews, live performances, and photographs. With the support of NPN Storytelling Grant and Arts Westchester, it has been presented at Gibney and at Greenburgh Public Library.

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As a lifelong learner, she is currently engaged in adult education programs including Gyrotonic® (The Celia Fund for Diversity in the Field of Gyrotonic® Awardee), self-guided Pilates Instructor Academy, and as a PhD Candidate at The Ohio State University. She is greatly influenced by her early Montessori education at Bank Street School for Children and her work as a dancer in Avodah Dance Ensemble (social justice ensemble lead by choreographer/founder JoAnne Tucker). As a solo performer, she has recently collaborated with sound artists Sita Shay, SaaWee and guests at Joe’s Pub, Union Stage D.C., and The Bach Festival in Virginia. She was a solo artist in residence at Yaddo (2022 and 2023 Patricia Highsmith-Plangman Residency Awardee, Saratoga Springs) and at Djerassi Artist Residence Program (California).

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Her essays have been published in Antiracism in Ballet Teaching, Edited By Kate Mattingly, Iyun Ashani Harrison, and Dance Magazine's "Why I Dance"