Education
2004 – 2008 Columbia University; BA in Urban Studies and Education
Spring 2007 School of International Training: Education and Social Change in Chile and Argentina
Somatic, performance, and dance training
September 2022-May 2023 The Embodiment Institute Embodiment Course
February 2022-June 2022 Headlong Performance Institute
May 2020-May 2021 Rootwork Herbals: The People’s Medicine School
2015-2016 Urban Bush Women Apprenticeship Program
Summer 2014: Ecole des Sables, Toubab Dialaw, Senegal Intersections between Hip Hop and African Dance
Spring 2011: R.Evolucion Latina Beyond Series
2009-2015: Rennie Harris PureMovement, Broadway Dance Center, Peridance
Current and past institution/company/collective affiliations
2018-2024: University of the Arts School of Dance (Associate Adjunct Professor)
2023: Mural Arts Porchlight Project (Lead Artist)
2014-2023: Dancing While Black (Fellow, 10th Anniversary co-leader)
2011-2023: Urban Bush Women (Fellow, Performer)
2018: American Dance Festival (Class Instructor)
2016-2018: Collective Movements (Co-Director with Andrew Jungclaus)
2012-2016: New York Youth Movement Collaborative (Co-Director with Ehizoje Azeke)
2011-2017: The Possibility Project (Choreographer)
2011-2017: University Settlement (Teaching Artist and Program Director)
2004-2008: Onyx Dance Troupe (Artistic Director)
Awards and recognitions
2023: Black Spatial Relics 2023 Artist in Residence
2023: Independence Public Media Foundation Grant Recipient
June 2023: The Yard / Headlong Dance Theater Company Launch Pad Artist in Residence
2022 : Foundation of Contemporary Arts Grant Recipient
2020-2021: Abrons Arts Center Social Practice Artist in Residence
2017-2019 and 2022-2023: Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center 1.0 and 2.0 Fellow
2018-2019: ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts Artist in Residence
Spring 2017: Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist in Residence
Fall 2017: Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer in Skeleton Architecture
Fall 2017: Bessie nomination for Outstanding Performer for we free
Complete list of choreography and performance repertoire
Make Ready Again —— choreographer and performer, Theater Exile, Journey Arts, December 2024
we free (remastered) —– choreographer, sound designer and performer, Smithsonian Museum of African Art, video design by jordan deal, May-June 2024
Our Land, Our Movement —- choreographer, Mural Arts, multiple locations, September 2023
xxJAMxx with angel edwards and Jonathan González— co-choreographer and performer, Cannonball at Fringe Festival, September 2023
Make Ready Again with Anise Hines and Coley Curry — co-choreographer and performer, The Yard, Martha’s Vineyard, June 2023
ShebeenDUB; choreographer Nora Chipaumire — performer, Dance Umbrella, London, October 2022
Practice; choreographer Jonathan Gonzalez — performer, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, River to River Festival, June 2022
cypher practices/free code — choreographer, University of the Arts, multiple locations, September-October 2020. https://uartshomeschool.org/marguerite-hemmings-project-page
the third thing — choreographer, University of the Arts, YGym, Philadelphia, December 2019
Virginia Grise’s Staging of Their Dogs Came With Them at Perryville Women’s Prison — choreographer, April 2019
We free lab — choreographer, Arizona State University; April 2019
Harlem Renaissance — Identity: Freedom at The Kitchen, performed with J’Royce Jata, NYC; March 2019
trust mode — choreographer, University of the Arts, Solmssen Hall, Philadelphia; December 2018
Mapps — choreographer, Princeton University and University of the Arts; 2018
we free lab — choreographer, The Kitchen, NYC; July 2018
It’s Showtime NYC — choreographer, Lower Manhattan Cultural Coucil River to River Festival, Federal Hall, NYC; June 2018
Zero; choreographer Jonathan Gonzalez — performer, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, NYC; Spring 2018
we free — choreographer and performer, New York Live Arts, NYC; April 2018
we free lab — choreographer and performer, Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYC; February 2018
we free — choreographer and performer, Junebug Productions at Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans; July 2017
What Remains; choreographer Will Rawls with collaborators Claudia Rankine and Homi Bhaba — performer, Bard College, NY; Spring 2017
we free and collaborators — choreographer and performer, Gibney Dance, NYC; February 2017
to make ready again — choreographer and performer, JACK Theater; February 2017
Vessels; directors Rebecca Mwase and Ron Ragin — performer, Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans; 2016-2017
Skeleton Architecture; curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa — performer, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, NYC; Fall 2016
catch the beat with Arielle Rosales — choreographer and co-performer, Movement Research at Judson Church, NYC; October 2016
MTV Video Music Awards , Rihanna — performer, Madison Square Garden; August 2016
we free — choreographer and performer, BRIC Arts Media, NYC; July 2016
burnin’ and a-lootin with Daniel Woods — choreographer and co-performer, Food for Thought at Danspace, St. Mark’s Church, NYC; April 2016
you owe me — choreographer and performer, Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Arts Exchange, NYC; February and March 2016
Echo::System ; choreographer Grisha Coleman — performer, Yerba Buena, San Francisco; 2015-2016
we free — choreographer and performer, Double Plus at Gibney Dance, NYC; December 2015
bam bam — choreographer and performer, New York Youth Movement Collaborative at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC; January 2014
Visible ; choreographers Nora Chipaumire and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar — performer, 5 different U.S. Cities; 2011-2013
no, no, no — choreographer and performer, International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival; Portland, Jamaica, Spring 2013
XYZ — choreographer and performer, E-Moves at Harlem Stage, NYC; April 2011
Let Me Talk to You — choreographer and performer, E-Moves at Harlem Stage, NYC; April 2010
What is Love — choreographer and performer, DanceNOW Raw Festival at Dance Theater Workshop, NYC; April 2009
Infiltrate — choreographer and performer, Sybarite Love is Love Showcase; June 2008
Short Films and Video
Dinner Time —- co-directed with Marsha Hemmings, premiered in exhibition at Vox Populi and streamed on Philly Cam TV; October 2022-February 2023
Antidote — co-directed with LaJuné McMillian, premiered in live-stream with Abrons Arts Center; December 2020
Finding Life on Earth — co-directed with Erick Boustead; premiered in live-stream with LineBreak Media; Spring 2020
Show Me music video by Common feat. Jill Scott and Samora Pinderhughes — movement director, August 2019
Suns Set and Burnin’ and a lootin’ — videography and co-direction by Nicole Curry; Summer 2019
Blacker the Berry — videography and co-editing by Bleue Liverpool and Daniel Curry; shown at University Settlement Performance Project, Speyer Hall; May 2015-October 2015
Exhibitions
Antidote with LaJuné McMillian — Womxn in Windows, American Gurl, Los Angeles, June-August 2023
Light Escapes with Marsha Hemmings —- Trophallaxis Study Group at Vox Populi, Philadelphia PA, October-December 2022
Writing/multimedia publications
“djamn , jamming, jam …“: A Conversation with Lauren
Bakst, Jonathan González, and Marguerite Hemmings by Laurel V. McLaughlin; ASAP/Journal, Volume 8, Number 3, September 2023, pp. 383-400 (Article); Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
“A System’s Analysis” with Lai Yi Ohlsen and Jonathan González; Issue 57 of the Movement Research Performance Journal (MRPJ), March 2023 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fe0j1tbmg0oex8p/MRPJ57_EditorsLetter.pdf?dl=0
“Antidote” is an online environment and land acknowledgment that gives the “land” back to black freedom realities. — By Salome Asega, Marguerite Hemmings, LaJuné McMillian, and Amber Starks; Pioneer Works: The Broadcast; February 2021
https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/antidote-margeurite-hemmings-lajune-mcmillian
Choreography of Circulation — Interviewed by Lai Yi Ohlsen; Pioneer Works :The Broadcast; December 2020
https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/lai-yi-ohlsen-marguerite-hemmings-choreography-of-circulatio
‘Curating the Vibe and the White Space-is Project’ — Dancing While Black Digital Journal; April 2019
‘To the Study of the Moment: we free, traps and other philosophies’ — Choreographic Center Initiative Journal; September 2017
http://www.urbanbushwomencenter.org/voicesfromthebush/2017/9/5/ozspvjv1zjv0vxs2qmes2nfl3nhvpx
Convenings and Gatherings: A Conversation with Marguerite Hemmings by Tara Aisha Willis; Voices from the Bush; September 2016
Teaching and Syllabi Development
Dancehall and Freedom; we freestyle; and Trap as the New Negro Spiritual; Florida State University; March 2020
Applied Dance Practices of the African Diaspora; Arizona State University; Spring 2019
Activism, Social Justice, and Choreography; University of the Arts; Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2021
Improvisation Performance Practice; University of the Arts; Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2021
Improvisation into Choreography; University of the Arts; Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2021
Interviews, Reviews, and Press
Make Ready Again Review: “What is Justice without love?”, Caitlin Green, thINKingDANCE; December 2024
https://thinkingdance.net/articles/2024/12/17/What-is-justice-without-love
“Marguerite Unpacks Her Shadow to Make Ready Again”, Mina Llona, The Philadelphia Tribune; December 2024
Make Ready Again Interview on PHL17 with Daisha Jones; December 2024
https://phl17.com/phl17-news/journey-arts-presents-make-ready-again-at-theatre-exile
Marguerite Hemmings in conversation with Jonathan González; Journey Arts Blog; November 2024
https://www.journeyarts.org/blog/jonathan-marguerite-in-conversation
Our Land, Our Movement Interview on KYW, The Artist Block with Shara Dae Howard and Justin Udo, November 2023.
https://omny.fm/shows/kywam-on-demand/our-land-our-movement-public-art-project-reaching
Our Land, Our Movement Interview for Mural Arts Blog by Jenny Donnelly Johnson, September 2023.
2018-2019 Artist in Residence with ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts https://disrupt.asu.edu/article/spotlight-on-projecting-all-voices/
February 2017//to make ready again “We Always Win” by Eva Yaa Asantewaa –JACK Theater, Brooklyn, NY
https://infinitebody.blogspot.com/2017/02/we-always-win-marguerite-hemmings-and.html
February 2017//we free and collaborators by Charmaine Warren— Gibney Dance, NYC
http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2017/mar/09/marguerite-hemmings-freedom-train/
February 2017//we free and collaborators “Dance in NYC” by Siobhan Burke— Gibney Dance, NYC https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/arts/dance/dance-in-nyc-this-week.html
February 2017//we free and collaborators ‘Finding Freedom” by Catherine Bergstrom — Gibney Dance, NYC https://ptofcontact.com/2017/03/03/finding-freedom-marguerite-hemmings-and-collaborators-at-gibney-dance-center/