PRO: For the Love of Dance, A Hardcore Manifesto

Lavinia Vago (she/her) is an Italian dance artist, performer, educator, maker, collaborator, and director based between Seattle, NYC and Berlin.

Lavinia experiments and creates dance works as a solo artist. Her work researches and attacks themes of disobedience, kinesthetic empathy, queerness, and transcendence through exhaustion, duration, endurance, and rigor. She uses intuitive improvisational choreographies and scores to explore altered cerebral and emotional headspaces within experimental soundscapes. Premieres include “NOESIS X, a solo for two” in collaboration with Berlin sound artist Harald Stojan (Velocity Dance Center, 2019), and “FLAMES AND BABES” (Seattle Art Museum, 2020) as part of the Flesh and Blood Exhibition of Italian Masterpieces from Capodimonte; and ENXORE at SIDF 2021. Her new work, FKK, premieres May 2024, through Made In Seattle program at Velocity.

As a dance artist Lavinia collaborated, performed, created works and toured the world with Sidra Bell Dance New York, Loni Landon Projects, Vim Vigor Dance Theater (NYC), Tom Weinberger, and most extensively with Montréal based Rubberband. She created works with Vienna based theater company Saint Genet, performing at Weiner Festwochen and Holland Festival. She is currently performing and touring with Beijing artist Tianzhuo Chen in the 12-hours performance ritual TRANCE (Mwoods / Beijing, Trauma Bar Und Kino / Berlin, Kampnagel / Hamburg, Norberg Festival / Sweden, KNDL / Berlin, Dark Mofo / Tasmania).

Lavinia has been Associate Artistic Director of the non-profit Studio Kate Wallich (2017-2020), has been the rehearsal director of YC2 (a platform for emerging dance artists), and co-founded and co-directed dance company “The YC” with Kate Wallich (2010 – 2020). Recently they toured with band Perfume Genius at The Moore Theater, The Joyce, The Walker, ICA Boston, and MASS Moca.

She is the Artistic Director of Programming, and Lead Teacher for Dance Church™, an inclusive dance and fitness class for every body. She develops all programming for online and in person classes, leading all partnerships and is the lead on all bodies inclusivity initiatives (most recently in partnership with Harborview Medical Institute for SCI patients.

As an educator, Lavinia teaches Dance for Parkinson’s, Rubberband Method, and masterclass series, intensives and workshops aimed to subvert and rethink dance contemporary technique, floor work, and improvisation. She taught at Strictly Seattle, Springboard Danse Montreal, l’Ecole Superieur de Ballet du Quebec, L’ecole de Danse Contemporaine de Montreal, Domaine Forget, Lines Ballet Training Program, Tanzquartier Vienna, Tanz Platform Rhein Main (Frankfurt), and Staatstheater TanzMainz, among others.

BFA in Dance Magna Cum Laude from Cornish College of The Arts 2010.

www.laviniavago.com
@laviniavago