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Research Guides

Chamber Dance Company Archive: Susan Marshall

A unique collection of video documenting the UW Chamber Dance Dance Company's over 25 year history of performing modern dance classics.

Susan Marshall

American dancer, choreographer and artistic director

[My] works chronicle a series of interior states.

                              Susan Marshall

Born Pensacola, Florida, October 1958.

Born in 1958 and raised in Florida, Marshall studied ballet as a child, but early on displayed a unique choreographic voice by creating dances in high school that used wrestlers, gymnasts and artists. After attending Juilliard for two years, Marshall again broke out of the mold and decided to explore choreography independently. In 1983, she formed Susan Marshall & Company and began to develop a distinct vocabulary that transforms gesture and pedestrian movement into an intense, narrative, and often, athletic style. Concerned with emotional situations and universal themes, Marshall says her ". . . works chronicle a series of interior states," which is evident in the poignant relationship that unfolds in Kiss. Susan Marshall received a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, or "genius award," in 2000. Marshall's life and choreography exemplify the award's criteria of extraordinary originality and dedication in creative pursuits, and a marked capacity for self-direction. 

Watch Susan Marshall's work Kiss at the Media Arcade in Vol. 41 of the Chamber Dance Company Archive (DVD UWDP 001 v.41).