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     Colin Stilwell is a dance artist, teacher/educator, choreographer, filmmaker, and bodyworker/massage therapist. The work he offers creates a space where people can recognize and appreciate the unseen forces behind movement, dance, and wellness. He draws connections between modern/contemporary dance, dance improvisation, the body's anatomical systems, and the earth's nature to inspire one's well-being, creativity, imagination, and artistry. These methods enrich his work and offer students, audiences, and clients a renewed sense of the world and the body they live in.

 

     As an adjunct professor at Hofstra University, Hunter College in New York City, and in various professional areas, Mr. Stilwell has developed a modern/contemporary dance technique that emphasizes spatial awareness, alignment of the bones and joints, strength and clarity in the legs and feet, breath, and ease in the upper body and using the body's weight and momentum to power movement. This form of modern/contemporary dance pedagogy offers a "higher consciousness" to students who want to improve and deepen their skills as dancers and enables them to widen their perspectives on how their bodies can move.    

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     Performing has been a part of Mr. Stilwell's life since he was a child. He's danced on stages the size of "postage stamps" to grand stages, such as the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City.  No matter the size of the stage or audience, performing enlivens his life and allows him to express himself, physically and emotionally. His mind and body are aligned when he performs. When choreography becomes second nature, it allows him to be present and feel comfortable in his skin. Executing each step and moving effortlessly without thinking, connecting with dancers at a moment's notice in a lift, dancing in unison, making eye contact with them, relying on others, and trusting himself are part of performing that Mr. Stilwell finds most thrilling and rewarding. 

 

     His choreography and film work begins with an idea, concept, image, or feeling. Whatever the "seed" may be, it will grow into a work that is led by his creativity, imagination, and intuition. Similar to a collage artist who starts with various materials, like paper or fabric scraps, and magazine or newspaper clippings, Mr. Stilwell starts with a variety of short and long movement phrases or film clips that capture small intimate gestures or large energetic movements. When the movement phrases have been created he edits them, rearranges their order, adds variations to them, and has dancers reinvent and embody them in their creative way. What emerges from this process is the structure, shape, and form of the piece. 

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     Mr. Stilwell was a company member with Doug Varone and Dancers. He continues a relationship with the company occasionally teaching and setting repertory on their behalf. Mr. Stilwell has worked with esteemed New York City-based companies/artists: Dance by Neil Greenberg, RoseAnne Spradlin, Netta Yerushalmy, Jon Kinzel, robbinschilds, and Sarah White-Ayon: iLAB. He collaborated with German performance artist John Bock, in Lecture and Lecker Puste, at the Anton Kern Gallery (NYC) and The Watermill Center (NY). Mr. Stilwell worked with playwright, director, and multi-media artist John Jesurun in Shadowland. Other honorable performances he was involved in are the Metropolitan Opera's Les Troyens, Le Sacre du Printemps, and the Minnesota Opera's Faust. His choreography has been presented at Aunts, Dixon Place, Hunter College, Hunter Dance Festival, and Hofstra University. 

 

     Mr. Stilwell holds an MFA in Dance from Hunter College, a BFA in Dance from Purchase College, and is a certified bodyworker/massage therapist. A native of San Francisco, CA, Mr. Stilwell studied ballet at the Academy of Ballet and modern/contemporary dance at Alonzo King's LINES studio.

 

 

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