September 2021

Colleen Thomas is a New Yorkbased choreographer, scholar, teacher, and performing artist. She is the director of Colleen Thomas Dance, co-director of Bill Young/Colleen Thomas Co., and co-curator for LIT (loft into theater). She began her professional career with the Miami Ballet and went on to work with renowned contemporary choreographers such as The Kevin Wynn Collection, Nina Wiener Dance Company, Donald Byrd/ The Group, Bebe Miller Dance Company, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, among others. Her work has been seen throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia, and South America and has been presented in NYC at Danspace Project, Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church, Dance Theatre Workshop/New York Live Arts, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, Triskelion Arts Center, Governor’s Island, and the 92nd Street Y, to name just a few. In 2019, her work with artists from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the USA premiered at La MaMa MOVES! Dance Festival. Thomas is a co-author (with A. Goldman and P. Sajda) of a 2019 scientific study Contact improvisation dance practice predicts greater mu rhythm desynchronization during action observation, published in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts journal. Thomas received her BA in Psychology from SUNY Empire State College and her MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, The New School, Barnard College, Skidmore College, and Bates College. She is currently a Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College of Columbia University.