Ivy Baldwin

Biography

In 1999 Ivy Baldwin graduated with an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a handful of dances and performance hungry friends. Ivy Baldwin Dance was born. Since then, the Company has been presented by numerous NYC dance institutions including Dance Theater Workshop, New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Chocolate Factory, P.S. 122, Symphony Space, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, La MaMa, E.T.C, and Movement Research at Judson Church, to name a few. Festivals and curated series include Lincoln Center Out of Doors, La MaMa Moves, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Catch, Danceoff!, and Dance Sampler. In the US they have performed at the Painted Bride in Philadelphia, PA, Washington University in St. Louis, and Appel Farm Performing Arts Center in NJ. The Company has performed internationally in Tanz im August in Berlin, Germany and the Dans Contemporan International Dance Festival in Bacau, Romania.

The Company has in repertory six evening-length dance works commissioned and presented by The Chocolate Factory, Dance Theater Workshop, Dixon Place, La MaMa, E.T.C, and Dance New Amsterdam. Company residency activities have included an LMCC Swing Space Grant, ArtistNe(s)t Residency at the George Apostu Cultural Center in Bacau, Romania, BAX Space Grant, Sugar Salon Residency, annual residencies at Dragon's Egg since 2004, and The Yard's Bessie Schonberg Residency. Baldwin received the 2009 Bogliasco Foundation Jerome Robbins Fellowship in Dance at the Liguria Study Center in Italy, and is now a member of their Artist Advisory Committee. Baldwin has received funding from the following foundations: New York Foundation for the Arts (BUILD grant), Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Puffin Foundation, Dugas Family Foundation, Swiss Cultural Programme, and the William and Karen Tell Foundation. 

Baldwin has taught and choreographed for Barnard College (Associate Professor Fall '11/Barnard Project and Adjunct Faculty Spring ’07), Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts (Fall ’10), Hunter College (Harkness Foundation Choreographer-In-Residence ‘09), North Carolina School of the Arts, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Long Island University, Iowa State University, and Dance New Amsterdam. Baldwin is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Artist Statement

Choreography is a way of processing the experiences of my life, my dancer's lives, and the world around us. I think of each new work, particularly evening-length pieces that can take a year or more to make, as a collaborative documentary of our lives, in and out of the studio. Inspiration also comes from art, people, writing, ideas, or events, but I use these as springboards to wholly new avenues of exploration. Then, by letting a piece reveal itself, day by day, rehearsal by rehearsal, a work is guided into existence instead of forced.

I love making dance that is mysterious, darkly emotional, embraces absurdity, and explores twisted humor, violence, and human fragility. I am endlessly interested in choreography that is abstract yet conjures a powerful emotional response in the viewer. As an artist, I strive to let my imagination rule the roost, embrace the chaotic and messy, and most importantly, to be present, open-minded, and brave.