resumé, long version

EMPLOYMENT

• Rosy Simas Danse (RSD), Artistic Director, Minneapolis, MN, 2012–Current

• Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Department of Indigenous Studies and Department of Theater and Dance, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 2023–2024

• Independent Choreographer and Dance Teacher, Minneapolis, MN, 1992–2012

• Independent Choreographer and Dance Teacher, Montréal, QC, Canada, 2007–2009

• Independent Choreographer and Dance Teacher, Santa Cruz, CA, 1996–1999

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DANCE-RELATED PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT

• Professional School Faculty, Bates Dance Festival, Lewiston, ME, 2022

• Visiting Instructor of Dance/Artist in Residence, Carleton College Department of Theater and Dance, Northfield, MN, 2021

• Visiting Instructor/Inaugural Pamela Beatty Mitchell Residency in Contemporary Dance, Colorado College Department of Theater and Dance, Colorado Springs, 2021

• Teaching Faculty, Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation, WA, 2020 

• Teaching Faculty, MELT, Movement Research, New York City, 2020, 2021

• Teaching Faculty, Alabama Dance Festival, Birmingham, 2018, 2019

• Teaching Faculty, Full Circle Productions Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2014

• Instructor, Zenon Dance School, Minneapolis, MN, 2010–2015

• Workshop Instructor, Studio 303, Montréal, 2008, 2009, 2013

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PUBLICATIONS

• Rosy Simas, “Biography of Go-Won-Go Mohawk,” The People and the Text: Indigenous Writing in the Lands Claimed by Canada, thepeopleandthetext.com, Apr. 21, 2023 

• Rosy Simas, “The body is an archive: Collective memory, ancestral knowledge, culture and history,” Music, Dance and the Archive edited by Amanda Harris, Linda Barwick and Jakelin Troy, Sydney University Press, p. 77, 2022

• Sam Aros Mitchell and Rosy Simas, “Playing Indian, Between Idealization and Vilification; Seems You Have to Play Indian to be Indian,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal, vol. 44, 2020

• Guest editor, Rosy Simas, Movement Research Performance Journal; Sovereign Movements: Native Dance and Performance, Issue 52/53, Fall 2019

• Rosy Simas, “My Making of We Wait in the Darkness,” Dance Research Journal, vol. 48, no. 1, 2016, pp. 29–32

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FELLOWSHIPS

• First Peoples Fund Performing Arts Fellow, 2025

• Doris Duke Artist, 2023

• United States Artists Doris Duke Fellow, 2022

• McKnight Choreography Fellow, 2016 & 2022

• Dance/USA Fellowship to Artists, 2019

• First Peoples Fund Artists in Business Leadership Fellow, 2016

• Guggenheim Foundation Creative Arts Fellow, Choreography, 2015

• Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow, Choreography, 2013

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AWARDS & HONORS

• Twin Cities City Pages Best Choreographer, 2020

• Joyce Foundation Joyce Award with Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 2018

• Twin Cities City Pages Artist of the Year, 2014

• Minnesota Sage Award for Outstanding Design, 2014

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GRANTS FOR RESEARCH, CHOREOGRAPHY,
AND INSTALLATION

• Minnesota State Arts Board Arts Experiences award with RSD, 2025

• Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individual Artists, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025

• National Endowment for the Arts Grants for Arts Projects with RSD, 2022, 2023, 2024

• National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund award with RSD, 2015, 2018, 2023

• MAP Fund grant with RSD, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2023

• New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project Production award with RSD, 2014, 2018, 2022

• Native Arts and Cultures Foundation SHIFT award with the Weisman Art Museum and RSD, 2021

• National Performance Network Documentation award with RSD, 2020

• Knight Arts Challenge Award, received with O'Shaughnessy/St. Catherine’s University, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and RSD, 2018

• Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Award, 2014, 2016, 2018

• USArtists International/Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts Award, 2017 

• New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project Tour Award, 2016

• National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund Awards, 2015

• First People’s Fund Our Nations Spaces Award received with Dance Place, 2014

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COMMISSIONS

• A:gajë:gwah ësa'nigöëwë:nye:' (I hope it will stir your mind), dance work for stage co-commissioned by Jacob’s Pillow and the Walker Art Center, 2026

• A:gajë:gwah ësa'nigöëwë:nye:' (I hope it will stir your mind), installation for gallery, Walker Art Center, 2026

• Weave, co-commissioned by Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Alabama Dance Council, [date] 

• Skin(s), co-commissioned by Intermedia Arts, LaPeña, Eastside Arts Alliance, [date]

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MAJOR WORKS 

• she who lives on the road to war, premiere Weisman Art Museum and All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, MN, 2023

• WEave:HERE, created with Heid E. Erdrich, All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, MN, 2019

• Weave, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, St. Paul, MN, 2019

• Skin(s), premiere Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, MN, 2016

• Transfuse, premiere Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Museum, CA, 2015

• We Wait In The Darkness, world premiere MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), U.S. premiere Red Eye Theater, Minneapolis, MN 2014

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DANCE ARTISTIC RESIDENCIES

• Artist-In-Residence, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, September 2024–Current

• Artist-In-Residence, Weisman Art Museum Target Studio for Creative Collaboration, Minneapolis, MN, September–December 2019, September 2022–February 2023

• Inaugural Pamela Beatty Mitchell Residency in Contemporary Dance, Colorado College Department of Theater and Dance, Colorado Springs, 2021

• Artist Residency, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, 2020, 2021

• Artist Residency, O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine’s University, St. Paul, MN, 2018

• Artist Residency, Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, Tallahassee, FL, 2018

• Live Arts in Resistance residency, Eastside Arts Alliance, Oakland, CA, 2017

• Artist Residency, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh, PA, 2016

• Artist Residency, NMAI Artists at IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM, 2014

• Artist Residency, MAI (Montréal Arts Interculturels), Montréal, Québéc, CANADA, 2013

• Artist Residency, Red Eye Theater, Minneapolis, MN, 2013

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PERFORMANCES 

• she who lives on the road to war, performances, discussions, All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, September–December 2022

• she who lives on the road to war, performances, gatherings, discussions, Weisman Art Museum Target Studio for Creative Collaboration, Minneapolis, September–December 2019, September 2022–February 2023

• WEave:HERE, created with Heid E. Erdrich, performance, All My Relations Arts for Northern Spark, Minneapolis, September–December 2022

• Transfuse, performance, Colorado College, 2020

• Weave, performances, discussions,Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Hawaii, 2019

• Weave, performance, cultural exchange, discussions, Alabama Dance Council, Birmingham, for the Alabama Dance Festival, and at the Poarch Creek Band of Indians, 2019

• Weave, performances, discussions, community workshop, Intercultural Journeys at the Performance Garage, Philadelphia, 2019

• We Wait In The Darkness, performances, discussions, featured festival artist American Realness, co-presented by Gibney Dance and Abrons Arts Center, New York City, 2018

• We Wait In The Darkness, performances, discussion, DANSEM 20 Festival, Marseille France, 2018

• Transfuse, performance, Walker Art Center, 2018

• Skin(s), performance, discussion, Gimaajii-Mino-Bimaadizimin, Duluth, 2018

• Skin(s), performance, discussion, City of Chicago Cultural Center, 2018

• We Wait In The Darkness, performances, discussions,Carleton College, Northfield, 2017

• We Wait In The Darkness, performances, discussions, Living Ritual: International Performing Arts Festival, Toronto, Canada, 2017

• Skin(s), performance, discussion, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2017

• Skin(s), performance, discussion, Live Arts in Resistance residency at Eastside Arts Alliance, Oakland, CA, 2017

• Skin(s), performance, workshops, discussion, LaPeña, Berkeley, CA, 2017

• Skin(s), performance, workshops, discussion, Indigenous Choreographers at UC Riverside, 2016

• Skin(s), premiere performance, workshops, discussion, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, 2016 

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master class discussion, The Edge Center, Big Fork, MN, 2016

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, featured festival artist, On Edge Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, 2015

• Skin(s), performance, featured festival artist, Full Circle Productions Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver, BC, 2015

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussion, SUNY Fredonia, 2015 

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussion, ODC, San Francisco, 2015

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussion, The Autry, Los Angeles, 2015

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussion, Gimaajii-Mino-Bimaadizimin, Duluth, MN, 2015

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussions, artist residency, Dance Place, Washington D.C., 2014

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussions, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Hawaii, 2014

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussions, Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 2014

• We Wait In The Darkness, performance, master classes, discussions, The Myrna Loy Center, Helena, MT, 2014

• We Wait In The Darkness, performances, discussions, All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, 2014

• We Wait In The Darkness, U.S. premiere performance, master classes, discussions, Red Eye Theater, Minneapolis, 2014

• We Wait In The Darkness, world premiere performance, master classes, discussions, MAI (Montréal Arts Interculturels), 2013

• We Wait In The Darkness, work-in-progress performance, master class, discussions, featured festival artist, Indigenous Choreographers at Riverside, UC Riverside, 2014

• Blood Lines, work-in-progress performance, master class, discussions, featured festival artist, Indigenous Choreographers at Riverside, UC Riverside, 2013

• Blood Lines and Threshold, performances, a shared evening with Jinza Thayer, artist residency, performance, Southern Theater, Minneapolis, 2012

• Blood Lines, performance, featured festival artist, Full Circle Productions Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver, BC, 2012

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INSTALLATIONS, EXHIBITS

• she who lives on the road to war, installation, All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, September–December 2022

• she who lives on the road to war, installations, Weisman Art Museum Target Studio for Creative Collaboration, Minneapolis, September–December 2019, September 2022–February 2023

• yödoishëndahgwa’geh (a place to rest), installation, RSD three thirty one space, 2022

• yödoishëndahgwa’geh (a place to rest), installation, Colorado College Department of Theater and Dance, Colorado Springs, 2021

• yödoishëndahgwa’geh (a place to rest), installation, creative residency, panel discussions, All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, 2021

• Blood Lines: Images of Attachment, solo exhibit, Seneca Iroquois National Museum, Salamanca, NY 2019–2021

• Skew Lines, shared show with Heid E. Erdrich, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, 2019

• Waasamoo-Beshizi (Power-Lines) (film The Flood, printed transparencies), group show, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND, 2019

• Seneca Women and Haudenosaunee Homelands: Memories and Movements (prints, textiles, transparencies), solo show, American Realness, Abrons Art Center, New York City, 2018

• We Wait In The Darkness (film, textiles, historical objects, paper sculpture), solo show, The Edge Center, Big Fork, 2016

• We Wait In The Darkness (film, textiles, historical objects, paper sculpture), solo show, Gimaajii-Mino-Bimaadizimin, Duluth, 2015

• All My Relations: A Seneca History (film, textiles, historical objects, paper sculpture), solo show, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Chicago, 2014–2015

• We Wait In The Darkness (film, textiles, historical objects, paper sculpture), solo show, All My Relations Arts, Minneapolis, 2014

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FILMS

• when I go picking strawberries with Grandma, screening, Haudenosaunee Micro-Short Film Program, Seneca Nation Casino Niagara Falls, NY, 2022 (Creator)

• when I go picking strawberries with Grandma, screening, Haudenosaunee Micro-Short Film Program, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY, 2022 (Creator)

• yödoishëndahgwa’geh (a place to rest), screening, Haudenosaunee Micro-Short Film Program, Seneca Nation Casino Niagara Falls, NY, 2021 (Creator)

• yödoishëndahgwa’geh (a place to rest), screening, Haudenosaunee Micro-Short Film Program, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY, 2021 (Creator)

• The Flood, screening in group exhibition, Waasamoo-Beshizi (Power-Lines), Plains Art Museum, Fargo, 2019 (Creator, performer)

• Skin Frequencies with Elizabeth Day and Heid E. Erdrich, installation in group exhibition, Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Cave, 2020–2021 (Producer, creator)

• Threshold, airing, MNTV Series (IFP), Twin Cities PBS, 2016 (Producer, choreographer, performer)

• Threshold, screening, MNTV Series (IFP), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2016 (Producer, choreographer, performer)

• Threshold, screening, MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), 2014 (Producer, choreographer, performer)

• Threshold, screening, Southern Theater, Minneapolis, 2013 (Producer, choreographer, performer)

• Threshold, screening, Dreamland Arts, St. Paul, 2013 (Producer, choreographer, performer)

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CURATION

• Oyate Okodakiciyapi: An Evening of Native Contemporary Dance, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, St. Paul, 2017

• Choreographers Evening, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2016

• Échange: The Twin Cities Montréal Dance Exchange, Tek Box, The Cowles Center for the Performing Arts, Minneapolis, 2013

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TEACHING RESIDENCIES

• Goucher College, Department of Theater and Dance, Visiting Instructor of Dance/Guest Choreographer, March 2022

• University of South Carolina, Department of Theatre and Dance, Guest Choreographer, 2021

• American University Dance Program, Guest Choreographer, 2020

• Center for Native American and Indigenous Research and the Kaplan Humanities Institute, Northwestern University, 2017

• University of Minnesota Department of Theatre & Dance, commission of new work as the Cowles Chair Visiting Artist Residency, 2016

• St. Paul Conservatory for the Arts, Guest Choreographer, 2016

• Northwestern University, Department of Theatre & Dance, Guest Instructor and Choreographer, 2015–2016

• SUNY Fredonia Department of Theatre & Dance, Guest Choreographer, 2015

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FORMAL MENTORING

• Graduate and undergraduate student mentor, Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 2023–2024

• RSD three thirty one space artist-in-residence program, 2020–Current

• DANCE/USA Institute for Leadership Training Program, 2016

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LECTURES, PANELS, MASTER CLASSES, WORKSHOPS

• Master Classes for youth and elders, Dancing the Land, organized by the Seneca Nation of Indians, Allegany & Cattaraugus Seneca Territories, 2025

• Lecturer and panelist with Tanya Lukin Linklater, Wexner Center for the Arts, 2024

• Guest Lecturer, Department of Performing and Media Arts, Cornell University, invited by Assistant Professor Juan Manuel Aldape Muñoz, Ithaca, NY, 2023

• Panelist, Radical Research, Dancers Delving and Disrupting Practices, Luna Dance Institute, Online, 2023

• Panelist, Beyond Land Acknowledgement: Contemporary Native Creative Presence in Minneapolis, Mid-America Theatre Conference, 2023

• Guest Lecturer, English & Drama Department, University of Toronto, invited by Assistant Professor Maria Hupfield, Online, 2022

• Artist-in-Residence talk, Department of Theatre and Dance, Carleton College, February 2022

• Guest Lecturer, Deeper Lecture series, Gibney Dance, Online, 2021

• Workshop Instructor, Rest & Refuge, organized by the Humanities Institute Performance Research Workshop, the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Humanities Institute Haudenosaunee-Native American Studies Workshop, University of Buffalo, Online, 2021

• Workshop Instructor, Yale Indigenous Performing Arts, Yale University, Online, 2021

• Instructor of student workshop, Rest & Refuge, Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Buffalo, invited by Assistant Professor Ariel Nereson, Online, 2021

• Guest Lecturer, Sovereign Movements: Native Dance and Decolonization. Co-sponsored by Dark Laboratory and part of the seminar The Politics of Movement: Bodies, Space and Motion, Department of Performing and Media Arts, Cornell University, invited by Assistant Professors Juan Manuel Aldape Muñoz and Jeffrey Palmer, Online, 2020

• Paper presentation, My Body is an Archive, in the symposium presentation Music, Dance and the Archive: Reclaiming Indigenous Performance Histories lead by Amanda Harris and Jakelin Troy at the 19th Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance and 4th Symposium on Indigenous Arts in the Academy in Sydney, Online, 2020

• Guest Lecturer, Indigenous Heritage Class, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Dr. Ashley Minner, Online, 2020

• Invited featured artist, Virtual Visionaries: Inspired by Identity. Conversation with Dr. Donia Jarrar. EXCEL Lab, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, Online, 2020

• Guest Lecturer, EXCEL Lab, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, Online, 2020

• Guest Lecturer, UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance with Dr. Sam Aros Mitchell. Invited by Assistant Professor Rebecca Chaleff, Online, 2020

• Masterclasses, Dance Place, Washington D.C., 2020

• Guest Lecturer, ListenIN, Intercultural Journeys at the Leeway Foundation and Pearlstein Gallery, Philadelphia, 2019

• Master class, Intercultural Journeys Performance Garage, Philadelphia, 2019

• Masterclasses, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Hawaii, 2019

• Visiting Artist/Instructor, Colorado College Department of Theater and Dance, Colorado Springs. Invited by Dr. Ryan Platt, Colorado Springs, 2019 

• Masterclass, Carleton College Department of Theatre and Dance, Northfield. Invited by Professor Judith Howard, Northfield, 2018

• Panelist, A Survey of Native American Dance in the Twin Cities, Minnesota Dance Lecture Series, Cowles Center for the Performing Arts, Minneapolis, 2018

• Guest Lecturer, The Making of Weave, Alabama, School of Fine Art, Birmingham, 2018

• Panelist, The Fibers With Which We Weave: Native Artists Decolonizing Performance and Place, American Realness, New York City, 2018

• Panelist, How We Tell Our Stories, National Performance Network Conference, San Francisco, 2017

• Masterclass, LaPeña, Berkeley, 2017

• Masterclass, Carleton College Department of Theatre and Dance, Northfield. Invited by Professor Judith Howard, Northfield, 2017

• Provocation and panelist, Living Ritual: International Performing Arts Festival, Toronto, 2017

• Panelist, Northwestern University, Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, 2017

• Panelist, How Artists And Partners Leverage NPN/VAN Programs To Make It Work, National Performance Network Conference, Austin, 2016

• Paper presentation, My Making of We Wait In The Darkness, Congress on Research in Dance and Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, Paloma, CA, 2016

• Panelist, Indigenous Choreographers, moderated by Jacqueline Shea Murphy, Congress on Research in Dance and Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, Paloma, CA, 2016

• Seminar speaker, Indigenous Dance Inside and outside of Institutions: What is needed? Problems and Possibilities, during the Indigenous Choreographers at Riverside project, University of California at Riverside, 2016

• Guest Lecturer, A Talk with Native Contemporary Dance Choreographer Rosy Simas, One Book Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2016

• Panel, Contemporary Native American Artists: Issues and Trends, National Performance Network Conference, Portland, 2015

• Masterclass, SUNY Fredonia Department of Theatre & Dance, 2015

• Masterclass, ODC, San Francisco, 2015 

• Masterclasses, Dance Place, Washington D.C., 2015

• Master class, Carroll College, Helena, MT, 2014

• Artist talk, Transforming a family history into contemporary dance, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Evanston, 2014

• Masterclasses, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Hawaii, 2014

• Masterclasses, Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 2014

• Seminar speaker, Indigenous Dance and Indigenous Development, during the Indigenous Choreographers at Riverside project, University of California at Riverside, 2014

• Panelist, Presenting Indigenous Performance, APAP Conference, New York City, 2013

• Masterclass, MAI (Montréal Arts Interculturels), Montréal, 2013

• Panelist and master classes, Indigenous Choreographers, Full Circle Productions Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver, 2012

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OTHER

• Outside eye/facilitator for Tayna Lukin Linklater, Inner blades of grass (soft) inner blades of grass (cured) inner blades of grass (bruised by the weather), Wexner Art Museum, Columbus, OH, 2024

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PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

• Certified instructor of Global Somatics™ (based in Body-Mind Centering ®), 2003–2007

• University of Minnesota Department of Dance and Theatre, 1988–1991

• Klein Technique/Body Re-Education, Barbara Mahler, New York City and online, 1991–2023

• Bates Dance Festival Professional Training, 1990, 1991, 1993

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AFFILIATIONS

• Emerging Curators Institute Advisory Board, 2023–2024

• DANCE/USA Board of Directors, 2017–2023

 

MEMBERSHIPS

• DANCE/USA

• Native American and Indigenous Studies Association

• Northeast Minneapolis Artist Alliance

• Dance Studies Association