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Affiliate Artist
A 2023 commission and collaboration with former B.L.A. Co-Director Hope Mohr. Hope will converse with B.L.A. co-directors on strategies to support choreographers equitably and brainstorm ways B.L.A. can build and sustain a program for choreography and performance.
Artist Statement
My primary tool in making dance is deconstruction.
I break down movement to get at strangeness and to excavate a voice closer to the bone. I break down movement to push against the traditions of white formalism that have shaped me. I break down movement to create a space where freedom can arise.
Poetry can unmake the self that culture has made. Poetry can create space for a self that does not yet exist. When I speak of poetry, I speak of dance. Making a dance feels like doing a million close readings of the body.
I am an activist formalist. This means that I value thinking about subject matter through form. Also that doubt corrodes my forms. I make art to stir up ambivalence, to imagine values other than those of the dominant culture, and to fall into places that scare me.
![Headshot of Hope Mohr](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/dc4ae7_613ffc93fb8145859e1bbebe47e21291~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_466,h_455,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/HM%20Headshot_edited.jpg)
Hope Mohr
she/her
Hope Mohr (Affiliate Artist) has woven art and activism for decades. In 2007, she founded Hope Mohr Dance. In 2010, she founded HMD's core program, The Bridge Project. In 2020, she co-stewarded the organization's transition to an equity-driven model of distributed leadership. As a dancer, Mohr trained at S.F. Ballet School and on scholarship at the Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown Studios in New York City. She performed in the companies of dance pioneers Lucinda Childs and Trisha Brown, among others. As a choreographer, Mohr makes work that “conveys emotional and socio-political contents that just ride underneath the surface of a rigorous vocabulary.” (Dance View Times) She was named to the YBCA 100 in 2015. In 2014, Dance Magazine editor-in-chief Wendy Perron named Mohr as one of the “women leaders” in dance. Her book, Shifting Cultural Power, is out now from the National Center for Choreography.
Passionate about pursuing both activism and dance, Mohr earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She works as a lawyer at the intersection of the arts and the solidarity economy as a Fellow with the Sustainable Economies Law Center.
Current Projects
Collaboration with visual artist Ranu Mukherjee
Workshops with immigrant and refugee artists are a core part of this project, in partnership with ARTogether (Oakland) and 18th Street Art Center (LA). Development in residency Winter 2022 with support from 836M Gallery
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![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/dc4ae7_67cf3ee5ca1c44f2bbcfc28dc3685bfaf000.jpg/v1/fill/w_122,h_69,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/dc4ae7_67cf3ee5ca1c44f2bbcfc28dc3685bfaf000.jpg)
Nancy (The Poetry Project, NYC)
Collaboration with playwright/poet Maxe Crandall
Affiliate Artist
Upcoming Events
- Fri, Nov 08ODC TheaterNov 08, 2024, 7:30 PM – Nov 10, 2024, 5:00 PMODC Theater, 3153 17th St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
- Sold OutWed, Jul 24CAST (1st floor, theater)Jul 24, 2024, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PMCAST (1st floor, theater), 447 Minna St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
- Fri, Mar 22SPACE 124 | Project ArtaudMar 22, 2024, 8:00 PM – Mar 24, 2024, 2:00 PMSPACE 124 | Project Artaud, 401 Alabama St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
- Sat, Jan 27The Shotgun StudiosJan 27, 2024, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PMThe Shotgun Studios, 1201 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702, USA
- Fri, Oct 20OakstopOct 20, 2023, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PMOakstop, 1721 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
- Sat, Aug 26In The Groove StudiosAug 26, 2023, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PMIn The Groove Studios, 580 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
- Mon, Aug 14Zoom, Virtual MeetingsAug 14, 2023, 2:00 PM – Sep 22, 2023, 2:00 PMZoom, Virtual Meetings
- Sat, Apr 29Lake Merritt @ Cameron-Stamford HouseApr 29, 2023, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PMLake Merritt @ Cameron-Stamford House, 1418 Lakeside Dr, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
- Thu, Apr 27Joe Goode AnnexApr 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Apr 30, 2023, 8:00 PMJoe Goode Annex, 401 Alabama St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
- Fri, Apr 07Shawl-Anderson Dance CenterApr 07, 2023, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PMShawl-Anderson Dance Center, 2704 Alcatraz Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705, USA
- Mon, Apr 03ZoomApr 03, 2023, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM PDTZoom
- Thu, Mar 30John Hopkins UniversityMar 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – Mar 31, 2023, 8:00 PMJohn Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Fri, Mar 10Community Arts Stabilization Trust CASTMar 10, 2023, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PMCommunity Arts Stabilization Trust CAST, 447 Minna St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
- Sat, Feb 18FREIZE LAFeb 18, 2023, 7:00 PM PSTFREIZE LA, 18th Street Art Center, Los Angeles
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