L.A. SAMUELSON (they/them)

(303) 667-5796 | lauraann.samuelson@gmail.com | lauraannsamuelson.com

Education

MFA in Dance, University of Colorado Boulder, 2020

Secondary Emphases: Visual Art & Somatics.
Graduate Certificate in Emergent Technologies & Media Arts Practices

BA in Dance & Creative Writing, Hampshire College, 2011

Additional Training

800-Hour Guild Certified Practitioner Training in The Feldenkrais Method®, Feldenkrais in Santa Fe, 2021

200-Hour Interdisciplinary Yoga, Nosara Yoga Institute, 2011

Current Positions

Research Fellow, RISD’s Movement Lab, Film/Animation/Video Dept,

Rhode Island School of Design

Awards, Honors, Grants and Residencies

2025: Sculpture Space Residency - 6 Week Sculpture Residency - Utica, NY
2024: RISD Movement Lab Fellowship
2023: National Performance Network Development Fund Grant for Telegraph Valley
2022: National Performance Network Creation Fund Grant for Telegraph Valley, in partnership with RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator and square product theatre
2022: Insite Fund - Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for Holding Pattern
2022: Understudy Grant for New Work - Understudy Denver
2020-2022: RedLine Contemporary Art Center Residency, Denver, CO

2020: Crosstown Arts, Memphis, TN

2020: Boulder Arts Commission Professional Development Scholarship for Crosstown Arts Residency

2020: Atlas Institute - B2 Center for Media Arts and Performance, 2-Week Performance Residency

2019: Charlotte York Irey Scholarship, Graduate Award for Excellence in Dance Performance, Choreography and Teaching

2018-2020: Roser Arts Fellowship, University of Colorado Boulder

2017-2018: Center for the Humanities & Arts: Arts & Sciences Fellowship, University of Colorado Boulder

2017: Creative-in-Residence, Denver Art Museum

2016: General Operating Support Grant, Boulder County Arts Alliance

2016 Teaching & Performance Making Residency, Dance Initiative/Launchpad of the Arts Spring

2015 Project Support Grant, Boulder County Arts Alliance

2014 Major Grant, Boulder Arts Commission

2014 5-month creation/ performance residency, Colorado Conservatory of Dance

2014 Boulder County Arts Alliance/Unrestricted Fellowship

2013 Encore! Award Winner, Boulder International Fringe Festival
2012 Encore! Award Winner, Boulder International Fringe Festival

2008 - 2011 Non-Satis Scire Undergraduate Scholarship, Hampshire College

CREATIVE WORK

Solo - Authored Performance (Created & Performed)

2024: Telegraph Valley

Premiere: RedLine Contemporary Art Center

Sound Design: Adam Stone

Dramaturgy: Elle Hong

Additional Commissioners/Presenters (forthcoming): square product theatre (Utica, NY), Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (Miami, FL), and Rhode Island College of Design (Providence, RI).

2023: Holding Pattern

Premiere: Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum at the A-Lodge (Boulder, CO)

Dramaturgy: Elle Hong

Curation: Cortney Lane Stell

2023: I’m Trying to Land

Premiere: Loculus Collective Festival

15 minute performance with rotating projectors

2023: Almost Transmission

Premiere: Museum of Contemporary Art - Denver

Sound Engineering: Adam Stone

Dramaturgy: Elle Hong

2023: Ordinary Portal

Premiere: Museum of Longmont

2021: this time with smaller parts

Premiere: Checking In, Curated by Louise Martorano

Presented by RedLine Contemporary Art Center at The Evans School, Denver, CO

2020: to get under, you have to lose

Premiere: Atlas Institute’s B2 Center for Media Arts and Performance, University of Colorado Boulder

Additional Presentation: Harper Joy Theater at Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, Spring 2020 (virtual presentation due to COVID-19)

2019: Outside’s Insides (you were here)

Performed with Ondine Geary

Premiere: Charlotte York Irey Theater, University of Colorado Boulder

2018: thinning out

Premiere: Charlotte York Irey Theater, University of Colorado Boulder

12-minute solo work examining being a lesbian and dead dads

2017: Field Dependence: Willful Child

Premiere: Charlotte York Irey Theater, University of Colorado Boulder

2017: practicing

Premiere: Boulder Creative Collective, presented by Hoarded Stuff

2015: Do Not Fear Ideas Do Not Fear Do Not Do Ideas

Premiere: Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMOCA)

2014: Kitsch

Premiere: Boulder International Fringe Festival; presented by Hoarded Stuff

Additional Presentations:

Paloma Arts Space, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Performing Arts Center, Naropa University, Boulder, CO, 2015

2014: Everything is In

Premiere: Community Dance Collective, Boulder, CO; presented by Hoarded Stuff

Additional Presentations:

Tatwerk Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2015
MADE in France, Tapis Vert, Normandy, France, 2015

2013: Tiny Gods: More

Premiere: Wesley Chapel, Boulder, CO; presented by Hoarded Stuff & TinHOUSE experimental dance theatre

2012: Falling Out

Premiere: Charlotte York Irey Theatre, University of Colorado Boulder; presented as part of NeXus Dance Concert

2011: DEMOLITION woman

Premiere: The We’re House, Boulder, CO

Additional Presentations: HyBridge Arts Collective, Philadelphia, PA, 2012

Sculpture & Installation

2025: Across Ebb & Flow - Telegraph Valley

2 Person Exhibition - Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator

Curated by Rosie Gordon Wallace, Louise Martorano, and Lauryn Lawrence

Large Installation work.

2024: Site Visit: House for a Void

Home Dreams, Group Show, Curated by Jeff Lambson, RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver, CO. 12’ x 12’ X 12’ Sculptural Work. Materials: 2x4s and Concrete Foundation Blocks

2023: Testing the Mechanics - Solo Exhibition

Understudy Denver, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO

2023: Circuit Training

Tender Machines, Group Show, Curated by Esther Hernandez, Union Hall Gallery, Denver, CO

2022: Telegraph Valley Site #1

Presented as part of RedLine Contemporary Art Center’s 2022 Gala, Curated by Louise Martorano, Denver, CO

2021: Untitled Wooden Cloud

Presented as part of RedLine Contemporary Art Center’s 2021 Gala, Curated by Louise Martorano, Denver, CO

2019: Same Signal, Somewhat Separate Mouth

2019: Fan Machines

Art & Art History, University of Colorado Boulder

2019: Parts/Wholes

Art & Art History, University of Colorado Boulder

2019: Bike Machine

Art & Art History, University of Colorado Boulder

Constructed from bike parts, this device attempts to contact the sculptor’s dead dad through the movement of a series of interconnected gears and chain loops.

Video

2023: Circuit Training

Tender Machines, Group Show, Curated by Esther Hernandez, Union Hall Gallery, Denver, CO

2020: Testing the Mechanics

101 animated drawings to accompany performance work, “to get under, you have to lose”

2018: Ring Around the Hole in the Ground

A video work hoarding together apertures made from objects that extend the scope of the human body

Collaborative Performance Work (Dance, Theatre & Contemporary Performance)

2023: Lucy. Syra. Irmak.

Created in collaboration with performers: Lucy Zullow, Syra Gutow, Irmak Sagir

Hamilton College Dance Concert

2021: Suspended Disbelief

Created with Kate Speer and Chris Bagley

Curated by Rosie Gordon Wallace

Premiere: Chromatic Cogitations, Rhythm Reboot - RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver

2019: A Queer Tradition

Created with and curated by Kenzie Sitterud

Premiere: Sit. Stand. Play. Denver Art Museum

2018: Untitled Duet (Ejection Fraction)

Created with Ondine Geary

Premiere: Un/Seen Festival, Counterpath Press, Denver, CO

2018: Tiny Dances

Created with Nathan Hall

Premiere: Untitled Series, Micro, Denver Art Museum

2016: This Aunt is Not a Cockroach

Created with Emily K Harrison

Premiere: Wesley Chapel, Boulder, CO; Presented by square product theatre and Hoarded Stuff

2016: I’m Going, Middle, End.

Created with Meg Madorin and CoMotion Dance Company

Premiere: Launchpad for the Arts, Carbdonale, CO

2015: Goodnight, Courtney Love

Created with Joanna Rotkin

Premiere: North Boulder Recreation Center, Boulder, CO; Presented by Joanna & The Agitators and Hoarded Stuff Performance

2015: Retriplicate

Created with Buntport Theater Company and Adam Stone

Premiere: Buntport Theater, presented by Buntport Theater & the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO

2014: Taming the Apology

Created with Li Molnar Kronlid

Premiere: Skogen, Gothenburg, Sweden

2013: Some Kind of Fun

Created by Adam Stone, Erin Rollman, L.A. Samuelson and Cast

Premiere: Buntport Theater, Denver, CO; presented by Screwtooth Theater Company

2013: Il Pleut

Created in collaboration with Adam Stone

Premiere: Buntport Theater, Denver, CO

2012: Let Them Eat Cake

Created with Joanna Rotkin and Cast

Premiere: Trident Booksellers, Boulder International Fringe Festival

Choreography for Music Video

2021: Strange Astrology, Slothrust

Directed by Adam Stone

Record Label: Dangerbird Records

Selected Performances (in the works of others)

2022: Eavesdroppings

Created by Ben Coleman

Presented at Understudy, Denver, CO

2019: Dances That Don’t Look Like Dances

Created by Michelle Ellworth

Premiere: UN[WRAP], Charlotte York Irey Theatre, University of Colorado Boulder

2019: Post-Verbal Social Network

Created by Michelle Ellsworth

Presented at On the Boards, Seattle, WA

2018: Radius of Transmission

Created by Ondine Geary

Presented at The Spark, Boulder, CO

2018: Manpant Publishing

Created by Michelle Ellsworth

Presented online at michelleellsworth.com

2016: Wholeness (Dances made to be viewed in the Dark)

Created by Control Group Productions

Presented at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts

2016: Sweet & Lucky

Created by Third Rail Projects

Produced by Denver Center for the Performing Arts

2015: Ham McBeth

Created by Emily K. Harrison

Produced by square product theatre, Boulder, CO

2014: The Pain of Becoming

Created by Chrissy Nelson, Hugh Lobel and Kyle Monks

Presented by CMAP at the Atlas Institute, University of Colorado Boulder

2013: Withstand

Created by Chrissy Nelson

Presented at the UN[WRAP] Festival, University of Colorado Boulder

2013: Small Death Practice

Created by Joanna Rotkin (Joanna & The Agitators)

Presented by the Boulder International Fringe Festival, Dairy Arts Center

2012: BeeHive

Created by Joanna Rotkin

Presented as part of Embodied Poetics: Naropa University, Boulder, CO

Curation

2020: Curation Committee for B2 Center for Media Arts and Performance’s Fall 2020-Spring 2021 Season, University of Colorado Boulder

2018: Untitled Series: Micro at the Denver Art Museum - Evening of live performance

Curated with Nathan Hall

Denver Art Museum

2014: Failure Festival - 3-day interdisciplinary arts festival

Produced by Hoarded Stuff Performance at made|life, Boulder, CO

Directing

2013: The Great Green

Created by Joanna Rotkin

Premiere: Boulder International Fringe Festival

2012: Tiny Gods: Mine

Created by Joanna Rotkin

Premiere: Wesley Chapel, Boulder, CO; presented by Joanna & The Agitators and Hoarded Stuff Performance

Assistant Directing

2012: Dollhouse Music Box.

Directed by David Dorfman and Liz Claire

Dramaturgy

2022: lightness has a call that’s hard to hear

Created by elle hong

Premiere: ArtGym, Denver, CO

2016: We Care.

Created by Meg Madorin

Premiere: Launchpad for the Arts, presented by Dance Initiative, Carbondale, CO

2014: Beam Me Up, Scotty

Created by Emily K Harisson & Joanna Rotkin

Premiere: The Failure Festival, made|life, Boulder, CO

Movement Direction/Choreography for Theater

2023: RENT by Jonathan Larson

Directed by Mark Cryer

Hamilton College, Clinton, NY

2022: Dance Nation by Clare Barron

Directed by Gleason Bauer

Produced by square product theatre, Boulder, CO

2017: House of Gold by Gregory Moss

Directed by Gleason Bauer

Produced by square product theatre, Boulder, CO

2015: Peter & The Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev

Directed by Pesha Rudnick

Produced by Local Theatre Company & the Colorado Music Festival, Bouder, CO

2015: Ham McBeth

Created & Produced by square product theatre

Premiere: Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO

2014: SLAB

Adapted by Emily K Harrison & Gleason Bauer from the Novel by Selah Saterstrom, produced by square product theatre

Premiere: Center for Media Arts and Performance, Atlas Blackbox, Boulder, CO

Invited Talks / Panels

2024:

Artist & Research Talk, Film/Animation/Video Dept, RISD, Providence, RI

2023:

Artist Talk/Q&A: Holding Pattern, Black Cube, Denver, CO
Artist Talk/Q&A: Almost Transmission, MCA Denver, Denver, CO
Artist Talk /Q&A: Ordinary Portal, Museum of Longmont, Longmont, CO

2021:

Artist Talk/Q&A: this time with smaller parts, RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver, CO

2020:

Artist Talk/Q&A: Spring Studio Series, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Artist Talk: Crosstown Arts, Memphis, Memphis, TN
Boulder County Arts Alliance Panel: On Failure, Boulder, Colorado

2017:

Artist Presentation, Denver Art Museum

2014:

Artist Talk: Colorado Conservatory of Dance, Broomfield, Colorado

TEACHING

University Appointments

2024 - 2025: Research Fellow in Film/Animation/Video Dept in Rhode Island School of Design’s Movement Lab
- FAV 2125 - 101: Topics in Movement: Performance Assemblages, Wintersession 2025
2023 - 2024: Visiting Assistant Professor in Digital Art and Dance, Hamilton College
- DARTS 317: Electronic & Choreographic Assemblages, Spring 2024
- DARTS 113: Intro to Integrated Media [Forthcoming], Spring 2024
- DARTS240: Performance, Ritual and Technology, Fall 2023
- DARTS113: Intro to Integrated Media, Fall 2023
- DANCE120: Elementary Contemporary Dance, Fall 2023
- DANCE399: Creative Process, Reconsidering Agency in Performance (Independent Study - Irmak Sagir), Fall 2023

Faculty Co-Advisor, Levitt Summer Research Project: Mina Stevens: BODY IN THE GAME WORLD: Exploring the Interconnection of Objects in Virtual Spaces, Summer 2024
Thesis Advisor: Fiona Morrison: Orbital Us: Cultivating Community through Dance & Performance, Dance & Movement Studies, Spring 2024
Thesis Committee Member: Anna O’Shea: “Life is Movement, Let Us Dance”: Choreopolitics and the Kinetic Reaching Towards Freedom in Carceral Spaces, Women & Gender Studies, Spring 2024
Thesis Committee Member: Irmak Sagir: Playwriting, Directing and Performance Project: This is Not About That, Theatre Studies, Spring 2024

2023: Lecturer, Hamilton College
- DANCE202-01: Gut Feelings: Thinking With The Body, Spring 2023
- DANCE202-02: Gut Feelings: Thinking With The Body, Spring 2023
2022: Research Assistant for Michelle Ellsworth, Associate Chair of Dance, University of Colorado Boulder
2018-2020: Graduate Part-Time Instructor, University of Colorado Boulder
- DNCE 1017 Dance in Popular Culture: Spring 2020, Fall 2019
- DNCE 1000 Beginning Contemporary Dance, Fall 2018

2019: Teaching Assistant, University of Colorado Boulder
- DNCE 4037 Contemporary Concert Dance: Shifting Perspectives in Performance

2018-2020: Roser Grant Fellow, University of Colorado Boulder

2015: Adjunct Faculty, Naropa University, School of the Arts, Boulder, CO
- PAR490 Special Topics: Physical Research & Creative Process, Spring 2015

2014: Guest Co-Instructor Washington University in St Louis: MADE IN FRANCE Study Abroad Program
- Choreography & Construction Collaborations (collaborative playmaking)

2011: Teaching Assistant, Washington University in St Louis: MADE IN FRANCE Study Abroad Program
- Yoga and Somatic Practices

Professional Affiliations

2016-2024: Artistic Associate, square product theatre, Boulder, CO

2012-2018: Founder & Artistic Director: Hoarded Stuff Performance, Boulder, CO

2013-2016: Founding Member, The SPILL Project Improvisation Collective, Boulder, CO

Additional Teaching

Academic Teaching - Conference Workshop:

2015: Between Language and Body: Incubating a New Work: Co-taught with Bhanu Kapil. &Now Blast Radius: Writing and Other Forms. California Institute for the Arts (Cal Arts).

Academic Teaching as Guest Artist:

2024:

Vertical Time Performance Workshop - RISD FAV, Providence, RI

2023:

Guest Lecture for DARTS 133 - Intro to Media, Hamilton College

2022:

Improvisation Workshop for THEATER201- Acting Styles: Theatricalism & The European Avant-Garde, Hamilton College
Devising Workshop for THEATER204 - Collaborative Playmaking, Hamilton College
Guest Lecture for TV CLUB
Studio Visits for Graduate Art History Program - Geoffrey Shamos, University of Denver
Studio Visits for Fine Arts Professional Practice - Gretchen Schaefer & Regan Rosburg, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design

2021:

Generating Text Workshop for CMDP 3830: Advanced Performance Media - Keith Haynes, University of Colorado Boulder

2020:

Feldenkrais Workshop for Experiential Movement, Somatics, and Injury Prevention - Laura Malpass. University of Colorado Boulder
Performance Making Workshop for Installation, Shrines, Ritual Art - Sue Hammond West, Naropa University, Boulder, CO

2019:

Improvisation Workshop, Movement for Theatre Majors - Tamara Meneghini, University of Colorado Boulder

2017:

Feldenkrais Workshop for Injury Prevention for Dancers - Chrissy Nelson, University of Colorado Boulder

2016:

Contemporary Dance Workshop for Stage Movement 1 - Dr. Andrea Moon, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
Improvisation Workshop for Multi-Genre Workshop: Notes on Architecture - Bhanu Kapil, Naropa University, Boulder, CO

2013:

Contemporary Dance Workshop for Wisdom of the Body - Joanna Rotkin, Naropa University, Boulder, CO

2012:

Contemporary Dance Workshop for Dance Lab - Joanna Rotkin, Naropa University, Boulder, CO

2011:

Contemporary Dance Workshop for Intermediate Modern Dance Technique - Cathy Nicoli, Hampshire College, Northampton, MA

Ongoing Community Teaching & Care Work

2022: Feldenkrais Method Functional Integration Lessons, Individualized for each student, Weekly and Ongoing throughout Boulder County

2021: Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement Group Classes on Zoom, 2x per week from January - May

2022: Windhorse Community Services, Community Programs Coordinator & Group Leader, Boulder, CO 10 hours per week

2021-2022: Windhorse Community Services, Team Counselor & Attendant, Boulder, CO, 20-35 hours per week

2021-2022: Windhorse Elder Care, Caregiver for Elders experiencing Dementia, Boulder, CO, 15 hours per week

2021: RedLine Contemporary Art Center’s EPIC Arts Program - community art projects with Kunsmiller Academy, Denver

2020 - 2021: Testing the Mechanics, 1-on-1 Courses for Harnessing Personal Creativity, Individualized 6 week course study of Interdisciplinary Art Practices. Repeated 10 times on Zoom.

2016: Making Dances & Amplifying Personal Creativity. 1-on-1 Courses for Harnessing Personal Creativity, Individualized 6 week course of study in Performance Making. Repeated 8 times, Floorspace Studio, Boulder, CO

2016: Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement Group Class. 3-month weekly course, Floorspace Studio, Boulder, CO

2015: Advanced Contemporary Dance: Relationship to Action. Projekt Move. Weekly Professional Class in Contemporary Dance Technique, 3-month course, Between the Bones Studio Collective

2014: Advanced Contemporary Dance Technique. CCD- Professional Training Program, 5 month class series, Colorado Conservatory of Dance

2014: Inquiries in New Performance. Co-taught with Joanna Rotkin. Performance making and composition. 6 week course, Boulder Circus Center

2014: Encountering Contemporary Dance. Beginning and Intermediate weekly course in Contemporary Dance. 6 week course, Boulder Circus Center

2014: Inside, Outside and Impossible Tasks: Advanced Contemporary Dance, Boulder Circus Center

2013: Yoga & Creative Movement for Kids. AVID 4 Adventure Summer Camp, week -long curriculum repeated for 3 months

Community Teaching - One Time Workshops

2016: Mass Movement Workshop. Untitled Fridays - STOP Motion. Evening Workshop in site-specific improvisation, Denver Art Museum

2016: Site-Specific Dance Workshop, presented by Dance Initiative, Launchpad for the Arts, Carbondale, CO

2016: Composing Awareness, Composing Context, Composing Scores. Co-Taught with Meg Madorin, presented by Dance Initiative, Launchpad for the Arts, Carbondale, CO

2016: Improvisation Workshop, presented by Dance Initiative, Launchpad for the Arts, Carbondale, CO

2014: Inside, Outside and Impossible Task, presented by Daughter Cells Dance, Between the Bones, Denver

2014: Moving to Shape Time: Dance & Feldenkrais, co-taught with Ethan Cowan, Boulder Circus Center

Select Press

“The Secret is Out about Denver’s Most Adventurous Arts Incubator.” Ray Rinaldi, The Denver Post, August 21, 2023

“Meet Laura Ann Samuelson, Interdisciplinary Artist.” Shoutout Colorado Interview, Shoutout Colorado, January 19, 2022

“Laura Ann Samuelson Wants To Complicate What A Solo Dance Is.” Interview with Erica Prather, Westword, February 22, 2017

“Laura Ann Samuelson Frees Denver Art Museum Patrons Through Dance.” feature by Susan Froyd, Westword, July 26, 2017

“Watch Laura Ann Samuelson Create Solo Dance Performance at the DAM” Blog Post by Carolyn Davidson, Denver Art Museum Blog, July 25, 2017

“Two Artists Get Wet, Break Rules at The North Boulder Rec Center” feature by Corey H. Jones, Colorado Public Radio, Feb 25, 2016

“Fail Again,” by David Unger, The Point Magazine, June 16, 2015

“The Value of Failing” feature by Elizabeth Miller, Boulder Weekly. October 30, 2014