An evening with
Rashaun Mitchell ’96

About Rashaun Mitchell: 

Rashaun is a dancer, choreographer, performer, educator and mentor. He began his training in dance here at CA and continued his study at Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with his BA in 2000. Since then, his creativity, artistry, and dedication to his craft has earned him many distinctions. In 2011, he was honored with his first “Bessie” award (the New York Dance and Performance Awards). In 2012, he was awarded another Bessie for “Outstanding Emerging Choreographer.” Two years later, Rashaun was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his momentum hasn’t stopped. With collaborator Silas Riener, he was listed on Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” for 2013. His choreography has been presented in many venues on the East Coast, including New York City’s Danspace Project, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, and the Museum of Arts and Design. Today, students are able to study and learn from his vast experience in courses he teaches at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where Rashaun is currently a faculty member.

Rashaun’s work focuses on the creation of new vocabularies for dance performance, with a particular interest in creating what is known as polymodal dance in response to complex and active spatial environments. This way of movement takes into account one’s surroundings as a vehicle for communicating particular metaphorical, intertextual, and sense-based aspects of dance and performance. In 2020, Rashaun and fellow choreographer Silas Riener were awarded a Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU (CBA) Fellowship to collaborate on a project called “Open Field.” Working with a shifting group of ballet and contemporary dancers on improvisational structures, algorithmic scores, and game-based ideas, they documented their work using analog tools, written descriptions, and digital technologies to create an archive of materials and experiences that can be accessed and arranged in physical or digital space.