Amy Spencer P’13
Amy Spencer’s professional dance career in New York City spanned more than 20 years. She was a principal dancer with Twyla Tharp Dance and with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, a collaborator/performer with Pilobolus and with Martha Clarke for her off-Broadway productions at the Public Theater, as well as a performer with distinguished downtown choreographers including Lucinda Childs and Sara Rudner. She appeared on Broadway in Singin’ in the Rain, directed by Twyla Tharp, and worked on the films Fame, Zelig, and Amadeus.
She was founder, co-director, and choreographer for SPENCER/COLTON DANCE, a company based in Boston for more than a decade which received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other organizations, and was a three-time award recipient for choreography from Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Spencer directed the movement program for actors at American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University from 1989 to 1997. While resident choreographer for American Repertory Theatre, she worked on many productions with renowned directors Andrei Serban, Ron Daniels, and Andrei Belgrader. She choreographed Anne Bogart’s production of On the Town at Trinity Repertory Theatre.
Spencer taught nationally and internationally with Twyla Tharp Dance and held teaching residencies at Sarah Lawrence College, Brigham Young University, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and Barnard College. She taught regularly at Boston Conservatory and Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program and was commissioned to create new dance works for Boston Ballet, Boston Ballet II, and Boston Conservatory. Spencer also founded Summer Stages Dance, an acclaimed dance festival focused on the creation and presentation of new dance work, in 1996. Summer Stages Dance currently resides at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and was developed at Concord Academy, where Spencer was head of the Performing Arts Department and directed the dance program for more than 30 years.
Spencer directed the movement program for actors at American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University from 1989 to 1997. While resident choreographer for American Repertory Theatre, she worked on many productions with renowned directors Andrei Serban, Ron Daniels, and Andrei Belgrader. She choreographed Anne Bogart’s production of On the Town at Trinity Repertory Theatre.
Spencer taught nationally and internationally with Twyla Tharp Dance and held teaching residencies at Sarah Lawrence College, Brigham Young University, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and Barnard College. She taught regularly at Boston Conservatory and Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program and was commissioned to create new dance works for Boston Ballet, Boston Ballet II, and Boston Conservatory. Spencer also founded Summer Stages Dance, an acclaimed dance festival focused on the creation and presentation of new dance work, in 1996. Summer Stages Dance currently resides at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and was developed at Concord Academy, where Spencer was head of the Performing Arts Department and directed the dance program for more than 30 years.