Biography

ALEX SPRINGER (he/him) is a choreographer, performer, teacher, and video artist who was based in New York City until 2018. He received his M.F.A. in Choreography and Performance from Smith College and holds a B.F.A in Dance with a minor in Movement Science from the University of Michigan.

He performed with Doug Varone and Dancers from 2007-17 and toured extensively throughout the US and abroad. During his tenure with Varone, he acted as the rehearsal director, company manager, and still serves as the company's archivist and répétiteur. He has staged Varone’s work on various companies and universities such as Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the University of the Arts. He has also had the pleasure of working with Alexandra Beller, Jeanine Durning, Adriane Fang, Angie Hauser, Heidi Henderson, Donnell Oakley, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, among others.

Springer has been collaborating with Xan Burley since 2005 and their co-creative choreography  takes shape as dances for the stage and camera, site-specific performance, transdisciplinary collaboration, and multi-media installation. Their work has been presented by the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Center for Performance Research, Danspace Project, Movement Research at the Judson Church, School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, and the 92Y, among others. They have been commissioned by universities and professional companies across the US. Their work fills and often extends the boundaries that conventionally contain dance performance. Through a maximalist approach, they practice exceeding dance itself by constructing scenarios that challenge, and even dissolve expectation. Movement mutates and emerges as they apply the varied methodologies of collaboration, community, space, cinema, and technology upon the form. 

As a video artist, Springer is invested in the convergence of choreographic and cinematic forms. He has worked as a freelance video designer, filming and editing content for a myriad of artists as well as creating his own video projects with Burley. Additionally, he is examining the use of video as a tool for dance archiving and his scholarly research on activating archives was presented at the Dance Studies Association 2019 conference.

He has been on faculty at Gibney, the Bates Dance Festival, Purchase College, the University of Maryland, Wesleyan University, and is thrilled to be joining the University of Florida.