MOLISSA FENLEY (Choreographer and Performer) was born in Las Vegas in 1954. She grew up in Nigeria, lived in Spain, and returned to the US where she received a degree in dance from Mills College in California in 1975. She moved to New York City and formed Molissa Fenley and Dancers in 1977. Fenley's choreographic works for her company include ENERGIZER (1980), commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop; HEMISPHERES (1983) and GEOLOGIC MOMENTS (1986) both commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival; CENOTAPH (1985), commissioned by Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival; ESPERANTO (1985) and SEPARATE VOICES (1987) which both premiered at The Joyce Theater.

Since 1988 Molissa Fenley has concentrated on choreographing and performing solo works, including STATE OF DARKNESS (1988), commissioned by the American Dance Festival; PROVENANCE UNKNOWN (1989), a co-commission by The Kitchen and Dance Chance; THE FLOOR DANCES (1989), commissioned by the Dia Center for the Arts; BARDO (1990) and POLA'A (1996), commissioned by Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, PLACE (1992), commissioned by The Joyce Theater and WITCHES' FLOAT (1993), commissioned by the University of Illinois. CHANNEL (1993), SIGHTINGS (1993), NULLARBOR (1993) TILLIBOYO/ESCALAY (1993), SITA (1995) and TRACE (1997) all premiered at The Joyce Theater, and REGIONS (1995) premiered at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. Her most recent works include ON THE OTHER OCEAN (1997), LA MUSE MENAGERE (1998) commisioned by Mills College, TALA (1998), VOICES (1999) commissioned by Theatre Artaud, San Francisco, ISLAND (2000) and WEATHERING (2000). Her work has been presented throughout the United States, South America, Europe, Australia, Indonesia and Asia.

Ms. Fenley has also choreographed works for the Ohio Ballet (FERAL, 1986), the Australian Dance Theater (A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM, 1986), for the Deutsche Oper Ballet of Berlin (BRIDGE OF DREAMS, 1994), for the National Ballet School of Canada (INNER ENCHANTMENTS, 1996), and for the Performing Dance Company at the University of Utah (TIMBRAL INVENTIONS, 1999, ESCALAY, 1999 and I AND YOU RESEMBLE EACH OTHER, NOW, 2000). The repertory companies of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Georgia at Athens and Mills College in Oakland, California have recently commissioned pieces from her. Peter Boal, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet was awarded a "Bessie" 2000 for his performance of STATE OF DARKNESS. Her work has been performed by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Elisa Monte & David Brown, Dance Alloy (Philadelphia), Young Soon Kim Dance Company, Peggy Baker, Paz Tanjuaquio, Richard Move, Felicia Norton and Li Chiao-Ping.

Television credits include a commissioned collaborative work with John Sanborn and Mary Perillo for PBS's "Alive from Off Center," "Molissa Fenley at the Blackie" for Granada TV's "Celebration," and a music video for VH-1 of "Metamorphosis" by Philip Glass, directed by Scott B. She has received two "Bessie" Choreography awards for CENOTAPH in 1986 and STATE OF DARKNESS in 1988. She was an artist-in-residence at the Harkness Ballet Foundation from 1984-86, and an artist-in-residence at the Dia Center for the Arts from 1986 to 1996. LATITUDES, a work choreographed specifically for Dia's web site can be accessed at www.diacenter.org/fenley/title.html. In 2000, she received an award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts and at the beginning of 2001, an award from the Greenwich Collection Ltd. Both of these awards are to continue with her choreographic work.

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