PhD Student, Northwestern University

Michael Landez is an artist, dance maker, educator, and scholar moving at the intersection of artistic and intellectual inquiry. With a devotion to active curiosity, he works to blur the line between practice, theory, aesthetics, educational efforts and the pursuit of social justice. Originally from San Antonio, TX, his immediate dance and academic family includes Buddy and Susan Trevino, Douglas Martín and Mary Barton, Kirk Peterson, Maria Youskevitch, Rebekah Kowal, Armando Duarte, George de la Peña, Thomas DeFrantz, Melissa Blanco Borelli, and Brenda Serrata Tally. His extended dance family includes Trinette Singleton, Josh Peugh, José Limón, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and Gerald Arpino. He holds a BS in Biology from Texas A&M -San Antonio, an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa with a performance emphasis, and an MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Performance Studies. He holds multiple movement certifications including all levels of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, Progressing Ballet Technique, and a 200-HR Yoga Teacher Certificate (RYT). Through artistic and intellectual efforts, he hopes to move with concert dance techniques, theories of gender performativity, and comparative diasporic studies to reveal alternative ways of knowing and being in communion with one another.

Artist Statement: It is my belief that dance can and should be accessible to those that desire it. Dance is a medium through which the body speaks, and it is my main goal to ensure that any and every body is capable of understanding and speaking this language. The scope of dance is not and should not be limited to the studio or stage. I aim to aid in the fight that brings dance out of the elitist hierarchy of concert dance, and into a collaborative space across interdisciplinary boundaries. Only then can we ensure that dance is available to individuals in the societal constraints we currently find ourselves as artists.

Teaching Statement: An experience in dance education should be afforded to all individuals. As a dance educator, I aim to help students find new modes of embodied practice, discover things about their own sense of self, and engage in a form of community through the gathering of bodies that dance classes propose.