Rachel Thorne Germond has presented
her work in New York City at such venues as
the Joyce Soho, Movement Research at Judson
Church, WAX, Chashama, The Merce Cunningham
Studio, Dixon Place, amongst others and in
Chicago since 2000, primarily at Links Hall,
but also in performances with the Girlie Q
Variety Hour, the Chicago Kings, and in festivals
such as the Feast of Fools, Full Circle Festival,
the Spareroom, the Around the Coyote Festival,
Looptopia!, and Estrogen Festival. Ms. Germond
is a graduate of Cornell University (1986)
where she studied modern dance while obtaining
degrees in Fine Arts and Comparative Literature.
She achieved an MFA in dance and choreography
(2000) at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana
where she was a Fellow. Her training includes
intensive study of Klein/Mahler technique
with Barbara Mahler and with such notable
teachers as Mary Anthony, Anna Sokolow, Pedro
Alejandro, Tere O'Connor, and Nancy Topf..
In 2003, 2005, and 2006 she was the recipient
of the city of Chicago's CAAP grant, and she
was an artist-in- residence through C.A.P.E.
at Roberto Clemente High School from 2004-2007.
She currently teaches arts integration in
the Chicago Public Schools through CAPE and
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's MAP programming.
In 2004 she formed her Chicago-based pick
up company, RTG Dance. 2010 marks RTG Dance's
6th season.
ARTIST
STATEMENT
As a choreographer I grapple with the nature
of movement as metaphor or analogy. I strive
to convey on- stage a world that is not dissimilar
to everyday life, but the dances I make do
address aspects of fantasy, imagination, and
memory within the context of contemporary
life. I have been consistently interested
in archetypes and paradoxes.
To create my work, I draw on a knowledge of
contemporary and historical artistic, biographical,
and literary sources. Intrigued by a wide
range of random and disparate inputs from
modern life, I employ multiple strategies
of investigation in my choreography, creating
ambiguous juxtapositions and new, unfamiliar
languages.