Joe Bowie

Joe Bowie was born in Lansing, Michigan and began dancing, on a dare, while a sophomore at Brown University. After graduating, he moved to New York City to pursue a dance career where he danced professionally for more than twenty-five years. Bowie danced and toured domestically and internationally with both the eminent Paul Taylor Dance Company, as the first full-time African American male dancer in the Taylor company’s history, from 1987-1989, and as a longtime member of the world-renowned Mark Morris Dance Group, from 1989-2011. While a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, Bowie appeared in the films: Falling Down Stairs, a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma; The Hard Nut, Morris’ Emmy-nominated take on the Nutcracker; and was a featured dancer in Morris’ Mozart Dances – Live from Lincoln Center on PBS. In addition to performing, Bowie has devoted much of his time to dance education, and has taught master classes in Modern, Contemporary, Ballet, and Jazz dance techniques at: George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Champaign County, IL), Columbia College (Chicago, IL), University of Washington (Seattle, WA), Cornish College (Seattle, WA), University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, CA), California State Long Beach (Long Beach, CA) , University of California Irvine (Irvine, CA), Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), Brown University (Providence, RI), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WS), and Mills College (Oakland, CA). As a senior company member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, Bowie was trusted to set and stage the works of Mr. Morris at: The Juilliard School (New York, NY), Mills College (Oakland, CA), George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, CA), University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston- Salem, NC), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WS), and Columbia College (Chicago, IL). Prior to becoming a Graduate Assistant at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, Bowie was a Lecturer in the Dance Program at Northwestern University and an Adjunct Professor of Contemporary Dance at the University of South Carolina (Columbia Campus). He continues to actively engage in the dance science and dance education communities and serves on the: Educators’ Committee, Intersectionality Task Force, and the Strategic Planning Workgroup of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS); and the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Workgroup of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). Bowie earned his A.B. with honors in English and American Literature with an independent concentration in African-American Poetry from Brown University.