Nik Owens

Bio

Nik Owens (he/him/his) is from Los Angeles, CA and began his movement experience as a competitive gymnast for 15 years. He began his dance training in his senior year of high school and continued at Wesleyan University, where he received a B.A. in Dance and a certificate in Environmental Studies. He has had the pleasure of studying under Nicholas Leichter, Tania Isaac, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, The Dance Exchange, and others. Over the past 11 years, he lived in New York City where he was a company member/collaborator with and performed works by Raja Kelly/The Feath3r Theory, Bryn Cohn and Artists, Hélène Simoneau Danse, The Bang Group in their annual production of Nut/Cracked, Kayla Farrish-Decent Structures Arts (more specifically on several duet projects with Kayla Farrish such as Gods and Accepting Darkness and Black Bodies Sonata, as well the evening length dance film Martyr’s Fiction), Dual Rivet, 10 Hairy Legs, Tiffany Mills Company, and others. Currently, he works and performs with David Dorfman Dance and performs repertory works with Kyle Marshall Choreography. He has been afforded the opportunity to teach at institutions such as Wesleyan University, Gibney Dance Center, Rivertown Dance Academy, Dancewave in Brooklyn, NY, and many others. In 2021 Nik choreographed a solo 25-minute work, entitled The Right Kind for which he was awarded performance commissions at Rivertown Dance Academy and Wesleyan University in 2021, and at Arts on Site in 2022 as part of their Under the Skin II: Forebearers and the Future performance series (curated by David Parker). Additionally, he was awarded choreographic commissions to create works at Rivertown Dance Academy in Hudson Valley, NY from 2017-2020, and at The Wooden Floor in California in 2018 (under David Dorfman Dance) with UIUC MFA in dance alumnus Kendra Portier. He is very much looking forward to his time at UIUC to delve into his choreographic, performative, and scholastic research surrounding the intersection of comfort bias and habits, and the parts they play in story-telling. He hopes that through a synthesis of learning, researching, and teaching, he can continue to uncover why we seek out what makes us comfortable, and dare us to tap the unknown by exploring the uncomfortable and unfamiliar.