Lemon’s decades-long, multi-hyphenate body of work "entails a vigorous and purposeful collision of creative mediums,” including dance, performance, film, writing, and visual art. Often produced through cross-cultural collaborations, his works consider histories of race, gender, and heritage, and individual identity, spirituality, and memory. His work has been performed and exhibited at venues throughout the US, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Walker Art Center, Jacob’s Pillow, the Joyce Theater, and REDCAT. He has been commissioned by companies including the Lyon Opera Ballet, Limon Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Lemon’s numerous awards include MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, a National Medal of Arts, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Heinz Family Foundation Award. He received a “Bessie” Award in recognition of The Geography Trilogy, a decade-long international choreography project through which Lemon interrogated the dissolution of his dance company and his search for new modes of work. His work is the subject of Ceremonies Out of the Air: Ralph Lemon, a 2024-25 retrospective exhibition at MoMA PS1. He earned a BA in English literature and theater arts from the University of Minnesota.
