Cynthia Oliver is a New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie")-winning choreographer whose work has been presented nationally and internationally. A former dancer with numerous companies, including the David Gordon Pick Up Company, Ronald Kevin Brown/Evidence, and Bebe Miller, Oliver's honors have included a Dance Theater Workshop/Bessie Schonberg First Light Commission; a Creative Capital grant; Faculty Research, Creative Research and Arnold O. Beckman awards from the University of Illinois School of Fine and Applied Arts; an Illinois Arts Council grant in Choreography; New England Foundation for the Arts Touring support; National Performance Network Creation funding; and a Rockefeller Multi-Arts Production (MAP) award. In 2009, she was a CalArts Alpert Award nominee. A professor of dance and university scholar at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Oliver teaches physical practice, composition, and performance. She holds a PhD in performance studies from New York University. Oliver served as both a Center panelist and LOI panelist in dance in 2013. In 2014, she served as a Performance LOI panelist.
