choreographer / artistic director

Maria Gillespie is the choreographer and artistic director of the Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company, Oni Dance. She was selected as one of Dance Magazine's "Top 25 to Watch" (2005) and was recently awarded the 2005 Lester Horton Award for best female performance in her evening length dance Bandits at The Getty Center. Gillespie's dances... "ricochet between vulnerability and strength with razor-sharp shifts in intensity and intent" (Sara Wolf, LA Times). An artist who thrives on improvising, developing, accumulating and interpreting movement, Gillespie's choreography is a seamless blend of classicism and supple, grounded quirkiness. Originally from Nashville, TN, she studied at the School of Nashville Ballet and performed with the company. She received her BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase in 1993. As a member of the Purchase Dance Corps, Ms. Gillespie performed choreography by Charles Weidman and Lin Hwai-min of Cloud Gate Dance Theater. Upon graduating in 1993, she formed 86 NYLON, a collaborative trio whose choreography was presented (93-95) by Dixon Place, Movement Research, Gowanus Arts Exchange, and Next Stage Company.

Since moving to LA in 1996, Ms. Gillespie's choreography has been presented at The Getty Museum, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), UCLA's Department of World Arts & Cultures, The Fowler Museum, Highways Performance Space, The Electric Lodge, Cal State Long Beach, The Brand Library & Arts Center, The Fountain Theater, The Met Theater, LA Dance Invitational, SOLA Dance Festival, and the Dance Moving Forward Festival, as well as in New York City, Colorado and Tokyo, Japan. Her choreography has been commissioned by The Getty Center, Scripps College, Pomona College, and Cal State Long Beach dance departments. Locally, she has enjoyed and been inspired by working and performing with Helios Dance Theater, Joe Goode, Victoria Marks, David Rousseve, and String Theory Ensemble. Noted as a "charismatic, mighty performer.with a distinct vision" (Victoria Looseleaf, LA Times) she is a four time Lester Horton Award winner (2002, 2203, 2005). She is the honored recipient of grants from The Durfee Foundation (2002) and The James Irvine Foundation Grant, Dance: Creation to Performance (2004). Ms. Gillespie has received critical acclaim in several publications including, The LA Times, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Dance Magazine. A recent review describes. "Gillespie's growing repertory demonstrates a capacious gift for idiosyncratic movement invention that showcases unpredictability as it trades on the dramatic implications of kinetic extremes" (Sara Wolf, LA Times).

A recognized and respected choreographer in Los Angeles for several years, Ms. Gillespie formed Oni Dance in 2005 and created their first season. The year began with a repertory concert at The Brand Library, a commission at Pomona College, Highways Performance Space benefit, the premiere of Imperfection/Unsung at REDCAT, a tour to NYC's International Dance Festival, and the premiere of her new work Bandits, commissioned by The Getty Center. A respected teacher of contemporary technique, Ms. Gillespie regularly offers master classes publicly and in universities throughout Southern California. She is on faculty at UCLA's department of World Arts & Cultures and Loyola Marymount University where she teaches contemporary modern dance as well as offering weekly modern classes in Venice.