Shura Baryshnikov to discuss creative freedom during Atwood Lecture

Shura Baryshnikov, co-founding artistic director of Doppelgänger Dance Collective, will discuss “Mercy Me: Creative Freedom through Acceptance of Self” when she presents the Atwood Lecture on Wednesday, April 27. Her talk will be given at 7 p.m. in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall.

Baryshnikov, the daughter of award-winning actress Jessica Lange and world-renowned dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, is an artist fully committed to the process of creating, producing and performing movement. With a background in physical theater, contemporary dance and a range of improvisation practices, she seeks the creative space where these mediums overlap to inspire somatic exploration and performer versatility.

With involvement in no less than 20 theatrical productions in the last four years, Baryshnikov has worked as a choreographer and movement consultant for Trinity Repertory Company, the Wilbury Theatre Group, Bridge Repertory Company, Elemental Theatre Collective and on a number of Brown/Trinity MFA productions. As a freelance dancer, she has performed with Aerplaye Dance, American Dance Legacy Initiative, Lostwax Multimedia Dance and Festival Ballet Providence. Also an actor, she has performed theatrical roles with Workhorse, Elemental Theatre Collective, and Bridge Repertory Theater.

Baryshnikov is a Trinity teaching associate in the department of theatre arts and performance studies at Brown University and has instructed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dean College, Rhode Island College, Salve Regina and Earthdance, setting more than 15 pieces of original choreography since she began teaching dance in 2010.

Her solo and improvised performance work has been presented by the RISD Museum, Festival Ballet Providence, the Providence Fringe Festival, Brown University’s Creative Arts Council and Arts@Brown, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and in Earthdance’s Moving Arts Lab. With extensive experience in dance programming, institutional development and fundraising, she also consults for arts education and performance initiatives.

In addition to freelance and teaching, Baryshnikov co-directs Rhode Island-based duets company Doppelgänger Dance Collective with dancer Danielle Davidson. Founded in 2015 to foster the creation and performance of original, contemporary choreographic work, Doppelgänger Dance Collective will appear this summer at the Seattle International Dance Festival, the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C., and in a new site-specific performance commissioned for Kennedy Plaza in Providence.