ABOUT
BIO
Victoria Winter is a DMV-based choreographer, performer, and dance educator. Victoria has had the opportunity to dance in repertory by Koresh Dance, 10 Hairy Legs, and Alex Neoral, as well as assist Dance Theater of Harlem faculty through her training at the CityDance Conservatory in Bethesda, MD. She went on to pursue her BFA in Dance Choreography & Performance, and Certificate in Arts Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was selected to perform in works by Camille A. Brown, Uri Sans, and Aston McCullough through the Five College Dance consortium. Her first choreographic work in the DMV was premiered in NACHMO’s 2022 showcase. Her recent projects have included Lauren DeVera's dance film "Reclaiming Us" (2022) and various TLD Dance Collective performances, including the Kennedy Center's National Dance Day (2023). She currently works as Dance Team Manager, Program Administrator, and dance educator at CityDance Studios in D.C.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I create dance works that embodies life through my eyes. I look introspectively to connect my lived experiences with the happenings of the world around me. My observations of people and objects in nature spark ideas for further investigation. Taking these external forces as inspiration, I intertwine my past with my present self to discover new ways of creating and honing my craft. Energy sources and other worldly phenomena help influence my investigation of interconnection between the body and nature. Other art mediums such as poetry and visual and installation art aid in inspiring my wish to discover their connections to the art of dance. Usually, I become fixated on one topic, and begin to see more and more connections to other topics, and once I have a web of connections, the dance generation process starts.
One way in which my process comes to life is taking from everyday gestures to represent the concept I am exploring. After repeating it over and over until it is unrecognizable, the simply poetic gesture has burgeoned into three, eight-counts. Another way in which I produce work is through improvisation. I generate segmented sequences by letting my body take over. The dance is then solidified once each of the sequences feels true to myself and how my body wants to portray the subject matter.
I am interested in the exploration of non-conventional performance spaces and creating dance on film. These methods of showcasing the work will directly connect with the concepts being investigated. My goal is to inspire thought and contemplation about what my dance brings to myself and others. From the moment the work begins, I want the audience to have a relationship with the piece, and to internalize the concepts presented. I wish for them to make connections to their own life and want to investigate for themselves why they reacted to the work in the way they did.