Miguel Gutierrez (Photo by Marley Trigg-Stuart)

The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance at Princeton University has announced award-winning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Miguel Gutierrez as principal Caroline Hearst Choreographer-in-Residence for the 2020-21 academic year. Gutierrez’s residency will include teaching, creating a new commissioned work, and advising on student-created choreography.

The purpose of the Hearst program is to bring prominent choreographers and dancers in conversation with Princeton students through a variety of engagement activities while supporting the development of these choreographers’ work. Gutierrez’ residency, along with several other shorter residencies being planned for the coming year, is aimed at maximizing that potential engagement.

Launched in 2017, the Caroline Hearst Choreographers-in-Residence Program fosters the Program in Dance’s connections with the dance field. It provides selected professional choreographers with resources and a rich environment to develop their work and offers opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to engage with diverse creative practices.

Gutierrez is a choreographer, composer, performer, singer, writer, educator, and advocate who has lived in New York City for over 20 years. His work has been presented in more than 60 cities around the world, in venues such as the Wexner Center for the Arts, Walker Art Center, Centre National de la Danse, Centre Pompidou, ImPulsTanz, Fringe Arts, TBA/PICA, MCA Chicago, American Realness, Chocolate Factory, and the 2014 Whitney Biennial. 

“This year we are excited to expand the Hearst Choreographer-in-Residence program to allow for extended teaching and ongoing student mentoring in addition to providing a commission for the development of new performance,” said Rebecca Lazier, Senior Lecturer in Dance and Acting Director of the Program in Dance. “Miguel Gutierrez is a performance-maker who engages imagination and intellect with equal rigor. He is an important figure in the dance field who has paved the way for multi-layered work that reflects deeply on society. During previous visits to campus as a guest, Gutierrez offered excellent mentorship and we look forward to welcoming him to campus to create meaningful exchange with students, faculty, staff, and audiences.”

In the fall, Gutierrez will teach, “Are you for sale? Performance Making, Philanthropy and Ethics,” a new course cross-listed with the Programs in Theater, Visual Arts and American Studies that will study the relationships between performance-making, philanthropy, and ethics. Topics include how performing artists are financing their work and what this means in relationship to economic and social justice, as well as current conditions of arts funding, the connection between wealth and giving and when those ties may be inherently questionable, what is at stake in the debate of public versus private support, and whether funding follows artists’ concerns or delimits them. For the spring semester, plans are underway for him to teach a course on creating interdisciplinary work.