Sophia Klein

My work focuses on the creation of new vocabularies for dance performance, with a particular interest in creating dance works that respond to and interact with projection and other digital media. I find that dance has the ability to tell complex stories that blur the division between the realm of memory and the realm of experience, and I enjoy amplifying this phenomenon through digital media and its interaction with bodies, theatrical sets, architecture, and nature.  Feminism, intersectionality, honesty, and playfulness are all values that I hold at the core of my creative and personal practice.

My work also focuses on dismantling and breaking down the extremely binary codes that exist in dance language and performance.  As a non-binary artist, I seek to create choreography that frees dancers, particularly those who identify as trans and gender non-conforming,  from the pervasive, gendered language and movement found in far too many dance techniques and teaching spaces.

 

https://vimeo.com/172980504                         

https://vimeo.com/149082826

https://vimeo.com/164511075

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCeMsyodm1M


portfolio

resume

Sophia Klein is an intermedia artist, dancer, choreographer and videographer working in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Sophia was born and raised on the island of Oahu, but traveled extensively during her homeschooled years. During her time on Oahu, Sophia studied studio art and sustainable theatrical design at La Pietra and worked as a teacher’s assistant for children's art classes at Linekona Art Center. From there, her love of art making grew. Sophia moved to Oakland California in 2012 and studied videography and dance at Mills College. During her time at Mills, Sophia has had the pleasure of dancing and performing with numerous artists and companies to include Molissa Fenley, inkBoat, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Amy O'Neal, Wax Poets, Kara Davis, Risa Jaroslow, Gina Bonati, and the Mills Repertory Dance Company. Sophia also established and co-founded the Three Sisters Dance Company while attending Mills. They have since toured site specific works and done residencies at Slide Ranch, Oak Glen Park, Winters Farm, Mills College, and Temescal Arts Center. While at Mills, Sophia worked as a freelance videographer for dancers in the Bay Area, creating documentaries, promotional videos, and screendance works. Sophia is currently working as the videographer and editor for the documentary series Mapping the Margins: Transgender and Gender Variant Portraits Across America.

TRAINING

Mills College Repertory Dance Company
Shinichi Iova-Koga- inkBoat Physical Theatre and Dance Company
Molissa Fenley and Company
Anna Halperin- Master Class Series
Wanjiru Kamuyu Dance Collective
Holley Farmer- Principal dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Sheldon Smith- Head of Mills College Dance Department
Kara Davis- Alonzo King LINES Ballet and the "Project Agora"
Amy O'Neal- Artist in residence at Mills College
AXIS Dance Company- Mills College master class series
Risa Jaroslow & Dancers
Dana Iova-Koga- inkBoat
Peiling Kao- Mills College
Anne-Rene Petrarca- Alexander Technique
Felipe Barrueto-Cabello- Joe Goode Performance Group
Three Sisters Dance Company
Dance On Land with inkBoat
Wax Poets Dance Collective
SALTA Collective at the Berkeley Art Museum & Temescal Art Center
Jubilith Moore- Theatre Nohgaku
Yumiko Yoshioka- Master Classes at Mills College
Ballet Hawaii

EDUCATION
2012 - 2016
Mills College Oakland, CA
- B.A. in Intermedia Arts & Dance
- Graduated with Academic Honors
- GPA: 3.94
- Mills College Award for Innovation in Technology,
Dance, & Film


NOTABLE PERFORMANCE WORK

2016 - 2017

Wax Poet(s) Dance Collective; Shouting Through a Window Between Worlds
-Joe Goode Annex

Wanjiru Kamuyu; At the Moment of Encounter
-Black Choreographers Festival at the Dance Mission Theatre & SAFEhouse Performing Arts

Mills College Repertory Company Tour; Works by Amy O’Neal, Kara Davis, Wanjiru Kamuyu
-ODC Dance Commons, San Jose State College, San Mateo College

Molissa Fenley; Water Table pt. 8: Mali -Mills College Art Museum

Amy O’Neal presented by SALTA Collective; There is No Other
-Berkeley Art Museum
Kara Davis; Seguir -Joe Goode Annex "Wrecking Fest" with Hope Mohr and Chris Black

Molissa Fenley and Friends; Slab Hook Wing & 22 Tails by Sophia Klein and Adrienne Swan
-SAFEhouse Performing Arts

Surabhi Saraf Art + Process + Ideas Exhibition; Intensities
-Dance video installation in the Mills College Art Museum

2014 - 2015

inkBoat Dance Company; 95 Rituals
-San Francisco Hyde Street Pier & SF City Hall

Mills Repertory Company; X = Sky & Sororis Works by Shinichi Iova-Koga & Risa Jaroslow
- ODC Dance Commons & Mills College

SAFEhouse presents Molissa Fenley & Friends; Works by Adrienne Swan & Wanjiru Kamuyu
- SAFEhouse Performing Arts

Ava Rosen; I Could Not Swallow the Grainy Flesh Colored Memory
-Mercury Twenty Gallery, Oakland CA

Three Sisters Dance Company Tour; Baba’s Birds, Her Arms Her river, Nobody Wins No One is Chosen, This is My Body//We are Incredible, And Then I Leaped Down, Cliff Hymn, Shipwreck
-Temescal Arts Center, Slide Ranch, Winters California Organic Farm, Oak Glen Park

Experiments in the Fault Zone; Live Music Series: New Choreography to John Cage’s Dream
-Art Exhibition at the Mills College Art Museum

VIDEOGRAPHY

Mills College Dance and Theater Dept. / Videographer
January 2015 - May 2016, Oakland CA
- Videography for dance and theater productions in Lisser Theater and Haas Pavilion

inkBoat Dance Company / Videographer & Editor
June 2014 - April 2017, Petrolia and Oakland CA
- Filmed and edited promotional videos for inkBoat’s Dance On Land summer workshops. Photographed performances for 95 Rituals; A published book honoring Anna Halperin through performance based works.

Molissa Fenley at the Stanford Art Museum / Videographer & Sound Tech
May 2016, Stanford CA

Wanjiru Kamuyu in Residency at Mills College / Videographer
May 2015

PERSONAL WORKS

Mapping the Margins Project: Transgender and Gender Variant Portraits Across America / Videographer and Editor
2016 - PRESENT

OC//EN / Dance Film
2016

Whiptails / Multimedia Dance Work and Dance Film
2016

Coil Pt. 1 / Multimedia Dance Work
2016

Nobody Wins No One is Chosen / Dance
2015

And Then I Leaped Down / Dance
2015

This is My Body//We are Incredible / Dance and Video
2014

Cliff Hymn / Dance
2014

Shipwreck / Dance
2014

Baba’s Birds / Dance
2014

Her Arms Her River / Dance
2013