JESSICA BONENFANT COOGAN uses movement, text and striking imagery to craft performances that elicit complex questions and evoke multi-layered emotions. She has over ten years experience presenting work for the stage, site-specific spaces, and film – particularly with her NYC-based company Lola Lola Dance Theatre (www.lolalola.org). Jessica’s work has received support from the Frey Foundation (Artprize) and the National Endowment for the Arts (via Chashama’s Windows Program). She has been awarded choreographic residencies in both the US and France. Recent career highlights include directing Distant Anchors, a short dance film, and a commission from Amy Wilson/Res 345 to create a provocative site-specific performance installation, Disembodied Woman, at SiTE:LAB for ArtPrize 2015 (Grand Rapids, MI.) In 2014 she was fortunate to work with Dance in the Annex (Grand Rapids), Spread Art (Detroit), and the Abhainn Ri Festival (Ireland).
Jessica is currently working with her husband, Hughie Coogan, to develop Greywood Arts, a multi-disciplinary artist’s residency in East Cork, opening in June 2017 (www.greywoodarts.org). In addition to serving on the planning committee of the Midleton Arts Festival, she is also a volunteer with First Cut! Youth Film Festival. Jessica holds an MFA in choreography from University of Michigan and a BA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She has also worked with dance and theatre students at University of Michigan, University of Toledo, Grand Valley State University and the American College Dance Festival. She is a member of CDP/NYC, a group that practices performance improvisation grounded in Buddhist philosophy.
