Photo by Juan Carlos Salvatierra

Dancer, choreographer, videographer, writer, cartoonist, web designer, and all around multi-talented Michelle Ellsworth is one to follow. With her particular physical and visual language, she creates a world that combines her look at human foibles with current technology to illustrate her take on life’s idiosyncrasies.

 Ellsworth’s penchant for placing current issues in varying contexts makes for infinitely interesting performances that keep audiences watching and wondering.  Her piece, Phone Homer, is a perfect example of how she combines Greek myth, elements from Homer’s Iliad, and reflections on the shrinkage of the Y chromosome to create a witty multi-media production that combines live elements with what she calls performance websites. Tifprabap.org, which stands for the “Institute for Potential Religious Artifacts, Beliefs and Procedures,” is a solo that is further revelation into Ellsworth’s psyche, with references to objects that have been in the presence of human dysfunction.

Using the hamburger as a recurring symbol of her ruminations on life, Ellsworth’s take on life is witty, unusual, and always evolving. Her work has been seen at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, The Telluride Experimental Film Festival, PS 122 in NYC, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts, The San Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, and more.  She currently works as Assistant Professor in dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder while continuing to make her intriguing websites and live performances.