Bio

Nichele…

is a dance artist based in Salt Lake City. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nichele worked as an artist and administrator throughout the Bay before relocating to SLC in 2016. While in the Bay she had the honor of working with choreographers Christine Cali, Kristen Daley, Joe Goode, Nancy Lyons, Virginia Matthews, and Mo Miner, among others.

Nichele has been focused on her choreographic practice since 2012. After a break from her undergraduate studies (which began at UC Irvine in 2003), she received her B.A. in Theater Arts & Dance from Sonoma State University in 2013. That year, her first full dance work, Parched (2012), received the honor of Gala selection at the ACDA Western Region conference. Upon graduating she returned to SSU as a guest choreographer and Adjunct Professor of Dance. Nichele was a founding member of the devised theatre ensemble, Hatch Performance Collective (2014-2016), and joined SoCo Dance Theater as a choreographer for the 2015-2016 season. In 2015 she won first place at Luna Dance Institute’s Choreofund 5 in Berkeley, CA.

Since her arrival in Salt Lake City, Nichele has been actively engaged in the community alongside her work at the U. The winner of Repertory Dance Theatre's 2017 Regalia competition, Nichele was honored to receive the opportunity to create a new work for the company's 2017-2018 season. Nichele was also thrilled to spend the summer of 2017 studying with Doug Varone through his DEVICES4 mentorship program in New York City, through which she premiered Stranger Kin at Gibney Dance Center (NYC). Stranger Kin was reset for the ACDA Northwest Region conference in 2018 where it was selected for the Gala concert and as the alternate selection for the National Conference.

In December 2018, Nichele premiered her first evening-length work, The End of Sisyphus, and in 2019 was awarded her M.F.A. from the University of Utah alongside the School of Dance’s L. Scott Marsh Mentorship Award, acknowledging her outstanding leadership and mentorship of others through example and encouragement. From 2019 to 2023, Nichele taught on faculty at Ballet West Academy where she developed and served as the inaugural resident choreographer for Current, the academy’s contemporary performing group. Recent commissions include new creations for Westminster University, Sonoma State University, and Utah Valley University, where she serves as Adjunct Faculty. In February of this year, Nichele founded The Woods Dance Project and premiered two new works through the company’s first production, REDUCER, presented by RDT’s Link Series in June 2024.

Nichele is a student of Body-Mind Centering® through Sonder Movement Project and Moving Within in the Somatic Movement Educator program.

Dancer/choreographer

I have been dancing…

in some form or another, all of my life. When I took a break for a few years in my 20s I discovered that dancing, and creating dances, is a central vehicle for my ability to experience and understand life. I need to be invested in a physical, creative expressivity to feel that I am reaching my fullest state of aliveness. It is through dance that I feel most articulate, as well as connected to my community and to the world around me.

In my creative process I am interested in beginning with a conceptual impetus, a question, a point of friction. I use dance to explore this impetus physically, and it is often through this process that I discover answers, or at least come to understand why I was concerned with the question in the first place. Usually I am left with more questions.

My recent works have dealt with questions of power and vulnerability. I tend to partnerships—to the sharing of momentum, weight, and risk—that are grounded in the focus of an internal, present experience. I aim to create a space, a framework, in which the dancers can have an honest experience that is informed by their lived—and live—physical exploration and interaction with and inside of the work. My dances are a collaboration, a verbal and physical dialogue with the dancers. Together we wade through the unknown until we reach some unforeseeable, often transcended destination. The dive into this unknown can be uncomfortable/nauseating/angering/testing, but it is in this discomfort where I believe the most profound and exciting discoveries are found.

I am hooked. I am obsessed. I am in love.

Banner image by MotionVivid. Tiny Ballerina image by mom.