26 Facts About Molissa Fenley

Molissa Fenley is an American choreographer, performer and teacher of contemporary dance.

Molissa Fenley was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 15,1954.

Molissa Fenley is the youngest of three children born to Eileen Allison Walker and John Morris Fenley.

At the age of six months Fenley and her family moved to Ithaca, NY where her father was a professor of Agricultural Extension at Cornell University.

Molissa Fenley attended high school in Spain, and at 16 returned to the US where she received her BA in Dance from Mills College in 1975.

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Immediately after graduating from Mills, Molissa Fenley moved to New York City to begin her career as a choreographer and dancer.

Molissa Fenley began creating her own work and formed Molissa Fenley and Dancers in 1977.

Molissa Fenley has maintained this aesthetic of athletic virtuosity throughout her career.

Molissa Fenley reconstructed State of Darkness in 1999 at the request of New York City Ballet principal dancer Peter Boal, and again in 2007 for Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Molissa Fenley continues to create and perform in the United States and abroad.

Molissa Fenley has maintained a long-time collaboration with composer Philip Glass and continues to collaborate with visual artists, composers and writers.

Molissa Fenley has created over 90 works since founding her company Molissa Fenley and Dancers in 1977.

Recent works in include: Archeology in Reverse and Artifact in 2018, Untitled and Some phrases I'm hoping Andy would like in 2019, and The Cut Outs in 2020 with longtime collaborator and poet Bob Holman on In 2020, Molissa Fenley revisited her 1988 work State of Darkness, setting the solo on Jared Brown, Lloyd Knight, Sara Mearns, Shamel Pitts, Annique Roberts, Cassandra Trenary and Michael Trusnovec.

Molissa Fenley is an eleven-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship.

Molissa Fenley received a Bessie Award for Choreography in 1985 for her work Cenotaph and again in 1988 for State of Darkness.

Molissa Fenley received a 2000 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.

Molissa Fenley is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and recipient of the American Masterpieces Initiative from the National Endowment of the Arts.

Molissa Fenley is a member of many professional arts organizations such as the Atlantic Center for the Arts, American Dance Guild, Asian Cultural Council, CHIME Mentorship program, Dance USA, International Dance Council and New York Live Arts.

Molissa Fenley is the Executive Director of the Momenta Foundation which she founded in 1986.

Mills College and Higher Education TeachingIn addition to being one of Mills College's most esteemed alumna, Molissa Fenley worked as a professor in Mills College Dance Department faculty from 1999 to 2020.

Molissa Fenley began as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in 1999 and became an Associate Professor of Dance in 2006.

Molissa Fenley taught courses in technique, choreography and oversaw MFA candidates' thesis projects.

Additionally, Molissa Fenley often set work on Mills College's Repertory Dance Company.

Molissa Fenley was awarded the Mills College Sarlo Excellence in Teaching Award in 2011.

Molissa Fenley has taught as a Visiting Lecturer at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, University of Georgia at Athens and University of Utah.

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Molissa Fenley worked as a Resident Artist for the Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, The American Academy in Rome, Bard College, The Hotchkiss School, The Asian Cultural Council in Tokyo, Yaddo, the Bogliasco Foundation, Djerassi, and Harvard University.