ELLEN OLIVER

Interdisciplinary Artist, Performer, Choreographer, Teacher 

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Photo by Perry Barkett

About:

​​​Hi there. My name is Ellen Oliver. I am an interdisciplinary artist working with movement, material, video, and projection to explore rock climbing as both an abstract and literal metaphor for navigating life. ​I make performances and installations that emphasize the journey of a rock climb to explore larger themes of problem-solving, risk, identity, partnership, gravity, vertical environments, and connection. My work transforms climbing routes and vertical environments into sites for performance, experimentation, and storytelling. I create independent and collaborative art for theaters, climbing gyms, galleries, public festivals, silos, motion-capture studios, and outdoor cliffs.

Based in Blackstone, Massachusetts, I am an active member of SAG-AFTRA with experience in film and television. I am available for hire as a:

Dancer, Actor, Choreographer, Media Designer, Motion Capture Artist, Stunt Performer

Explore My Work

Collaborate/Inquire

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Photo by Perry Barkett

Professional Experience:
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My professional work has been shared at venues including Open Air Media Festival, Shoonya Center for Art and Somatic Practices, Masary Art School Confidential, Keene State College, Iowa International Writers Festival, F-O-R-M Vancouver, The Dance Complex, Williamsburg Art Nexus NYC, Plymouth State University, Roger Williams University, Southern Vermont Dance Festival, AS220 Providence, Urbanity neXt, and more. I was an artist in residence at Art Omi NY 2024, The White Mountain National Forest 2020, Bearnstow, and Studio 550.​

​In film, I have performed as a Principal Dancer in Greta Gerwig's film Little Women and as co-star in the role of Sarah in The Walking Dead: Dead City (Season 3 Episode 4). I have performed in live projects for Arc Iris the band, Lorraine Chapman the Company, Fusionworks Dance Company, TEN31 Productions & Metamorphosis Dance Company, Cynthia McLaughlin, OceA Wilderness at The Yard, Ali Kenner Brodksy, Teobi's Dreaming at San Francisco Red Poppy Art House, and more.​

My work has been supported and recognized by NEFA Dance Fund, City of Providence Microgrant, A4A Worcester Cohort Award, UIowa Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio Fellowship, UIowa Public Digital Arts Grant, and UIowa Dare to Discover Award. ​I have had the pleasure of recently collaborating on projects with talented artists and friends, including Emily Berkheimer, Laura Coe, Angela Cole, Dayita Nereyeth, David Hurlin, Ramin Roshandel, and more.

​​I studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, received a BA from Hampshire College, and an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa while serving as a Teaching Assistant and Iowa Arts Fellow.

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Photo by Jeremy Mims

Teaching:

Currently, I am a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Theater & Dance at College of the Holy Cross, where I designed a new dance technology course. I have also taught courses and workshops at schools including Roger Williams University, Keene State College, University of Iowa, Sacred Heart University, Salem State University, and more.

​Courses taught:
​contemporary, ballet, modern, jazz, choreography, dance technology, screendance, dance history, intro to dance studies

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Photo by Martin Nuñez-Bonilla at Conference for Research for Choreographic Interfaces at Brown University

Upcoming Projects:

Assets for Artists Capacity-Building Grant:

I will be sharing an AR installation and a performance work as part of the A4A Capacity-Building 2026 Cohort at Arts Worcester in November-December 2026. 

Recent Projects:

"Augmented Ascents" (June 2026) at Rock Spot Climbing Providence:

This summer, I created "Augmented Ascents", an Augmented Reality (AR) installation project for a rock climbing gym in Providence, Rhode Island. Using a mobile app, users revealed virtual dance sequences by hovering their phones over climbing holds, where each movement is directly inspired by the shape, texture, and route of the handhold. The project reimagines the climbing holds as a movement score. My goal is for this project to be an inspiration for climbers to find new creative approaches on the wall, and to develop this into larger AR climbing dance installations in the future.

Augmented Ascents was created with support from the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism MicroGrant.

"Little Nods" (March 2026) performance with Dayita Nereyeth:

This past year Dayita and I created "Little Nods," a dance that follows two friends reconnecting after years of long-distance collaboration. Drawing on material and processes from time apart, Little Nods brings individual and shared movement to a choreographic process and performance. The piece blends imagery from two earlier collaborative works—one framed by balloons, the other accompanied by a bonsai plant—to explore how friendship and imagination can transform the mundane.

Little Nods was funded in part by New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation. ​
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Photo by domenik lee, dandy lion media