1981-

Originally from Ithaca, NY, Jonah Bokaer trained in dance at Cornell University, and subsequently graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts as a North Carolina Academic Scholar (Contemporary Dance/Performance, 2000). Recruited for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the unprecedented age of eighteen, Bokaer pursued a parallel degree in visual and media studies at The New School (2003-07), where he received the Joan Kirnsner Memorial Award. Additional studies in media and performance occurred at Parsons School of Design, NYU Performance Studies, and through self-taught explorations into digital media and 3D animation; this education led to the development of a rare, multidisciplinary approach to choreography, addressing the human body in relation to contemporary technologies.

Bokaer has worked with Merce Cunningham (2000-07), John Jasperse (2004-05), David Gordon (2005-06), Deborah Hay (2005), Tino Sehgal (2008), and many others. He has also interpreted the choreography of George Balanchine as restaged by Melissa Hayden. Bokaer’s work has been presented widely throughout venues in the United States and abroad, including Cornell University, Dance Theatre Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, La Mama ETC, P.S. 122, Symphony Space, the ISB (Bangkok), Naxos Bobine, Studio Théâtre de Vitry, and La Générale (Paris), Les Subsistances (Lyon), La Compagnie (Marseille), La Ferme Du Buisson (Marne-la-Vallée), De Singel (Beligum), International Tanzmesse NRW (Germany), PSi (Copenhagen), Kunsthalle St. Gallen (Switzerland), and others. Upcoming engagements in 2009 include the Attakalari Performance Biennale (Bangalore), Salon Tudor (Santiago), and a new commission from the National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC).