BIO + ARTIST STATEMENT
Matilda Mackey is a Paris-based freelance dance artist who is interested in the intersection where art and humanity meet. Matilda earned her Bachelor in Fine Arts from The Juilliard School in 2020, where she had the privilege to perform pieces by renowned choreographers including Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, Peter Chu and Stephen Petronio among others.
Upon graduation, she entered the freelance world as a dancer with Zvi Gotheiner's company, ZviDance, and has also performed with several project-based companies in NY including Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup, Heidi Duckler Dance, More Fish Collective and most recently cullen + them. While Matilda is passionate about performing, she also loves to choreograph her own work and lead multimedia spaces in a variety of ways. For example, in June 2023, Matilda choreographed her first evening-length piece on More Fish Collective; she enjoyed her directorial debut for her first short film a collaboration with filmmaker Tori Lawrence and producer Paul Rabinowitz; and, she lead the movement direction for Harley & Company for a photo and video campaign with Viiv Healthcare, where she worked alongside Jorge Dorsinville.
Matilda relocated from New York to Paris in September 2023, to explore living and creating work abroad. In May 2024, she collaborated with Fulbright scholar Joelle Santiago to create a contemporary dance performance held at the Cité Universitaire de Paris. In September 2024, she choreographed and performed for Paris Fashion Week for designer Iris Favand. She is currently in the research process of creating a larger-scale performance in Autumn 2024 or Spring 2025.
Matilda is also a dedicated instructor. She is a Pilates instructor at Reformation Pilates in Paris, and she previously instructed at East River Pilates in Brooklyn for three years. She is also researching ways in which to deepen a dance curriculum that she has been exploring since she was guest faculty for Dance Italia's Winter Workshop in 2022. This teaching methodology explores how the analytical process of anatomical and somatic data gathering can directly inform and enhance movement invention, performance and improvisation, and had the opportunity to apply this methodology during the aforementioned intensive. Bridging the gap between her knowledge and experience of dance and Pilates deeply interests her, and she is eager to continue exploring new avenues of movement research and generation.