Biography
Faith Morrison, Artistic Director of Dance at Willamette University, is a dance artist, performer, choreographer, and educator based in Portland, OR. She holds a MFA in Dance from the University of Oregon, and a BA in Dance and Mathematics from the University of Montana. Faith specializes in teaching dance technique, improvisation, composition, and screendance. Prior to joining the faculty at Willamette University, Faith served as an Adjunct Professor of Dance and Visiting Guest Artist at the University of Montana, and held positions as a Guest Artist and Instructor at Oberlin College, the University of Idaho, and Pacific Lutheran University. Regionally, she has taught as a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon, and as a Dance Instructor in Portland at Polaris Dance Theatre, NW Dance Project, Oregon Ballet Theatre Educational Outreach Program, and Pacific Dance Academy. In 2016, Faith received her Yoga Alliance 200hr Registered Yoga Teacher certification from Yandara Yoga in Baja, Mexico.
Faith’s choreographic work has been presented by companies and university dance programs around the Pacific Northwest, and was recognized at the American College Dance Association Conferences in 2018 and 2019. Last year, she was the recipient of a N.E.W choreographic residency at Performance Works Northwest in Portland, OR. Throughout her residency, Faith explored a creative process reimagining screendance for the stage through the integration of projection with live performance. While living in Oregon and Montana, Faith has performed with Headwaters Dance Company, Bare Bait Dance Company, Katie Scherman + Artists, and Polaris Dance Theatre Company.
As a scholar and screendance artist, Faith’s research combines elements of site-specific dance and screendance to investigate the creation and conveyance of a kinesthetic experience of place. Engaging in a collaborative creative process, Faith seeks to utilize dance and film as mediums to explore a physical, emotional, and sensual experience of place. Her screendance Ensō, created in collaboration with videographer Robert Uehlin, received the 2015 Grand Jury Award at the 40 North Dance Film Festival. Ensō was presented throughout 2015 at the ADF International Screendance Festival, Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, 40 North Dance Film Festival, Northwest Screendance Exposition, VIBE film festival, Kinetoscope, Bodyvox Contact Dance Film Festival, and L.A. Live. Her latest screendance Ensō|mountain divide, created in collaboration with videographer Robert Uehlin, will premiere this fall at the 2020 Portland Dance Film Festival.