ZOE WAMPLER
MOVEMENT ARTIST - EDUCATOR - PRODUCER
Photo by Michelle Koppl
Zoe Wampler (she/they) is a DC-based movement artist, educator, and arts administrator.
In 2019, she graduated from VCUarts with a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography, where they performed in numerous student and faculty works including a site specific presentation at InLight Richmond: A 1708 Gallery Exhibition, and an original work by internationally renowned choreographer Gregory Maqoma. While at VCUarts, Zoe was awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant to develop Familial Movers / Foreign Stories: a virtual reality performance experience focused on creating empathy and familiarity in the face of otherness. In January, 2022 Zoe became part of the first cohort for DC Voices, a program initiated by Gabriel Mata and Dance Institute of Washington to support local dance artists from underrepresented backgrounds.
Zoe's work uses choreography and performance to queer, question, and rethink relationships in proximity to the body. Their work draws from experience as a Queer, Jewish person navigating a contemporary world while tapping into ancestral and communal histories. Current veins of research in Zoe's work explore the body’s connection to earth and ecology, traditional Jewish rest cycles, and the spectrum of responsibility between individual and community. Their work has been presented in-person and virtually through the ACDA Mid-Atlantic South Conference Gala (Raleigh, NC), Hind Gallery (Richmond, VA), Ascending Choreographers Showcase (Edgewood, MD), Koresh Artist Showcase (Philadelphia, PA), Dusklit Interactive Art Festival (Sugarloaf, NY), and Exquisite Frame (Washington, DC). Zoe is a recurring Movement Collaborator with Britta Joy Peterson. Performance highlights include originating work as a Dancer and Collaborator with Callie Moore / Snap Soup Dance (VA), as a guest performer with Extreme Lengths Productions in Filament at Georgetown GLOW (DC), and performing in Britta Joy Peterson’s Already There, an immersive dance film installation at the Kennedy Center REACH (DC).
Her practice as an educator focuses on creative movement, contemporary dance, ballet, and compositional skills as tools for fostering bodily autonomy in students of all ages. In Zoe's classes, consent and individual agency are held at equal footing with challenge and rigor, and students will be encouraged to come to class as they are. Zoe is a certified teacher for Level I of the Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS), a series of structural integration and range of motion exercises created by Scott Putnam. They can be found teaching youth and adults at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, and as a guest teaching artist in the Foot in the Door Series at Dance Place.