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Meet Donald Shorter, artist-in-residence
6th November 2023, 2:29 pm
Donald Shorter
“During my time here, I want to create works that center leather identity and expression. Through the use of photography, film, and performance, it is my goal to showcase how BDSM can be used as a spiritual practice which can ultimately lead to transformation, healing, and radical self-acceptance.” – Donald Shorter
Donald Shorter is a multi-disciplinary artist with a passion for storytelling. Shorter’s work is autobiographical and showcases narratives that bring awareness to the varying levels of social injustice that exist in the world. Themes of race, gender, sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression are at the forefront of their work. Choreographer, dancer, writer, director, singer, actor, filmmaker, professor, and activist are labels that are interchanged on a daily basis.
Shorter is a former principal dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (2003-2007) and later went on to be a re-stager for the company. Shorter has toured in Broadway shows such as: La Cage aux Folles, A Chorus Line, and Hairspray. They are also the creator/writer/performer of their one-woman show Genderosity, which uses drag transformation as a means to deconstruct gender in order to bring awareness to those who identify as gender nonconforming. In addition to creating works for the stage, Shorter is an activist and was a guest and co-host of First Person, a PBS web series which highlights LGBTQIA+ heroes, which received two New York Emmy nominations.
Shorter holds an M.F.A. in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and was a recipient of the Dean’s Fellowship. Their work has premiered at the Centre Pompidou, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Wild Project, MOMA PS1 AllGold Space, Center for Performance Research, Judson Memorial Church, 92nd Street Y, Dixon Place, The Contemporary Museum of Houston, The Criterion Channel, The Museum of Popular Culture, and Nitehawk Cinema.
Welcome, Donald!
Donald Shorter | TOM House Exit Interview
Durk Dehner interviews Fall 2023 artist-in-residence Donald Shorter about time spent at TOM House.
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Published: 6th November 2023
Tags: Artist-in-Residence, Donald C. Shorter Jr.