Kendra Portier

Kendra Portier is a dance artist recognized for her contributions as a choreographer, improviser, performer, and educator. Known for her rigorous creative inquiry and poetic sensibility, Portier’s work is rooted in embodied research—transforming thought, emotion, and color into felt, physical action—movement.

Born at home on the ancestral land of the Hopewell people, Portier has taught and performed both nationally and internationally, from San Diego to Salzburg, Dushanbe to Athens (Greece, Georgia, and Ohio). Her teaching—centered on connection, vitality, and rigorous exploration—has garnered a significant following, leading to invitations from esteemed dance programs, festivals, and numerous academic and educational commissions.

Portier’s formative training began in classical ballet, Dunham, and flamenco, later expanding to include experimental dance-theater, postmodern practices, and improvisational performance. She has worked with a wide range of artists and companies, including long-standing relationships with David Dorfman Dance and Jasmine Hearn. Recent performance work includes “COMMUNION” (directed by Janessa Clark), “The March!” (a tri-part choreography by Annie-B Parson, Donna Uchizono, and Tendayi Kuumba), and improvisation-based research directed by Jungwoong Kim. She is currently performing in Cynthia Oliver / COCo Dance's”Turn, Turning, Turnt” and Hearn’s “Memory Fleet.”

Drawing from her background in the visual arts, Portier’s choreographic research often merges disciplines and aesthetics. She creates solo and ensemble works in collaboration with independent, multi-hyphenate artists. Her current projects explore themes of color and ecology, with recent works including “untitled vital glacier,” “And with This Lies the Need to Be Together,” “All Tomorrows,” “Elegy for Mary,” “Geologic Body,” and “Vital Studies.” Her work has been presented or supported by Bates Dance Festival (ME), Dance New Amsterdam (NY), DanceNOW (NYC), Dance Place (D.C.), Dixon Place (NY), The Field Center (VT), Gowanus Arts + Production (NY), Lion’s Jaw Festival (MA), Zenon Dance Company (MN), and The Wooden Floor, among others. Her current creative research includes “The Pantone Variations” and “red dirt glitter” (working title).
Portier holds a B.F.A. in Dance with honors from The Ohio State University and an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She first joined the University of Maryland as Artist in Residence and now serves as Associate Professor in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, where she is honored to hold the Maya Brin Endowed Professorship in Dance.