Molissa Fenley (1954, Nevada USA) is an American choreographer, performer and teacher of contemporary dance.

Early life and education

Molissa Fenley was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 15, 1954. She is the youngest of three children born to Eileen Allison Walker and John Morris Fenley. At the age of six months Fenley and her family moved to Ithaca, NY where her father was a professor of the Agricultural Extension at Cornell University. At the age of six, her family moved to Ibadan, Nigeria where her father worked for the US State Department's USAID program. Fenley attended all of her elementary schooling and the first two years of high school in Ibadan and Lagos, Nigeria. She attended her last two years of high school in Spain, and in 1971, at 16, returned to the US to enter Mills College from which she received her BA in Dance in 1975. Immediately after graduating from Mills, Fenley moved to New York City to begin her career as a choreographer and dancer.

Career

Early years - 1977-1987 - focused mainly on presenting ensemble choreography
Upon arriving in New York City in 1975, Fenley trained with Merce Cunningham, Viola Farber and studied at the Erick Hawkins School. During her first years in New York Fenley danced for several choreographers including Carol Conway and Andy de Groat. She began creating her own work and formed Molissa Fenley and Company in 1977. After a tour of European festivals in 1980 her work began to receive more critical attention in the United States and abroad.

• Mix, commission The Kitchen (1979);
• Energizer with music by Mark Freedman, commission Dance Theater Workshop (1980);
• Hemispheres with music by Anthony Davis, decor by Francesco Clemente, costumes by Rei Kawakubo, commission the Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (1983);
• Cenotaph with music by Jamaaladeen Tacuma, commission Jacob's Pillow (1985);
• Esperanto with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier, commission Tsurumoto Room, Tokyo (1985);
• Feral with music by Robert Lloyd, commission of the Ohio Ballet (1986);
• Descent into the Maelstrom with music by Philip Glass, decor by Eamon D'Arcy for the Australian Dance Theater, commission the Adelaide Festival (1986);
• Separate Voices, commission The Joyce Theater (1987)
   

Solo work - 1987- 2001

In 1987 Molissa disbanded her ensemble and returned to performing solo works. One of her very early solos was a video work created in collaboration with Keith Haring, Video Clones, 1979. Other early solos were Peripheral Vision with music by Mark Freedman, 1981 and Eureka with music by Peter Gordon, 1982. Molissa created solo works in collaboration with both visual artists and contemporary composers. Visual artists include Roy Fowler, Keith Haring, Jene Highstein, Richard Long, Tatsuo Miyajima, Kiki Smith, Keith Sonnier, Todd Richmond, and Merrill Wagner. Composers include Laurie Anderson, David Behrman, John Bischoff, John Cage, Alvin Curran, Cenk Ergün, Robert Gaylor, Peter Garland, Erin Gee, Philip Glass, Ulfur Hansson, Joan Jeanrenaud, Jonathan Hart Makwaia, Michael Mersereau, Pauline Oliveros, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Somei Satoh, Laetitia Sonami and Igor Stravinsky.

It was during this period that she created her work, State of Darkness (1988), which was commissioned by the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C. Set to Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, this 35 minute solo received critical acclaim for both its physical rigor, innovative use of Stravinsky's score and intense sense of ritual drama. Fenley reconstructed State of Darkness in 1999 for the New York City Ballet principal dancer Peter Boal, and, in 2007 and again in 2014, set the work on five dancers from the Pacific Northwest Ballet. State of Darkness received a Bessie Award for both Fenley's original performance in 1989, for Boal's reconstruction in 1999 and for Outstanding Revival for Joyce Theater Productions, 2021, performed by Cassandra Trenary and six other dancers on alternating evenings.

Current work - 2001-2026

Recent works include The Apartment Dances (2025); De La Lumière, Entre Les Lampes (2024), with music by Philip Glass, Etruscan Matisse/Blake (2024), with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto; Current Pieces 1-3 (2023) with pianist Min Kwon; The Cut-Outs (Matisse), (2017), with poet Bob Holman; Rue Surf (2016) with painter Roy Fowler and poet Bob Holman; Redwood Park, Part 1 (2014) with music by Joan Jeanrenaud, commission Oakland Ballet; Beams (2014), with music by Alvin Curran; Found Object (2014) with Erin Gee, John Guare, Joy Harjo, and Rudy Wurlitzer; Vessel Stories (2011), music by Philip Glass and Credo in Us (2011) set to the John Cage piece of the same name.

Other recent works in include: Archeology in Reverse with artist Catherine Wagner, sound by Michael Mersereau and Artifact in 2018, Untitled (Haiku) with poet Joy Harjo and Some Phrases I'm Hoping Andy Would Like in 2019, and The Cut Outs (Matisse) in 2020 with longtime collaborator and poet Bob Holman. In 2020, Fenley revisited her 1988 work State of Darkness, setting the solo on Jared Brown, Lloyd Knight, Sara Mearns, Shamel Pitts, Annique Roberts, Cassandra Trenary and Michael Trusnovec. The work was live-streamed in 2020 and performed live at The Joyce in 2021. Dancers Annique Roberts and Michael Trusnovec performed the work in 2022 at the American Dance Festival.

Performances

Her works have been presented in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, South America, Europe, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mexico. Please refer to the complete list of Choreographic Works. Performances by the company have taken place at the Joyce Theater, Summerstage, The Kitchen, City Center, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Rovereto Festival, Italy, American Dance Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Judson Church, Jacob's Pillow and many others.

Her work has also been performed by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Elisa Monte and David Brown, Dance Alloy, Young Soon Kim Dance Company, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Richard Move, Felicia Norton and Li Chiao-Ping, and others. Her work resides in the repertory companies of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Georgia at Athens and Mills College in Oakland, California. LATITUDES (1997), a dance for the web commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation, can be viewed at www.diaart.org/program/exhibitions-projects/molissa-fenley-latitudes-web-project/molissa-fenley-latitudes-web-project/title.html

Commissions

Her work has been commissioned by The American Dance Festival, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Dia Art Foundation, Seattle Dance Project, Marymount Manhattan College, Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Robert Moses' Kin, The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, the William Hale Harkness Foundation, The New National Theater, Tokyo, Peter Boal, The Joyce Theater, The Ohio Ballet, Australian Dance Theater, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barnard/Columbia, Repertory Dance Theater, Women in Dance/Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan
Oakland Ballet, Rovereto Music Festival, Virginia Commonwealth University, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Pacific Northwest Ballet, National Institute of Seoul and New York Live Arts.

Publications

In 2015 Seagull Press/University of Chicago published Rhythm Field: The Dance of Molissa Fenley about her life and work.

Recognition and Professional Affiliations
Fenley's contribution to her field has been recognized with awards in the United States and internationally. She is an eleven-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship. Fenley received a Bessie Award for Choreography in 1985 for Cenotaph and again in 1988 for State of Darkness. Fenley received a 2000 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, The Greenwich Collection, LIATIS, the Asian Cultural Council and the Cadbury Trust. She is a Guggenheim Fellow (2008), a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (2008) and recipient of the American Masterpieces Initiative from the National Endowment of the Arts (2010). Fenley is a member of many professional arts organizations such as the Atlantic Center for the Arts, American Dance Guild, Asian Cultural Council, CHIME Mentorship program, Dance USA, International Dance Council and New York Live Arts. She is the Executive Director of the Momenta Foundation which she founded in 1986.

Mills College and Higher Education Teaching

In addition to being one of Mills College's most esteemed alumni, Fenley worked as a professor in Mills College Dance Department faculty from 1999 to 2020. She began as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in 1999 and became an Associate Professor of Dance in 2006 and Full Professor in 2013. Fenley taught courses in technique, choreography and oversaw MFA candidates' thesis projects. Additionally, Fenley often set work on Mills College's Repertory Dance Company. She was awarded the Mills College Sarlo Excellence in Teaching Award in 2011. Fenley has taught as a Visiting Lecturer at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, at the University of Georgia, Athens, Barnard College and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Residencies

Molissa has enjoyed residencies at The Atlantic Center for the Arts, The American Academy in Rome, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Bloedel Reserve, Bard College, The Hotchkiss School, The Asian Cultural Council in Tokyo, The Dance HUB in Santa Barbara, the Dance Hub in Florence and Agropoli, Italy, Yaddo, the Bogliasco Foundation, Djerassi, National Dance Institute, Marble House Project and Harvard University. She has taught repertory workshops at Bennington College, Barnard/Columbia, Hunter College and Southern Methodist University.

Molissa Fenley Archives

Archives from Fenley's extensive career have been acquired by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York. Previously, parts of the archive were held at Special Collections of the F.W. Olin Library, Mills College until 2022. This archive has been augmented by the more recent materials housed in New York City at the Momenta Foundation and acquired by the NYPL.

Personal life
Fenley resides in New York, NY and Summerland, CA. She is married to painter Roy Fowler.

Choreographic works
Molissa Fenley, to date, has choreographed over 100 works, which include:

• The Apartment Dances (2025)
• Bardo, with music by Somei Satoh (1990-2025)
• Going To The Sun, (2025) with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, commission Marymount Manhattan College
• De La Lumière, Entre Les Lampes (2024), music by Philip Glass, New Chaconne.
• Etruscan Matisse/Blake (2024), parts 1, 2, + 3 (2025), music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, 20210310 (2021)
• Current Pieces 1-3 (2024) with piano by Min Kwon
• Cosmati Variations, Variations 1- 5 (2008- 2024), music by John Cage
• In the Garden (with Ryuichi) (2023), sound of birdsong
• Rhythm Field (2021), music by Jamal Mohamed, Commission Southern Methodist University Dance department
• Pipes Going Nowhere (2021), music by Julian Julien, collaboration with Rebecca Chaleff, Sara Mearns and Cassandra Trenary. This work was never publicly performed.
• State of Darkness (1988 - revival 2021) - Jared Brown, Lloyd Knight, Sara Mearns, Shamel Pitts, Annique Roberts, Michael Trusnovec, Cassandra Trenary, revival commission The Joyce Theater
• The Cut-Outs (Matisse) (2020), Created in collaboration with poet Bob Holman and composer Keith Patchell, commission The Anderson Collection, Stanford University
• Some Phrases I'm Hoping Andy Would Like (2019), Choreographed as a tribute to the late choreographer Andrew de Groat
• Untitled (Haiku) (2019), Created in collaboration with poet Joy Harjo and composer Larry Mitchell
• Artifact (2018), Created for dancer Peiling Kao. This work premiered as part of Kao's solo works concert Honolulu, HI.
• Archeology in Reverse (2018), Created in collaboration with artist Catherine Wagner. Video and sound by Michael Mersereau.
• Circadian Rhythm (2016), created in collaboration with visual artist Robert Gaylor with music by Peter Garland
• Rue Surf (2016), collaboration with poet Bob Holman and artist Roy Fowler
• Water Table (2016), a work in 8 parts:
• - Parts 1 and 2 – The Third Coast, music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
• - Part 3 – Baffin Island, music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
• - Part 4 – Sargasso Sea
• - Part 5 – The Pattern of the Surface, music by Philip Glass
• - Part 6 – On the Other Ocean, music by David Behrman
• - Part 7 – Amdo, music by Ulfur Hansson
• - Part 8 – Mali, music by Laetitia Sonami
• Seven (2015), commission Dana and Shinichi Iova-Koga as part of 95 Rituals for Anna Halprin
• Dance an Impossible Space (2014), music composed and performed by Erin Gee
• Redwood Park, Part 1 (2014), commission Oakland Ballet. Music composed by Joan Jeanrenaud
• Redwood Park, part 2 (2014), in silence.
• Entrance (2014), music by David Behrman
• BEAMS (2014), music by Alvin Curran
• Found Object (2014), collaboration with Erin Gee, John Guare, Joy Harjo, Rudy Wurlitzer
• Horizon, (2013), music by Pauline Oliveros
• Found Object (2012), collaboration with Peiling Kao
• Cross Bridge, (2012), collaboration with Holley Farmer, John Jesurun, David Moodey and Rosemary Quinn
• Credo In Us, (2011), music by John Cage. Commission Mills College Art Museum
• The Vessel Stories (2011), music by Philip Glass
• The Prop Dances (2010)
• - Pieces of Land, props by Jene Highstein, music by Jason Hoopes
• - 94 Feathers, props by Merrill Wagner, music by Cenk Ergün
• - Mass Balance, prop by Todd Richmond, music by Cenk Ergün
• - Planes in Air, props by Roy Fowler, music by Joan Jeanrenaud
• - Prop Dance #5, props by Keith Sonnier, music by Lainie Fefferman
• Double Beginning (2009), with spoken word by Bob Holman
• Ice, Dew, Food, Crew, Ape (2009), with music by Alvin Curran
• Calculus and Politics (2007), with music by Harry Partch. Commission The Joyce Theater
• Four Lines, (2006), with music by Jon Gibson
• Dreaming Awake, (2006), with music by Philip Glass. Commission Rovereto Music Festival, Rovereto, Italy
• Patterns and Expectations, (2006), with music by Fred Frith
• Desert Sea, (2005), with music by Lou Harrison. Commission Repertory Dance Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Lava Field, (2004), with music by John Bischoff
• Kuro Shio, (2003), with music by Bun Ching Lam. Commission Women in Dance/Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan
• Water Courses (2003), with poetry and music by Joy Harjo
• Waiting For Rain (2003), with music by Robert Ashley, set by Roy Fowler. Commission Peter Boal
• 331 Steps (2002), with music by Laetitia Sonami, set by Merrill Wagner
• Short Stories (2002), with music by Anthony Davis and in silence, costumes by Chado
• Signs/Landmark (2001), with music by Somei Satoh. Commission New National Theater, Tokyo
• Folds (2001), with music by Fred Frith, choreographed in collaboration with Bebe Miller. Commission Virginia Commonwealth University
• Ceremony (2000), text by Joy Harjo
• Spring Waterfall (2000), music by Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso
• Island (2000), with music by Harold Meltzer, artwork by Carol Hepper
• I and You Resemble Each Other, Now (2000), with music by Somei Satoh
• Delta (2000), music by John Cage
• Weathering (2000), with set by Merrill Wagner
• Voices (1999), music by Kevin Volans, with cellist Joan Jeanrenaud
• Timbral Inventions (1999), music by John Cage
• Tala (1999), with music by John Cage. La Muse Menagére (1998) with music by Darius Milhaud
• Icho (1997) music by Leroy Jenkins, commission Felicia Norton
• On the Other Ocean (1997) with music by David Behrman
• Trace (1997) with composer Jonathan Hart Makwaia, painter Roy Fowler and writer John Jesurun. Commission The Joyce Theater
• Latitudes (1996), a work created for the internet, commission Dia Art Foundation
• Pola'a (1996) with music by Lou Harrison. Commission Jacob's Pillow
• Regions (1995) with music by Maggi Payne. Commission the 92nd Street Y
• Savanna (1995) with music by Peter Garland. Commission Peggy Baker Dance Projects
• Sita (1995) with composer Philip Glass and photographer Sandi Fellman. Commission The Joyce Theater
• Jalan Jalan (1994), music by Lou Harrison
• Bridge of Dreams (1994) with composer Laurie Anderson and visual artist Kiki Smith. Commission Deutsche Oper Berlin
• Witches' Float (1993) with composer Alvin Lucier and visual artist Kiki Smith. Commission Krannert Art Center
• Sightings (1993) with composer Pauline Oliveros and sculptor Tatsuo Miyajima
• Nullarbor (1993) with composer Robert Lloyd and sculptor Richard Long
• Channel (1993) with composer Somei Satoh and visual artist Richard Serra
• Tilliboyo/Escalay (1993) with composers Foday Musa Suso and Hamza El Din
• Place (1992) with music by Arvo Pärt. Commission Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts
• Threshold (1992), with music by Somei Satoh. Commission The Joyce Theater
• Inner Enchantments (1991), with music by Philip Glass
• Bardo (1990), with music by Somei Satoh. Commission Keith Haring Foundation, premiere at the Keith Haring Memorial at St. John the Divine
• Augury (1989) with music by Christopher Hyams-Hart, choreographed in collaboration with Doug Varone. Commission American Dance Festival
• The Floor Dances (1989) with composer Henryk Gorecki and sculptor Richard Long. Commission Dia Art Foundation
• Provenance Unknown (1989), with composer Philip Glass. Commission Dance Chance and The Kitchen for Video, Music and Dance
• State of Darkness (1988), music by Igor Stravinsky. Commission by the American Dance Festival. Subsequently, reconstructed for Peter Boal (1999), commission Lincoln Center and for the Pacific Northwest Ballet, (2007) danced in alternation by Rachel Foster, James Moore and Jonathan Porretta
• In Recognition (1988), music by Philip Glass. Commission Serious Fun Festival, Lincoln Center
• Separate Voices (1987), a group work performed in silence. Commission The Joyce Theater
• A Descent into the Maelstrom (1986) music by Philip Glass, set design by Eamon D"Arcy, direction by Matthew McGuire. Commission the Adelaide Festival and performed by the Australian Dance Theatre
• Geologic Moments (1986), with composers Philip Glass and Julius Eastman. Commission the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival
• Feral (1986), music by Robert Lloyd. Commission the Ohio Ballet
• Cenotaph (1985), with composer Jamaaladeen Tacuma and text by Eric Bogosian. Commission Jacob's Pillow
• Esperanto (1985), with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Commission Tsurumoto Room, Tokyo
• Hemispheres (1983), with composer Anthony Davis and visual artist Francesco Clemente. Commission the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival
• Eureka (1982), with music by Peter Gordon. Commission Dance Theater Workshop
• Gentle Desire (1981), with music by Mark Freedman. Commission the American Dance Festival
• Peripheral Vision (1981), with music by Mark Freedman
• Energizer (1980), with music by Mark Freedman. Commission Dance Theater Workshop
• Boca Raton (1980), extended dance mix by Paul Alexander of Talking Heads. Decor by Steven Keister
• Mix (1979), Commission The Kitchen for Video, Music and Dance
• Video Clones (1979), video and performance work with Keith Haring