Lauren Linder (she/her) is an MFA Dance Candidate on the choreography track at the University of Iowa. Presently, Linder’s research interests include dance as a literacy practice, embodied resources within language learning and processing, the dance of writing//the writing of dance, and accessibility in dance spaces. Linder is interested in softness, syntax, silliness, and subtleties in her dance making and improvising practices. Linder values emotive, thoughtful work that connects people to their bodies, problematizes hierarchies of form, and grounds us in togetherness. 

Prior to relocating to Iowa City, Linder worked as a professional dancer, choreographer, and educator in Seattle, Washington. There, Linder had the pleasure to perform with The Three Yells, the Pat Graney Company, Alice Gosti, Petra Zanki, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Melinda Jean Meyers, the Baker-Tarpaga Dance Project, and Adriana Hernandez. Linder’s choreography has been presented at the Green House (Iowa City), Space Place Theater (Iowa City), Voxman Music Building (Iowa City), Erickson Theater (Seattle), the Iron Factory (Philadelphia), RAD Dance Fest (Kalamazoo, MI), the Seattle International Dance Festival, the Converge Dance Festival (Seattle), Velocity Dance Center (Seattle), and On the Boards Open Studio (Seattle). Her work The Beginnings of an Emergent Truth About Whipped Cream received a 2017 Dance Crush Award from Seattle Dances. In 2018, Linder received a smART Grant Award from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture to produce Double Vision, an evening-length duet show alongside choreographer and dance person extraordinaire, Sean Thomas Boyt. 

Linder holds an MA in Multilingual Education, a B.F.A. in Dance with honors and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Iowa. Currently, Linder is a dance teaching artist with the UI Youth Ballet and director of Combined Efforts Dance, a dance company for dancers who have intellectual disabilities.