Biographical Info

Allison Shir is a dance artist originally from the East Coast and currently based in Salt Lake City. Her choreographic research investigates the physical and emotional complexities and paradoxes of “states of in-betweens” and processes of transformation.  Presently, Allison is a dance professor at Westminster College and director of the Westminster Dance Department’s Company. She has taught in numerous settings including the State Ballet School of Berlin (Berlin, Germany), Amsterdam Dance Center (Amsterdam, Holland), Studio B (Tel Aviv, Israel), the Regional Alternative Dance Festival (Kalamazoo, Michigan), ArchesSports (Chengdu, China), SaltDanceFest (SLC), the American College Dance Association Conference, the Ririe-Woodbury Pre-Professional Move-It Summer Intensive, the University of Utah, and with Minding Motion for Graceful Aging (SLC).

Allison relocated to Salt Lake City in 2013 to pursue her MFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah. 

Allison partnered with Allison Anholt to deliver an Art-Science workshop in which Allison Anholt spoke about the birds of the Great Salt Lake, and Allison Shir translated these principles to a discussion and demonstration of how cooperation, fitting in, and creating niches translates to the functioning of famous dance troupes.