Zjana Muraro
Graduate Intern Dance Technique and Program Support
Dance
Faculty of Dance Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Creekside London SE8 3DZ
Email: z.muraro@trinitylaban.ac.uk
Biography
Zjana is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, teacher, and performer. Originally from New York City, her career began at a very young age. As a dancer, Zjana has performed with a variety of artists. First with the Hartford Ballet led by Kirk Peterson then Joffrey Ballet Ensemble directed by Eleanor D’Antuono and John Magnus, and later the Cleveland Repertory Project. She’s worked with choreographers Noa Wertheim, Roy Assaf, and Jody Sperling.
Her commercial credits include dancing alongside musical artists Shaggy, and Chaka Khan among others. Zjana has worked with noise band Sonic Youth, iconic interactive media artist Scott Snibbe and film director Harmony Korine.
She graduated with a BFA from California Institute of the Arts and later an MA from Tisch, New York University.
She has taught at universities and various dance centres internationally including creating choreography and teaching at Mercat de Les Flors (Barcelona, Spain), Grec Fest La Caldera (Barcelona, Spain), Complesso Monumentale di Santa Sofia (Salerno, Italy), Resolution at The Place (London, UK), Hong Kong Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong), Belgrade Dance Institute and Trinity Laban.
Her writing on dance, activism, wellbeing, and culture has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and she is currently an editorial assistant for the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practice, Coventry. Her board experience includes being one of six on the artist committee group at Chisenhale Dance Space in East London, working collaboratively towards more equitable, creative, inclusive, and artist-led governance.
Alongside dancing and writing Zjana is also an ISMETA and Guild qualified somatic practitioner working with Feldenkrais®, Gyrotonic© and the Ilan Lev Method. She studied these modalities directly with Juliu Horvath and Ilan Lev and founded Ilan Lev Method London in 2015 where she collaborates with fellow embodiment researchers and practitioners to host practice and training sessions that are accessible and community building.
Zjana’s own choreographic work brings together embodiment practices and live performance with digital media including Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR|AR|XR). Her work has been supported by Arts Council England, European Cultural Foundation, Compagnia di San Paolo, Dance4 Nottingham, YMCA (NYC), and most recently East London Dance and UAL College of Fashion. Her current interests are inspired by her meetings throughout her dance career with Kathleen Hermesdorf, Deborah Hey, Alonzo King, David Zambrano, Karen Finley, Andre Lepecki, Ann Pellegrini, and Jack Halberstam whose artistic and critical contributions she draws on in her own movement research.