Clare Byrne

Clare Byrne is a dance scholar, choreographer, musician, and educator. Her work explores dance canon and improvisation within ritual contexts. She was the artistic director of Clare Byrne Dance in New York City, and a member of Dance Tramp, a choreographic collective based in Burlington, Vermont. She toured globally as a founding member of Nicholas Leichter Dance.

Byrne’s research in Black Church dance ministry at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music resulted in a thesis on ecstatic improvisation in African Methodist Episcopal churches, which was selected to be presented at Yale’s Black Sacred Arts Conference, Ritual Transformations of Consciousness, and other conferences. She has received awards and residencies through Yale University, White Oak Residency, Jerome Robbins Fellowship and the Bogliasco Foundation, Joyce SoHo, the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard, Meet the Composer, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange.

Her dance work has been previewed/reviewed in The New York Times, Village Voice, The New Yorker, Dance Insider, Backstage, and TimeOut NY. Byrne is the lead singer and songwriter for the astral folk band, The Celestials.