Ashley A. Friend: Outside the Outside

Ashley A. Friend, photo by Ian Douglas

A California native, Ashley A. Friend moved to Brooklyn in the sweltering summer of 2006. She left NYC and headed west in 2020. She now resides in the seaside fishing village of Port Townsend, WA.

Her choreography has been performed throughout the USA, NYC and abroad.  Friend’s work was presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, residency at Performing Arts Forum in France, and a residency and performance at the GVA Sessions in Geneva, Switzerland.  Friend received a scholarship to attend the Dance/USA conference.  She was a recipient of the prestigious danceWEB Scholarship to attend ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna. Season performances at The Joyce Soho and an evening-length solo at 92nd St., as well as numerous performances at Judson Church, through Movement Research, and countless venues throughout NY. She was an artist-in-residence at The Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) in Florida and a LiftOff Artist through New Dance Alliance, NYC.

Friend received her BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.  She graduated with her MFA in Dance and Technology from The Ohio State University with a minor in Film and Video. Friend taught contemporary dance, theatrical dance, and choreography at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, NY for 4 years.  She was a professor in Performing Arts Education at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA from 2014-2016.  Friend served as a full-time Guest Artist and professor at The College at Brockport, NY from 2016-2017. She currently works for the renowned choreographer Bill Evans and is archiving his entire body of work, assisting him in editing his book (to be published 2022) and dancing for his company. Friend continues to teach dance and has been learning to draw and paint for the past 2 years- her drawings will be published in 2022.

This new work reflects on the experience of attraction—inspired by the instinctive mysterious magnetism within life that can be both invigorating and hold sanctuary. Once merged, the piece travels through the resourcefulness in this act from attraction to transformation.

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