Olivia Jenna Brown is a Philadelphia-based dance artist originally from New York City. She is a teaching artist at University City Arts League, Cardell Dance Studio, and with BalletX’s Dance eXchange program. Olivia’s choreography and teaching are grounded in her practice of somatics, contact improvisation, and modern dance techniques. Her work explores Jewish themes, collaborative process, and chance procedure. Olivia studied extensively with the Laban Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (2021-2022) to deepen her knowledge of functional anatomy and movement analysis. Olivia is passionate that movement can serve as a means of radically imagining and embodying positive change in the world, and she loves to invite students and collaborators into the healing possibilities of dance. 

Olivia’s choreography has been featured in several dance festivals including the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (2023, 2021), Mascher Space Cooperative’s Fresh Juice Festival (2022, 2021), with Poetico Dance Collective (2021, 2020), and Flair Dance Festival at FringeArts Theatre (2021). She has also performed professionally with Monica Bill Barnes & Co. at New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival (2019). Olivia practices contact improvisation and joined the Philadelphia Contact Improvisation Facilitation Team in spring 2023. 

Olivia holds a BA in Dance from Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, from which she graduated summa cum laude in 2019. During her time at Hunter College, Olivia served as the vice president and secretary of the Dance Department Student Advisory Council (2017-2019) and captain of the Macaulay Dancers competition dance team (2018). She was a recipient of the Meyer’s Scholarship (2018), two Presidential Awards (2017-2019), and a grant from the CUNY Performing Arts Office (2019). Prior to Hunter College, Olivia’s training includes the acclaimed Alvin Ailey School of Dance and LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts. 

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Olivia has continued to dance, teach children and adults, choreograph, and create short films. She feels inspired by the resiliency of the dance community and hopes to be part of a positive shift in the dance world towards transparency, equity, and justice.