Olivia Jenna Brown is a Philadelphia-based movement artist. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Dance from Bennington College/formerly University of the Arts. She is a teaching artist at Cardell Dance Studio, and has taught dance with programs across Philadelphia. Her choreography and teaching are grounded in somatic practice, contact improvisation, and modern dance. Her work explores Jewish themes, collaborative process, and chance procedure.

Olivia studied extensively with the Laban Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (2021-2022), including functional anatomy,  movement analysis, and neuromotor patterning. Her choreography has been featured in 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 also performed with Monica Bill Barnes & Co. at New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival (2019).

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 VP and secretary of the Dance Department Student Advisory Council, and was captain of the Macaulay Dancers competition dance team. She was a recipient of the Meyer’s Scholarship, two Presidential Awards, and a grant from the CUNY Performing Arts Office. Her dance training prior to Hunter College includes the Alvin Ailey School of Dance, Peridance, and LaGuardia High School.

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.