ABOUT
Rachel Slater is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and producer living in New Orleans, LA. She currently co-directs Muddy Feet Contemporary Dance long distance, while pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Dance Performance at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA and working with BODYART Dance. She holds a BFA from Philadelphia's University of the Arts in Modern Dance, with an Emphasis in Choreography. While living on the east coast she danced with and choreographed for Group Motion Multimedia Dance Theater, a number of independent choreographers and co-founded Pink Hair Affair, a Philadelphia-based dance collective. She began her training in Portland, OR with Metro Dancers and also studied extensively with Sarah Slipper and Northwest Dance Project, Steve Gonzales and the Jefferson Dancers, Tracey Durbin, Cynthia Tosh, the Ailey School, the American Dance Festival and Anouk van Dijk's Countertechnique.
Rachel's choreography has been presented in festivals around the country such as the Philly Fringe Festival, the REMIX Festival, San Francisco's Women on the Way Festival, 12 Minutes Max and Open Studio in Seattle, JAW Festival, the 1 Festival, Pacific Dance Makers and Alchemy in Portland. Rachel was a 2014 recipient of the Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant and a New Expressive Works Resident in 2013. In 2015 she co-founded Muddy Feet Contemporary Dance with Suzanne Chi, which she currently presents choreography through along with producing and curating the work of other Portland artists. In 2019, Muddy Feet traveled to Banff, Canada for the Performing Arts Residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Muddy Feet's first dance film, Unfolding (made in collaboration with SubRosa Dance and directed by Dylan Wilbur), has screened internationally with summer engagements in Greece, France, Mexico, New York City, Houston, Seattle and North Carolina at the American Dance Festival and winter screenings in Romania, Portugal and Argentina.
In Portland, Rachel has performed for Minh Tran & Co., Rachel Erdos (IL), Franco Nieto (NWDP), Tracey Durbin, Carla Mann, Tere Mathern, Sara Parker, Kristine Anderson, Jim McGinn and Éowyn Emerald & Dancers. She has taught for wonderful organizations such as BodyVox Dance Center, the Jefferson High School Dance Department/the Jefferson Dancers, the National High School Dance Festival, Northwest Dance Project, Reed College, Pacific University, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and A-WOL Dance Collective.