elena rose light (they/them) is a dancer and scholar born in Southern California (Micqanaqa’n) and working across geographic contexts and disciplines. They are currently pursuing a joint PhD in English/Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago, where they were named a Neubauer Family Distinguished Doctoral Fellow for their promise in the field.

elena aims to explore their (white, trans, chronically ill, not-currently-disabled, imaginary) body as a site of mediation and experimentation; to understand how it and other bodies are affect-ed by social scripts, political formations, and philosophical frameworks; and to identify where agency (if any) might be located within body-based practices. They cemented their view of dance and choreography as epistemological pursuits during their MA in Choreography and Performance at Germany’s Institute for Applied Theater Studies in Giessen, researching modes of relational attunement between self and other while creating movement projects in community with other transgender people. 

elena’s performances have been presented by Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, Giessen TanzArt, Abrons Arts Center, Gibney, Center for Performance Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The Current Sessions, University Settlement, and Movement Research at Judson Church, among other venues. Honors and residencies include the UChicago Center for Contemporary Theory graduate student grant, danceWEB scholarship at ImPulsTanz, Lokomotiva Curating in Context mentorship, LiftOFF Residency, LANDING mentorship, Chez Bushwick residency, and Hemispheric Institute EMERGENYC fellowship. They support various New York and international artists on writing projects, and they used to work behind the scenes for Gibney, Abrons Arts Center, and The Movement Research Performance Journal. They currently are part of a performance project with Xavier Le Roy, and they have contributed to works by J. Neve Harrington, Alice Pacheco Nogueira, Christopher Matthews, Ursula Eagly, Bouchra Ouizguen, Tino Sehgal, Asad Raza, Bruno Isakovic, Maya Ciarrocchi and Kris Grey, and The Bureau for the Future of Choreography. Elena received a BA with honors in French and art history from Yale University, where they first became enamored with experimental performance.