A person looks through printed paper letters in the foreground while another person holds up a letter in the background.

Will Rawls, still from "Alpha Dance," 2018; video.

Will Rawls

New York
Performance/Choreography/Dance
Artist in Residence, 2022
Artist in Residence, 2020

A portrait of a person against a striped background.

Artist Statement

My choreography stretches the rules that govern speech and dance, and explores how a performer plays with the transitions between such different forms of communication. The results are intimate portraits of how abstraction and embodiment are tangled up in ideas of what a person is, and what a self can mean over time.

While at Headlands

While at Headlands I’ll be developing choreography for a film project that focuses on the intimate gestures and dialogues of five performers in a fantastical environment. Beyond dance-making, I’ll be experimenting with camera filters, film editing techniques, and on-location shoots around the wilder parts of the Marin Headlands.