2021 Dancemakers Laboratory Resident

Ilya Vidrin is a choreographer, dramaturg, and research-practitioner situated at the nexus of performing arts, ethics, and interactive media. Born into a refugee family, Ilya grew up navigating the nuances of cultural expectations, language barriers, and diverging political ideologies. This experience of code-switching fuels his research and artistic practice to interrogate ethical dimensions of human interaction, including the embodiment of empathy, cultural competence, and social responsibility.

In recent years, Ilya has been artist-in-residence at Ballet Des Moines, North Atlantic Ballet, Jacob’s Pillow, AREA Gallery, the National Parks Service, Harvard ArtLab, The Walnut Hill School, Interlochen Arts Academy, MIT Media Lab, Windhover Center for Performing Arts, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), and the New Museum (NYC).

Alongside his artistic practice, Ilya pursued undergraduate studies in Cognitive Neuroscience at Northeastern University, a Master’s in Human Development at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Performing Arts at the Centre for Dance Research (United Kingdom).