Tonya Lockyer is a dance artist and educator focused on the borderlands of performance, embodiment and social justice. Her performances have examined issues of cultural identity, migration and the economics of dance-making in the United States. In 1998, Lockyer founded VIA, a dance-theater company, generating inter-cultural collaborations between artists from the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe and North America. VIA toured internationally and received support from Arts International, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, The Canada Council, The Nureyev Foundation, The Banff Center, and was broadcast on National Public Radio and CBC Television. Since 2004, VIA has become a laboratory for Lockyer’s choreographic and social research. Projects include collaborations with composers, installations, large scale street actions, twenty-four hour performances, evening-length solos, lectures, and commissions from companies and presenting organizations world-wide. Her writing on performance is published in CQ and the book Vu Du Corps: Lisa Nelson Mouvement et Perception.
Lockyer served as Visiting Artist at Mimar Sinan University Istanbul, Brigham Young University, The University of Calgary and The University of Maryland. Currently she serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts.
As an arts presenter, Lockyer supported the early work of many now nationally recognized playwrights and choreographers through VIA’s producing programs and as Program Manager/ Curatorial Consultant for Velocity Dance Center, Seattle.
Lockyer is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, holds a BA from the University of Washington, and studied on scholarship at the Merce Cunningham Studios NY. She receives her MFA from the University of Washington in June.
