Nicole Harris is the co-Artistic Director for Monkeyhouse, an award winning non-profit organization dedicated to connecting communities to choreography. Thanks to her mentor and co-Artistic Director, karen Krolak, Nicole has been part of Monkeyhouse since its inception in 2000. In the last 20 years her work has been presented across the country and internationally. Nicole is grateful for all of her mentors including tap masters Derick K. Grant (Imagine Tap, Bring in ‘Da Noise/Bring in ‘Da Funk) and Lynn Schwab (Steps on Broadway, Rhumba Tap), and director Margaret Hagemeister.
Nicole has been working as a theatre educator since 2003, beginning as a choreographer and director for Natick High School alongside Margaret Hagemeister for over 10 years. In 2015 she began working for the Groton School, where she has been a choreographer, director, dance teacher, and all around maker of things. In 2017 she created Boxes, an original devised work in collaboration with 17 students.
In 2011 Nicole survived a series of strokes which temporarily left her future as a mover up in the air. During that time she expanded her practice to include socially engaged and public art. Her 2016 project #BusyIsTheNewBlack challenged 26 artists and art lovers across the United States to slow down for one month, documenting the process in hand made books and hand written letters. Love Letters From Boston, which began in 2017, encourages participants to share gratitude and creativity through the mail.
Since returning to the studio Nicole is especially interested in finding the stories and imperfections that each body and the human inside it has to share. As such, her work is based in collaboration of all kinds. Some of her most frequent collaborators are karen Krolak (choreographer, Monkeyhouse), Caleb Howe (choreographer, Monkeyhouse), Laurie Sales (director, Groton School), Jason Ries (lighting designer, Monkeyhouse), and Kim Holman (choreographer/director, Luminarium Dance Company). She is currently honored to be collaborating with The Dictionary of Negative Space on a series of projects including an installation for Abridged (an animated edition of the Dictionary of Negative Space) that commemorates the number of deaths from Covid-19 in New England during 2020.
Nicole has been working as a theatre educator since 2003, beginning as a choreographer and director for Natick High School alongside Margaret Hagemeister for over 10 years. In 2015 she began working for the Groton School, where she has been a choreographer, director, dance teacher, and all around maker of things. In 2017 she created Boxes, an original devised work in collaboration with 17 students.
In 2011 Nicole survived a series of strokes which temporarily left her future as a mover up in the air. During that time she expanded her practice to include socially engaged and public art. Her 2016 project #BusyIsTheNewBlack challenged 26 artists and art lovers across the United States to slow down for one month, documenting the process in hand made books and hand written letters. Love Letters From Boston, which began in 2017, encourages participants to share gratitude and creativity through the mail.
Since returning to the studio Nicole is especially interested in finding the stories and imperfections that each body and the human inside it has to share. As such, her work is based in collaboration of all kinds. Some of her most frequent collaborators are karen Krolak (choreographer, Monkeyhouse), Caleb Howe (choreographer, Monkeyhouse), Laurie Sales (director, Groton School), Jason Ries (lighting designer, Monkeyhouse), and Kim Holman (choreographer/director, Luminarium Dance Company). She is currently honored to be collaborating with The Dictionary of Negative Space on a series of projects including an installation for Abridged (an animated edition of the Dictionary of Negative Space) that commemorates the number of deaths from Covid-19 in New England during 2020.
Photo by Olivia Moon Photography
