About
Photo by Annie Marie Musselman
Dayna Hanson has been creating dance, performance, music and film in Seattle for more than 20 years. From 1994–2006, Dayna was co-artistic director of dance theater company 33 Fainting Spells, whose work was presented by Dance Theater Workshop, Spoleto Festival, Walker Art Center, ICA in London, Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt and many other venues.
With 33 Fainting Spells she co-created, performed and toured a half-dozen dance theater pieces, including The Uninvited, Dirty Work and Our Little Sunbeam. In 2005, her solo multi-media work, Spirit Under The Influence, was presented by Northwest Film Forum. Her dance theater piece, We Never Like Talking About the End, was commissioned by On the Boards in 2006. Gloria’s Cause, co-created with Dave Proscia and Peggy Piacenza, was co-commissioned in 2010 by On the Boards and Under the Radar Festival. Gloria’s Cause was presented as a work-in-progress at the TBA Festival. The piece premiered at On the Boards in Dec. 2010 and has been presented at the PuSh Festival in Vancouver, B.C., REDCAT in Los Angeles and in Austin, TX in a partnership between Dance Umbrella and Fusebox Festival.
As an independent artist, Dayna has received support for her work from the National Performance Network, the National Dance Project, MAP Fund, Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture. She is a 2010 United States Artists Oliver Fellow in Dance, 2009 Artist Trust Media Fellow and 2006 Guggenheim Fellow in choreography,
As a curator and director, through 33 Fainting Spells and independently, Dayna has encouraged the development of dance film in the Pacific Northwest. Dance films by 33 Fainting Spells and Dayna Hanson have screened worldwide, including at New York Film Festival, Edinborough International Film Festival, Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and more. 33 Fainting Spells’ Measure can be found on First Run Features’ Dance for Camera DVD.
Dayna choreographed a scene for Late Autumn, a feature film by Korean director Tae Yong Kim that premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. She collaborated with The Rude Mechanicals, choreographing the Austin-based theater company’s newest work, a musical called I’ve Never Been So Happy.
Dayna plays keyboards and bass with Today! and has a clothing line of original silk screen tshirts called The Forest Cat.
