
cid pearlman
Artist Statement:
I am interested in creating art for community and community for artists. My work is inspired by many people and many places – growing up in Provincetown in the 1970s, hanging out on the punk scene in Berlin in the 1980s, and many years embedded in San Francisco and Los Angeles’ alternative dance, art, and performance communities. For over 20 years I presented my work primarily in theaters, though the work always leaned heavily towards installation and design. My recent projects are more likely to take place in museums, galleries, or outside, in order to directly address issues of access, equity, and audience experience.
Biography:
For over two decades Cid Pearlman’s choreography has worked to subtly disrupt traditional notions of desire, gender and friendship. Inspired by the resilience, fragility, and resourcefulness of the human body, Pearlman makes dances about how we negotiate being together in a complex world. Among other honors she is the recipient of the 2021 Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship, a Fulbright Award from the US Department of State, and has been twice awarded a Djerassi Resident Artist Fellowship. Her work has been presented at numerous venues including ODC Theater, Joyce SoHo, Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Estonia), the Getty Center, Stockholm City Hall, Theatre Artaud and the Museum of Contemporary Art/San Diego.
Pearlman is committed to working with contemporary composers, and past performances have featured collaborations with Joan Jeanrenaud, Jonathan Segel, Albert Mathias, Erling Wold, Haroon Tahir, Kaarel Kõivupuu and Johannes Ahun. In addition to creating dances for her company, Pearlman has choreographed for film, opera and theater.
Pearlman's choreography has received support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Eesti Kultuurkapital, CA$H, the Rainin Opportunity Fund at ODC Theater, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the San Francisco Art Commission, the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the American Composers Forum, the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County, and the Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship at the Community Foundation Santa Cruz. Pearlman received a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from UCLA in 2006, holds a Black Belt in Aikido (Nidan), and currently teaches in the Department ofTheater Arts at UC Santa Cruz.
Photo of Cid Pearlman: rr jones