ABOUT ME

Raised in Gilbert, Arizona, Summer’s career started by dancing on her living room coffee table where she discovered the joy of sharing art with her beloved community. At age 10, she expanded her practice at her local dance studio, Artistic Motion Dance, where she danced competitively and explored numerous styles under the direction of Mandi Smith. During this time, she won awards from the Herberger Theater Center’s Arizona Young Artist Competition, and began collaborating with Grammy award winning artist, Sangeeta Kaur. With the multiplicity in her early training, Summer grew a passion for the merging and mixing of different genres. In later years, this translated to the amalgamation of different mediums—influencing her to study at USC Kaufman.

At Kaufman, Summer continued exploring the boundaries of her own movement while immersing herself in other artistic processes. Under the tutelage of industry innovators such as D. Sabela Grimes, Ebony Haswell-Frazier, Bret Easterling, Fiona Lummis, and Jennifer Lott, she learned of the expansive definition of what movement can be. She has also worked with many acclaimed choreographers such as: Kyle Abraham, Hope Boykin, Peter Chu, and Yin Yue. Additionally, she has also danced in a number of student films, movement directed fashion shows, and participated in motion capture animations. Within each experience, Summer enjoys learning about each artist’s creative process—finding intrigue in how the puzzle pieces fit together. 

To this day, Summer’s passion for mixing mediums has expanded beyond dance. For example, with her proficiency in American Sign Language, she’s currently exploring the intersectionality between sign and dance—researching how they can support and inspire one another. As she begins her freelance career, she has found herself combining her interests through a variety of roles including: assisting choreographer Hope Boykin, restaging work for USC Kaufman and Kyle Abraham, performing in the Northern Michigan Dance Festival, and standing in as Misty Copeland for the Wicked No Good Deed music video by Universal Studios. She’s excited to continue exploring how movement can enrich a variety of different artistic spaces—connecting all that has inspired her in hopes of inspiring others. (add resume)