Ilana Goldman is a dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and educator. She is an Associate Professor of Dance and BFA Program Director in the School of Dance at Florida State University and served as Choreographer in Residence of Bowen McCauley Dance Company from 2018 to 2019 and Artist-in-Residence at Glacier National Park in 2022. She has choreographed works for Sacramento Ballet first and second companies, New York Theatre Ballet, ARC Dance Seattle, Tallahassee Ballet, Black Rock City Ballet, Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, Grand Rapids Ballet trainees, Ballet Idaho trainees, Perry-Mansfield, Shenandoah University, Missouri State University, Florida State University, and University of Washington. Her work was selected for performances at Brooklyn’s Dumbo Dance Festival and the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival.
She danced professionally as a principal dancer with Oakland Ballet and Sacramento Ballet, as a member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Trey McIntyre Project, and as a guest artist with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. She performed in works by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Agnes de Mille, Eugene Loring, Bronislava Nijinska, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham, José Limón, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Donald McKayle, David Parsons, George Faison, Robert Garland, Ron Cunningham, Bebe Miller, Susan Marshall, Margaret Jenkins, Dwight Rhoden, Igal Perry, Helen Pickett, Julia Gleich, Francesca Harper, John Selya, Ron de Jesus, John Clifford, Nolan T’Sani, Septime Webre, Sidra Bell, and Amy Seiwert, among others.
Her award-winning short dance films, Convergence, Fledgling, InterState, Threshold, Discarded, and Metaxu, screened at numerous international film festivals in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, India, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, France, Greece, Cyprus, Great Britain, Ireland, and Slovakia. Fledgling was Dance Teacher Magazine’s December 2016 Video of the Month and InterState was featured in the Berlin-based magazine WomenCinemakers.
She presented her research on community engagement in Hawaii, Texas, and Canada, and on ballet and contemporary ballet pedagogy at CORPS de Ballet International conferences.
Ilana has taught at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp, Berkeley City Ballet, Sacramento Ballet School, University of Washington, American College Dance Association Conferences, Alaska Dance Theatre, and Regional Dance America’s National Choreography Intensive, in addition to company classes and master classes across the country.
Ilana received her BFA from The Juilliard School, where she was awarded the John Erskine Prize for artistic and academic excellence, and her MFA from the University of Washington.
Photography by Keith Sutter