Melissa Toogood

Melissa Toogood is a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) winning performer. She is both Dancer and Rehearsal Director for Pam Tanowitz Dance and has assisted Tanowitz on numerous creations including works for New York City Ballet, Ballet Austin, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, The Martha Graham Dance Company, the Juilliard School, Rutgers University, the Fall for Dance Festival, Vail Dance Festival and others. Melissa was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She has taught Cunningham Technique internationally since 2007 and is a 2013 & 2015 Merce Cunningham Fellow. She has performed with Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Kimberly Bartosik, Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey, Michelle Dorrance, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Miro Dance Theater, the Stephen Petronio Company, Sally Silvers, The Bang Group:Tap Lab, Michael Uthoff Dance Theater, Bill Young and others. Toogood has been on faculty at Bard College, Barnard College, Dance New Amsterdam, New York Theater Ballet School and teaches for the Cunningham Trust. She has staged Tanowitz's work at Princeton University, Rutgers University and Cunningham's work for the Stephen Petronio Company, New World School of the Arts, The Washington Ballet, Vail Dance Festival, Harkness Dance Festival and Bard College. Dance Magazine named her in their 25 to watch in 2014 and featured her in the inaugural episode of Behind the Curtain (2015). Melissa is a native of Sydney, Australia and holds a BFA in Dance Performance from New World School of the Arts, Miami FL.