VDA Artist Profile #26

Paula Higa is a Brazilian-born American choreographer who has been making dances, teaching, and performing for more than 30 years between Brazil and the USA. She is an Assistant Professor and Resident choreographer in the School of the Arts at the University of Vermont. She holds an MFA in Dance from UWM, a BS in Chemical Engineering in Brazil, a certification in PBT - Progressing Ballet Technique, and lots of experience within the arts field. 

In 2016, she founded my dance company, PHD - Paula Higa Dance, and Encounters-- an improvisational work of music and dance-- in collaboration with trumpeter Arthur Brooks and double bass player Anthony Santor. As a performer, she danced in the works of Mark Morris, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Larry Keigwin, Jennifer Monson, Tiffany Rhynard, among others. Her work has been performed in NYC, Boston, Texas, Central Unite States, and Brazil.

She is the recipient of the NEFA - New England Dance Fund Grant, UVM - Coor Collaborative Fellows Award, Vermont Community Foundation's Artist Grant, Vermont Arts Council - Artist Development Grant, OVPR Express Grant, Faculty Development Grant for the Arts, and many others. Her recent creation, The One I Wanted To Be, in collaboration with visual artist Jenn Karson, was twice awarded Best Screendance in Los Angeles, and officially selected for the Genres and Performances Film Festival in Aveiro, Portugal, Diorama International Film Festival in India, 2022 Nukhufest in NYC, and the ARFF - Around International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany.

Send an email to PHD if you want to get involved with more dancing in Vermont!