Ian Spencer Bell is a dancer, a choreographer, a writer, and a teacher. The New York Times describes his work as “not dance and not poetry but some third medium.” The Village Voice calls his dancing “stealthy as a nocturnal feline.” Bell’s first performances were awarded a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has danced at the 92nd Street Y, Boston Center for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, National Arts Club, Poetry Foundation, and Queens Museum. In addition to his own work, he has performed historic solos by Merce Cunningham and Isadora Duncan.
Ballet Review, Dance Magazine, Movement Research, and The Yale Review have published Bell’s writing. He has taught for American Ballet Theatre, New York City Center, and Simon’s Rock at Bard College. He is dancer in residence at Chesterwood, the studio and home of sculptor Daniel Chester French. Bell graduated high school at University of North Carolina School of the Arts and trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and School of American Ballet. He was educated at Sarah Lawrence College and New York University, where he received an MFA in poetry. Bell lives in New York City.
Photo by Stephanie Zollshan in the bedroom of artist Daniel Chester French, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, April 7, 2024