Jonah Bokaer is an award-winning choreographer and media artist. He has dedicated a short lifetime to expanding possibilities for live performance through choreography, digital media, crossdisciplinary collaborations, and social enterprise, in the United States and internationally.

Education:
Originally from Ithaca, NY, Bokaer trained in dance at Cornell University, and subsequently graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts as a North Carolina Academic Scholar (Contemporary Dance/Performance, 2000). Recruited for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the unprecedented age of 18, Bokaer pursued a parallel degree in Visual & Media Studies at The New School (2003-2007), where he received the Joan Kirnsner Memorial Award. Additional studies in media and performance occurred at Parsons School of Design, NYU Performance Studies, and through self-taught explorations into digital media and 3D animation: such studies led to the development of a rare, multi-disciplinary approach to choreography, addressing the human body in relation to contemporary technologies.

Dance:
Bokaer has worked with Merce Cunningham (2000-2007), John Jasperse (2004-2005), David Gordon (2005-2006), Deborah Hay (2005), Tino Sehgal (2008), and many others. He has also interpreted the choreography of George Balanchine as restaged by Melissa Hayden. Bokaer is also a frequent choreographer for Robert Wilson (2007-Present).

Choreography:
Bokaer's work has been presented widely throughout venues in the United States and abroad, including Cornell University, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, La Mama ETC, P.S. 122, Symphony Space, the ISB (Bangkok), Naxos Bobine, Studio Theatre de Vitry, and La Generale (Paris), Les Subsistances (Lyon), La Compagnie (Marseille), La Ferme Du Buisson (Marne-la-Vallee), De Singel (Beligum), International Tanzmesse NRW (Germany), PSi (Copenhagen), Kunsthalle St. Gallen (Switzerland), and others. Upcoming engagements in 2009 include the Attakalari Performance Biennale (Bangalore), Salon Tudor (Santiago), and a new commission from the National Academy of Sciences (Washington, D.C.)

Bokaer has been honored with a Human Rights Award (Public Volunteerism, 2000), a fellowship from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (Dance & Media, 2005-2006), the inaugural Gallery Installation Fellowship from Dance Theater Workshop (2007), and one of four national Dance Access Scholarships from Dance/USA, with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2007), and the Alumni Achievement Award from North Carlonia School of the Arts (2009). Additionally, Bokaer recently accepted the Special Citation at the New York Dance & Performance/BESSIE Awards, for the arts organization Chez Bushwick (2007); his last choreography "The Invention Of Minus One" was also awarded a BESSIE for original lighting design by Aaron Copp (2008). He’s also a 2008-2009 Young Leader of the French American Foundation, and is the first dance artist to have been awarded.