Dawn Karlovsky
Dawn Karlovsky is the Founder and Artistic Director of Karlovsky & Company Dance. Her
thought-provoking, athletic, and emotionally candid dances have been commissioned and
presented by universities and modern dance/theatre companies worldwide and in major cities
of the United States including Webster University and Washington University in St. Louis,
University of Missouri-St. Louis, University of Minnesota-Duluth, University of Utah, American
College Dance Association (ACDA), California State University-Dominguez Hills, Ressl Dance,
Christopher Watson Dance Co. (Minneapolis), Kinetic Evolutions (Minneapolis), That Uppity
Theater (St. Louis), Dance St. Louis - Spring To Dance Festival & Contemporary Moves,
MachineHDance NY (New York City), Shawl-Anderson Dance Center (San Francisco-Bay area)
among others. International credits include choreography commissioned by Le Théatre du
Rouret and Le Communauté de Culture de Couloisy in France, Cie Haute Tension (France),
Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), and with New World Dance Theatre in Cape Town (South
Africa) for a 2-week performance and teaching residency.
Karlovsky’s movement language is somatically inspired emphasizing the detailed use of touch
and spatial and sensory awareness. Her movement expresses personal intention with
interpersonal connectivity, along with a full-bodied flow that takes advantage of gravity,
momentum, and internalized reactions. Karlovsky finds inspiration for movement by observing
and reflecting on situations of living and modes of communication that reveal human
interactions and behaviors, and generating dance work that illuminates these experiences. She
looks to nature, psychology, music, and science to further fuel her creativity. Karlovsky is
fascinated by process-driven work involving multifaceted collaboration with musicians, visual
artists, poets, singers, filmmakers, and other choreographers. Karlovsky believes that these
enriching opportunities augment and extend our shared, creative potential contributing to
compassionate thinking and individual growth.
A native of Chicago, Dawn Karlovsky came to St. Louis in 1997 after dancing and touring with companies in San Francisco, Louisville, and Chicago. Karlovsky teaches Modern Dance and the Alexander Technique at Washington University/University College and Webster University in St. Louis, and is a nationally certified teacher of the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) since 2004. She is a recipient of the Artist Fellowship Award in Dance (2015) by The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis