Davalois Fearon is a critically acclaimed choreographer, dancer, and educator. Her dancing, praised by colleagues as “unapologetic” and by critics as “electrifying,” was honed over 12 years with the Stephen Petronio Company, where she was an audience favorite for her bold performances. Born in Jamaica and raised in the Bronx, Fearon’s choreography is said to embody a “tenacious virtuosity” that is now reflected in her work as founder and director of Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD). Established in 2016, DFD pushes artistic and social boundaries to provoke contemplation and address societal issues. Fearon’s work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at New York City venues such as the Joyce Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, BAAD, and the New Victory Theater. Among many others, she has completed commissions for the Harlem Stage, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Barnard College. In 2017, she was awarded a Performance “Bessie” for her performance in “the skeleton architecture, or the future of our worlds,” which birthed Skeleton Architecture, a women- and gender-nonconforming Black improvisation-based collective. Additional awards include the Mosaic Network & Fund, DanceNYC’s Dance Advancement Fund Award, grants from the MAP Fund and the Howard Gilman Foundation, residencies from the Wassaic Project and Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and continuous support from the Bronx Council on the Arts. Fearon has been featured in The New York Times, Dance Magazine, poet Ntozake Shange’s book Dance We Do: A Poet Explores Black Dance, the documentary If the Dancer Dances, and, most recently, in the book A Year of Black Joy by Jamia Wilson. She holds an MFA in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a BFA from SUNY Purchase. She is currently a Core Faculty Lecturer at Princeton University’s dance department.
