Lailye Weidman

Lailye Weidman is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Hampshire College, where she integrates improvisation, somatics, and mindfulness with the politics of movement. As a choreographer, dancer, and writer based in western Massachusetts, her work interrogates themes of consent, community organizing, environmental systems, and queer methodologies through solo and ensemble practices.

• Education: B.A. in Dance from UCLA, M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Residencies: APE Ltd Gallery, Light Box Detroit, iLAND New York City, Hothouse UCLA, SEEDS Festival

Research Interests span interdisciplinary dance making, queer theory, and the relationship between movement and social/environmental systems. She explores how dance functions as a 'way of knowing' in courses like Desire Lines and Movement as Research, often collaborating with scientists and scholars from other fields.

Teaching emphasizes embodied facilitation, anti-racist pedagogy, and trauma-informed practices. Courses include Queer Dance Theory and Practice, Embodied Facilitation and Dance Pedagogy, and Contemporary Dance Repertory Process, focusing on physical and intellectual rigor while welcoming diverse experience levels.

Creative Projects include Dike Dance (collaboration with Atlantic Research Center scientists), Social Animal Please Tame Me (consent in ensemble contexts), and co-founding the Movement Party's Fleet Moves dance festival. She also contributes to archiving and storytelling through her role as former Associate Editor of Contact Quarterly.