Dawn States

Dawn States began dancing at the age of five and fell in love with ballet. Dawn’s dad is a truck driver and their mom cleaned the dance studio to support their access to classes. At age eighteen, Dawn had to have their first intensive spinal operation. This was followed by a longer and more intensive operation, which resulted in the placement of rods and screws in their spinal fusion. A traumatic car accident after this left them with three fractured bones in their right hip. Medical professionals advised against dancing. Because of this, Dawn holds a Bachelor's degree in library science. Through the tutelage of Axis Dance and individuals in the disability community, Dawn returned to dance. They now hold their MFA in Dance from Temple University and were awarded the Rose Vernick Artistic Transformation award in recognition of their thesis work Incurvation. Dawn is committed to making dance accessible and does this through their accessibility measures in their choreographic work, inclusion of disabled dancers in their work and being an invested and empathetic teaching artist.