Bio

Megan grew up in Anchorage AK and Green Bay WI and is a graduate of Northwestern University. While at college she studied with notable Chicago teachers such as Molly Shanahan, Billy Siegenfeld, Laura Wade, and Jeff Hancock. After graduation she continued studying with Molly Shanahan for several years while also building up her own choreographic practice as an individual artist.

As a dancer, Megan has performed with a number of Chicago-based companies including Khecari, Nicole Gifford Dance, Salty Lark, Renegade Dance Architects (of Chicago), and Synapse Arts. She has also worked as a guest performer with artists such as choreographer Janet Schmid, performance duo 3 Card Molly (Liz Winfield and Ania Greiner), butoh artist Wannapa Pimtong-Eubanks, and performance artist Jessica Hannah.

As a choreographer, Megan has presented work at Links Hall, the Chicago Fringe Festival, Night Out in the Parks and the Museum of Science and Industry, among others. She was a 2012 New Works artist with Synapse Arts and has co-presented shows of her own work alongside artists such as Aislinn Gagliardi and Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan.

A major component of Megan’s artistic practice is her collaborative work with astrophysicist Elizabeth Hicks. Since 2014, their deeply curious approach and shared love of cross-disciplinary collaboration has led them to create several projects that connect their disciplines of modern dance and fluid dynamics. Megan and Elizabeth’s joint work lives under the umbrella of Epsilon Delta Labs, an interdisciplinary collaborative for research and exploration in science, engineering, mathematics, music, dance and visual art.

Megan is also an accomplished teaching artist with over 15 years of experience working in a variety of settings, including studios, camps, public schools, and after-school programs. She specializes in trauma-informed/healing centered approaches to arts instruction, with a focus on social-emotional learning and arts integration. She has worked for notable arts education programs such as Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, Dancing With Class, and Hearts To Art camp at the Auditorium Theatre.

Currently, Megan is a Co-Director at Synapse Arts. As a member of the company’s 3 person collaborative leadership team, Megan is in charge of Synapse’s education programs and fundraising efforts. She supervises Synapse’s Arts Partner classes at the Chicago Park District and has developed programs such as the DanceWear Share Library, a take-one-leave-one collection of dancewear that offers free shoes and apparel to the community. Along with the other Synapse team members, she builds relationships with community based organizations and works to find new ways to make dance and art accessible to people of all ages, income levels, abilities, and identities.