Rachel Thorne Germond
Artistic Director

“She is a stern, unfancy, intellectually enticing artist, tough in her aesthetic.”

- Sid Smith, The Chicago Tribune

Dance/Performance Bio

Rachel Thorne Germond is a performer, dancer, teacher, choreographer, and visual artist and has been creating dance/performance work since the late 1980’s. Arriving in New York City after graduating from Cornell University in 1986, she studied dance on scholarship with Mary Anthony and Anna Sokolow, at The Merce Cunningham Studio, jazz dance at Broadway Dance Center, ballet with Finis Jhung and Liane Plane, and danced with Pedro Alejendro, Andrew Marcus, Dana Salisbury, amongst other choreographers. She presented her early works at notable venues such as St. Mark’s Church Danspace, Dixon Place, and The Joyce Soho, amongst others. Much of this early work was in duet form in collaboration with her longtime dancing partner, Tasha Taylor. In 2000 she achieved an M.F.A. in Choreography from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and afterwards was based in Chicago, IL where she founded her critically acclaimed Chicago-based  company, RTG Dance in 2007. From 2010-2014 she taught ballet, modern, jazz, and dance appreciation at Old Dominion University and Christopher Newport University in the Tidewater region of Virginia. Based in Brooklyn, NY and southwestern NH, she continues to create and present work via Rachel Thorne Germond Performance Collage. Her multidisciplinary performances incorporate dance, video, and photography. 

Visual Art Bio
Rachel Thorne Germond earned a BFA in studio art (Printmaking and Photography) from Cornell University’s College of Art, Architecture and Planning and an MFA in Dance and Choreography from the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana (2000). Her early training in art included tutoring with her grandmother, mother, and father who were all professional artists and teachers. She has presented her visual art in New York City, Wellfleet, MA, Bisbee, AZ and Dublin, NH - often combining her art with live performances that include video projections, text, and choreography under the auspices of Rachel Thorne Germond Performance Collage (aka RTG Dance).