Personal Impact & Inspiration

Bebe Miller’s work has impacted me greatly. As a choreographer, I am influenced by her idea of the “experience of the human condition.” She is interested in the use of space, dynamics, and detail. Miller has also been working with media, and text in her work to define the visual stage. Though I have not had the same resources she has to create multi-media performances, I am curious to work with them in future works.

“My work depends on the permission we’re granted to reveal the sub-context of our interactions, and I build new dances by finding strategies to unearth that subtext. Our bodies, focus, intention and awkward grace hold all the evidence we need.”

-Bebe Miller

If I were to invite her to a rehearsal of mine, I would be interested to see strategies that she uses to generate movement. I feel that she is greatly inspired by the people she works with, and the connections / relationships that can be built between movers. I am curious to see how she works through challenges or moments of unsureness. 

A HISTORY excerpt

The Big Picture

Once I began to choreograph I found that I could best carry out this investigation in the company of others so I formed Bebe Miller Company in 1985 to work more reflectively, and in real dialogue. I’ve always been interested in the space between people, how telling, how specific, and how dynamic it can be. Recently I’ve been investigating new aspects of performance that involve media, text and the visual stage picture as well as the live moment. Ultimately though, it’s the visible change in the body’s action, due to whatever source, that interests me. My work depends on the permission we’re granted to reveal the sub-context of our interactions, and I build new dances by finding strategies to unearth that subtext. Our bodies, focus, intention and awkward grace hold all the evidence we need.”

–Bebe Miller

“Miller is a tender visionary, a subtle social and political commentator.”

The Village Voice

Bebe Miller’s work is generally more focused on the experiments of the human condition with an underlying generator of her experience as a black woman living in New York. She is influenced by the people she is working with, and sets up a structure for her dancers to create inside of : this is how her company often generates choreography.

Professional Lineage

Bebe Miller began taking modern dance classes when she was 5 years old because her mother, who had arthritis, had to take exercise classes. When Miller was 13 years old, she decided to take ballet classes, but soon dropped because she felt that she didn’t fit in. In 1971, Miller graduated from Earldom College with a degree in Bachelor of the Arts. She decided to move back to New York where she took dance classes at Nikolais Studio. In 1975, she attended Ohio State University after receiving a fellowship from the school to earn her Master of Arts degree. After completing her master’s degree, she danced for Nina Weiner and Dancers company. Weiner was one of Miller’s greatest influences for her to realize that choreographing was a passion of hers. She continued with the company for six years and later launched her own dance company “Miller” in 1981. During the mid-1980s, Miller expanded her lens to working with various artists and forms of art including written text and visual artistry. Throughout the rest of her career, she continues to work with visual artists, written text, and technology. Miller rarely shares stories of her personal life; however, much of her work is rooted in her personal experiences.