Brock Clawson biography

Brock Clawson

At Writers Theatre: Company

Brock Clawson is an award-winning Chicago-based choreographer. He has worked with such prestigious companies as the Joffrey Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, and Giordano Dance Chicago. He is known for his athletic movement and emotionally sophisticated choreography. After a successful career as a dancer for various Chicago companies, Clawson’s choreographic career developed during his time as a dancer and as the Artistic Associate for Thodos Dance Chicago. Brock’s first work for Thodos Dance Chicago in 2005 marked the beginning of a series of four works over the next five years with this company and the establishment of Clawson as a distinguished choreographer. In recognition of these works, Clawson received the Dance Chicago 2005 Outstanding Choreography Award and the Cliff Dwellers Arts Organization's 2006 Choreographer of the Year Award. Clawson’s work for this company was called “daring and athletic” and “a real stunner” by the Chicago Sun-Times. His works Along the Way and Nine were selected to be performed by Thodos Dance Chicago as a part of Dance for Life Chicago in 2006 and 2008. Clawson continued to create works for various other companies, including Dance Kaleidoscope, Eisenhower Dance Ensemble, The Houston Metropolitan Dance Company and The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Clawson’s diverse choreographic style further developed with his creation of the world premiere Give and Take for Giordano Dance Chicago in 2009. Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times called this piece “a work of impressive polish, complexity and emotional sophistication." Giordano Dance Chicago selected Give and Take to represent their company at The Jazz Dance World Congress in 2009 and as a part of Dance for Life Chicago 2010. Clawson’s choreography was also featured in the Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary for Dance for Life Chicago. In 2012, Clawson made his choreographic debut with the Milwaukee Ballet who commissioned him to create Crossing Ashland, a one-act contemporary ballet. Milwaukee Magazine referred to this work as a “physically charged and thoroughly modern take on the power of desire, both expressed and repressed.” The Joffrey Ballet performed Crossing Ashland in its 2013-2014 season. In the winter of 2015, Brock choreographed The Who's Tommy at Paramount Theatre.

[Bio as of May 2016]