CLARE BYRNE

DANCE EDUCATOR, RESEARCHER, CHOREOGRAPHER, MUSICIAN

DANCE EDUCATOR

A versatile and comprehensive teacher, Clare currently teaches Contemporary Technique, Improvisation, Dance History, and Social Issues in Dance at Emerson College and Sacred Heart University. She was Senior Lecturer in dance in the Department of Music & Dance at the University of Vermont from 2010-2018 before leaving to earn a second graduate degree at Yale's Institute of Sacred Music. She has taught in the dance programs at Muhlenberg College, Long Island University in Brooklyn, and Manhattanville College, and has been a guest artist at many other colleges and universities. Clare teaches all levels of contemporary dance, ballet, improvisation, composition, and original repertory; she choreographs and directs student concerts. In lecture/discussion, Clare teaches global perspectives in dance, dance appreciation, modern/contemporary dance culture & history.

RESEARCHER

Clare's recent research explores embodied decoloniality as practiced in the dance ministry of the Black Church. Her recent study, research, & thesis at Yale's Institute of Sacred Music marked the intersection of choreographed dance ministry and ecstatic improvisation in two African Methodist Episcopal churches. This research was selected for presentation at Yale's 2nd Annual Black Sacred Arts Conference: Ritual Transformations of Consciousness, in 2023; Clare continues to present this scholarship at conferences and in guest lectures.

CHOREOGRAPHER

Clare's current creative work brings together live music and choreography. Her full-evening dance projects have included the Poor Sister Clares Traveling Dancing Show, which explored spirituality and sacrament; Rounds: The First Last Dance, The Last First Dance; and the online improvisation blog Weekly Rites. Pilgrimage, a duet with Ara Fitzgerald, and White Witch, explore sacred and cultural constructions of feminine images. To the Tree and Letter to the Church were site-specific works created and performed in Union Theological Seminary’s chapels. Kneelings I, II, and III were pose-poems in the simple gesture of kneeling on streets and parks of New York City and Vermont. Byrne created new choreography to the score of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring for the Burlington Chamber Orchestra.

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MUSIC + DANCE

Clare is a recording musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Her albums Seed and Celestials collected Vermont and New York City musicians in recording her original songs; she performs in NYC and New England at places like The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, and other venues with her band The Celestials, integrating dance and music performance. Her new single "The Shape of Things" debuts in December 2025.