Orlando Hunter (Dance 2009) Visits Perpich as a Guest Artist

Orlando Hunter (Dance 2009) visited Perpich Arts High School as a guest artist for Dance and Theater students in mid-September. Hunter spent several days working with the students. He taught movement from the African diaspora, concentrating on the storytelling aspects while teaching movement from the specific regions. Hunter incorporated reflective writing in his teaching and called it “writing the truth.”

He also presented at Perpich this summer for Minnesota dance educators, putting on two Dance/Talk, Talk/Dance sessions with a writing component.

Mary Harding, Dance Teacher and Dance Education Specialist, said, “It was amazing to have Orlando back in the dance studio. It felt like we came full circle. He studied here at Perpich and since then has danced at the U of MN, New York, and around the world. He gave back to the Minnesota teachers and our students with such generosity and spirit. I can’t wait till he comes back to town again!”

Orlando Hunter is a choreographer who researches, illustrates, and creates from an African-American male perspective. In his work he tackles issues resulting from a capitalistic imperialist patriarchal white supremacist system. Hunter grew up dancing hip-hop and graduated with a BFA in Dance from Univ. of Minnesota. His solo “Mutiny” was selected to represent the University of Minnesota at the 2011 ACDFA gala in Madison, Wisconsin. Orlando studied LGBT activism and history in Amsterdam and Berlin. He has performed with Christal Brown/INspirit Dance Company, Contempo Physical Dance, Forces of Nature, Makeda Thomas, Threads Dance Project, TU Dance, and Ananya Dance Theatre, an all-women company where he was the first male member and toured with them to Trinidad & Tobago and Zimbabwe. Hunter is a co-founder of the collective Brother(hood) Dance!