Mark Morris
choreographer

Mark Morris has been praised as “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical.” (New York Times). In addition to creating over 150 works for the Mark Morris Dance Group, he conducts orchestras, directs opera, and choreographs for ballet companies worldwide.  Morris’s work is acclaimed for its ingenuity, musicality, wit, and humanity. Named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991, he has received eleven honorary doctorates and a multitude of awards, including the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award, the Benjamin Franklin Laureate Prize for Creativity, the Cal Performances Award of Distinction, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Gift of Music Award, and the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award. In 2015, Morris was inducted into the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. Morris’s memoir, Out Loud, co-written with Wesley Stace, was published in paperback by Penguin Press in October 2021.

His internationally-renowned Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) was formed in 1980. Live music and community engagement are vital components. The company has toured with its own musicians since 1996, and regularly collaborates with orchestras and opera companies around the world. MMDG’s film and television projects include Dido and Aeneas, The Hard Nut, Falling Down Stairs, the U.K.’s South Bank Show, and Live from Lincoln Center. In 2015, Morris’s signature work L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato premiered on PBS’s Great Performances.

For Peggy Baker Dance Projects: Mark gave Peggy Ten Suggestions as a gift, and Peggy later commissioned a duet, Beautiful Day, performed with Christopher House.

For more information visit markmorrisdancegroup.org