Rebekah Brown is originally from the small town of Ashland, OH now based in San Diego, CA. She started dancing at age seven at Opus II Dance Studio, and was a member of Ashland Regional Ballet for five years. After high school, she attended the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY), graduating summa cum laude in 2010 with her BFA in Dance Performance. She performed with the Zodiaque Studio Dance Ensemble and choreographed throughout her time there, and also took an interest in painting and lighting design. During her senior year, Rebekah pioneered a dance study abroad program between SUNY Buffalo and the University of Chichester and studied in England for five months; she also had the honor of performing with Chichester Collective while she was there.

She returned to academia at Mills College in Oakland, CA where she graduated in 2013 with her MFA in Choreography and received the E.L. Weigand Award for Innovation in Choreography. Rebekah was a member of the Mills Repertory Dance Company and performed the work of many graduate students at their thesis concerts as well as continuing to choreograph, teach, and explore both painting and lighting design more in depth. Her written thesis, entitled “Defining and Describing Relationships between Painting and Dance,” manifested in her physical thesis solo, where she spread canvas across the stage and used her feet and body as paint brushes, creating a unique and intricate piece of artwork. That artwork then became the backdrop for her group work, making it a multi-functional piece of art. Her passion for painting and visual art continues to be a strong component of her creative work.

Furthering her career on stage, Rebekah has performed with H2O Dance Company, Awaken Theater, Monica Bill Barnes & Co., GET DOWN/PICK UP Company, San Diego Dance Theater, Accipiter Dance, Sara K. Blodgett, Tyser Dance Project, Emerging Artist Collaborative, Scratch Dance, Natasha Carlitz Dance Company, Maligrad Contemporary Dance, Kristin Torok, Rachel Holdt, SUM-PHUSIS Performance Art, Heidelberg New Music Festival, and HT Chen and Dancers. She has trained with Shen Wei Dance Arts, AXIS Dance Company, HT Chen and Dancers, Ronald K. Brown, Urban Bush Women, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Ursula Payne, Jesse Zarritt, Mark Haim, Molissa Fenley, and Cunningham legend Holly Farmer.

For almost 20 years, Rebekah has been a dance teacher and choreographer, drawing inspiration from her training in ballet, modern, contemporary, and jazz. She has a prolific choreographic resume, as well as teaching and working in arts administration. She is on faculty at The Ballet Company as well as a guest teacher for other studios around San Diego. Rebekah is the lead choreographer for Awaken Theater, a local San Diego theater company that produces Broadway-level musicals at Christmas and Easter. In addition, she choreographed Awaken’s Christmas spectacular ‘Night of Christmas’ which is held annually at the prestigious Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in downtown San Diego.

As the founder of H2O Dance Company, she has produced and choreographed five evening-length performances since 2015, as well as many various projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Oakland, San Francisco, and Northeast Ohio. H2O’s mission is to create inspiring, excellent, accessible dance while providing a space where artists can be supported and create lasting relationships in community with other dancers. Her work is inspired and influenced by choreographers Shen Wei and Mark Morris, as well as artists Jackson Pollock, Tony Hollums, and her own visual creations.

I believe in breath; I believe in passionate execution of the art of dance.
I value the challenge of statements and questions.
I strive to push boundaries, mentally and physically.
I see a need for deep, intimate collaboration between disciplines in order to create powerful works that manifest themselves in viewer’s minds.
I have a vision for excellence, and love when it comes to life though dance.