DANCE MAGAZINE: What Dancers and Choreographers Need to Know About Performing Nude

Various International choreographers and dancers, including Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, discuss Nude performance.

By Lauren Wingenroth | DANCE Magazine

Onstage, the naked body can be powerful.

Nudity might convey intimacy between two performers, or become a plot point, or challenge expectations or norms about the body.

For Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, nudity is a way of getting to the heart of a character, of “stripping away the artifice and coming to the literal naked truth of a person,” she says.

Whatever its purpose, nudity occurs frequently in dance—meaning that many dancers will be faced with the choice of whether or not to perform nude. And that’s often a complex question, wrapped up in the intense physical and emotional vulnerability that can come with being naked onstage. From the decision-making process until the final curtain call, dancing nude requires thoughtfulness and care.