Ashley McQueen is a New York City-based performer, choreographer, and teaching artist. She holds a BFA in Dance from Webster University and an MFA in Dance from Hollins University. Hailed as “a dancer with the grace of a ballerina, the groundedness of an Isadora acolyte, and the impetuous musicality of someone who dances because she must” (Oberon’s Grove), McQueen has worked with choreographers such as Amanda Selwyn, Shawn T. Bible, Paris Wilcox, Maurya Kerr, Jennifer Medina, Christine Knoblauch-O’Neal, Jennifer Huffman-Olivas, Omar Olivas, James Robey, Uri Sands, and Michael Uthoff; and performed as a company member with ShawnBibleDanceCo, Common Thread Contemporary Dance, and Arova Contemporary Ballet. Her choreography has been commissioned by organizations such as Peridance Youth Ensemble, Hamilton College, Minnesota Ballet, Big Muddy Dance Company, Arova Contemporary Ballet, Alabama Dance Theatre, and Southern Danceworks; and presented at festivals such as Dance St. Louis Spring to Dance, Midwest RADFest, NYC Transit Museum, Westfest: All Over Westbeth, and American College Dance Festival. She previously taught as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Manhattanville College, and choreographed in residency with Hamilton College and Webster University. She is the Founder/Artistic Director of Smashworks Dance, a New York-based nonprofit dance organization, whose collaboration credits include writing the movement activities for Rebel Girls Productions’ chapter book, “Alicia Alonso Takes The Stage,” and exploring dance-clown fusion at the Theaterlab Hotel New Work residency, in collaboration with Hope Salas and Justin Cimino.