Elena Demyanenio is a Russian/American dance artist, choreographer, improviser, maker of dance films, and educator who lives and works between New York City, Vermont, and Moscow, Russia. In addition to a BA in choreography from the Academy of Theatrical Arts (Moscow), an MFA at Bennington College, and eight years of full-time teaching at Bennington, she has extensive professional performance and choreographic experience in a multicultural context from 30 years of touring around the world. She was a member of Stephen Petronio Company from 2003–2008, then a member of Trisha Brown Dance Company from 2009–2012. She has made dances with Joseph Poulson, Dai Jen, Pavel Zustiak, Lindsey Dietz Marchant, Kota Yamasaki, and Jimena Paz. In 2009 she performed in Martha Clarke’s production of Garden of Earthly Delights at Minetta Lane Theater and in 2011 she was a guest artist in Continuous Replay with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.

Performing both nationally and internationally, she has been inventing “impossible” scores/interferences in order to un-censor the body as well as further explore the interconnectivity and recomposition of the postmodern human condition. 

“My deep commitment to remaining engaged with the constantly evolving field of dance informs and motivates all aspects of my professional work. My research inquiry into performance in general and pedagogical approaches in particular explores ways to activate the imagination and the decision-making process to unleash new pattern formations and modes of seeing.”

‘My work is centered on the body. When I refer to the body, I think of the sentience of it: that collection of cells that aggregate into tissues, tissues into organs, and organs into systems. In practice, I am conscious of other bodies that may surround me in space and even the "body" of the space itself. I am also aware of the body’s culture and history. Examining the synaptic meeting point of all this permits an interdependence of thought and feeling and increases my power to act. This is the way I orient myself in space. Embodiment, therefore, is not simply for the performance of action but is action itself: the excavation of knowledge through the body. The moving body, as it interprets, translates, and absorbs, is the lens through which I am learning to see and communicate. My goal is for the body to be an agent in making decisions. Ultimately, I seek a place where I stand for every step I make”. 

As a maker of dance films, Demyanenko was the recipient of a Dance Movies Commission by EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Troy, NY) and was nominated for the Dance on Camera Jury Prize for her work on kino-eye. Elena’s live performance works have been shown at many prestigious venues including Baryshnikov Art Center(New York), Danspace Project (New York), Roulette Intermedium (Brooklyn), EMPAC (Troy, NY), Garage (Moscow), Movement Research at Judson Church, Dance New Amsterdam, and Dixon Place, and at the Architecture of Movement Festival in Yaroslavl, Russia.

Demyanenko is currently developing a new work titled “statuesque dismount”.