Ian Spencer Bell is a dancer, a choreographer, a writer, and a teacher. The New York Times describes his work as “not dance and not poetry but some third medium.” The Village Voice calls his dancing “stealthy as a nocturnal feline.” He has performed at the 92nd Street Y, Boston Center for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, Poetry Foundation, and Queens Museum. In addition to his own work, he has danced historic solos by Merce Cunningham and Isadora Duncan. For more than a decade, he led an ensemble under the name Ian Spencer Bell Dance.
Bell’s writing has been published by Ballet Review, Dance Magazine, Movement Research, and The Yale Review. He has taught for American Ballet Theatre, New York City Center, and Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where he is a visiting artist. He is currently dancer in residence at Chesterwood, the studio and home of sculptor Daniel Chester French. Bell teaches at Nightingale-Bamford School and lives in New York City.
Photo by Stephanie Zollshan in the bedroom of artist Daniel Chester French, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, April 7, 2024