Christa Oliver

MA, Dance Performance

Christa Oliver is an educator, activist, dancer, and choreographer born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. She is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Theater and Dance at Texas State University. Her research and performance work examines bearing witness through dance and using dance as a tool for healing in places where trauma has occurred. 

She has worked with Valerie Preston-Dunlop, Donald McKayle, Donald Byrd, Lula Washington, Christopher Huggins, Victor Quijada, Willi Dorner, Miguel Periera, Rafael Bonachela, Rennie Harris, Robin Lewis, Dominique Kelly, Gary Lambert, and Sonia Rafferty. Christa has danced professionally in Amsterdam, Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, and Mexico. She was the dance captain and soloist with the national tour of The Color Purple and was a dancer in the films Avatar and Crazy on the Outside. Christa began her undergraduate studies at the University of Akron and finished at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, where she received her Professional Diploma in Dance Studies, and her M.A. in Dance Performance. Christa also completed a course of study,  Migrations, at the Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University. 

She's looking forward to collaborating with like-minded artists and scholars at Citizen TALES.

Contact Christa at: cjo21@txstate.edu