Biography

Amanda Laabs is a mover, artist, dance researcher, and art-maker. Laabs is a second-year Masters Fine Arts in Dance Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant at Texas Woman’s University (TWU). Laabs graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance and Choreography and a minor in Somatics. Laabs received a research fellowship at UWM under the mentorship of Professor Maria Gillespie, which developed into an evening-length work, Between Constructions of Desire. Laabs presented this research at UWM’s 11th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium alongside collaborators Annie Peterson and Katelyn Altmann. Laabs has presented choreographic works at Texas Woman's University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dance Council, Danceworks DanceLab: Get It Out There, the American College Dance Association (ACDA), and the Somatic Movement Arts Festival in California. Laabs has been reviewed in the L.A. Dance Chronicle and Shepherd Express. Laabs was a member of the Milwaukee Dance Theatre Network as an independent artist. She was a company member of HyperlocalMKE and Wild Space Dance Company and a guest artist with Warped Dance Company and Danceworks DanceLAB. 

Laabs performed works by Simone Ferro, Maria Gillespie, Dani Kuepper, Mair Culbreth, and guest artists Esther Baker-Tarpaga and Holly Johnston (Ledges and Bones). Laabs has performed at ACDA, MKE Fringe Fest, and the Wisconsin Dance Council. Laabs has performed multiple works in collaboration with Annie Peterson and Katelyn Altmann.

Laabs is currently the Education Head at Lake Shore Dance in Wisconsin and is also a senior faculty member. In addition, she has worked at DanceWorks as a dance teaching artist, East Side Pilates as a yoga and pilates instructor, and Ozaukee High School as a yoga Instructor. Laabs holds many certifications including Breathwork, Meditation and Mindfulness, Energy Psychology and Holistic Healing, Sports Massage, Pilates Teacher and Jumpboard, Anatomy and Physiology, QiGong, REIKI Master, RYT-200, and is one of the first practitioners of Responsive Bodywork, founded by Holly Johnston.