Abby Marchesseault Zimmern

Biography

Abby is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher, currently an Assistant Adjunct Professor for the Department of Film, Television and Theatre. She began her professional career in New York City, where she danced with, toured with, and choreographed for a variety of contemporary dance companies, including Tina Croll + Company, ARIM Dance, Adams Company Dance, Artists By Any Other Name, ShadowDance Productions, and others. She was a long-standing member of The Connecticut Ballet, where she performed both solo and ensemble works by Michel Fokine, Anna Sokolow, Lila York, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and Aguibou Bougobali Sanou; and performed and served as dance captain for works by Joe Locarro, and Bob Fosse. In 2020, she was a cast member of Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham's From the Horse's Mouth, which received a New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie Award”) for Best Revival. Other credits include appearing in Julian Fellowes' film The Chaperone; performing beside Kenny Loggins; and serving as dance consultant for the Bach Cello Suites Festival at Carnegie Hall.

Abby’s choreographies have been commissioned and presented by galleries, museums, festivals, schools, and professional companies across the Midwest and New York City, as well as internationally in London, Sydney, Ubud (Indonesia) and Abuja (Nigeria). She has created full-length works for the Snite Museum of Art and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at Notre Dame, excerpts of which were performed at the National Gallery in London. Most recently, she has completed residencies at Villa Barr Art Park and the Tarkington Theater in Indianapolis, collaborating with photographers, visual artists, musicians, actors, and other dancers. When not dancing or making dances, she dabbles in researching the intersections of dance and religion, and has been a speaker at the Conference on Catholicism, Literature and Arts in the UK and the Church Life Africa Conference in Nigeria, sponsored by the Lilly Foundation.

Abby holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University, where she was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2015. Locally, she is also a faculty member of Southold Dance Theater, and a lead performer with CPR Dance: Inhale Movement.