Bio
Tamara Ober is a Minneapolis based dancer, choreographer, and multidisciplinary creator. She’s a graduate of the University of MN with a BFA in Dance and BA in Sociology. She was a company member at Zenon Dance Company from 2002-2017 where she worked with over 45 world-renowned choreographers and toured to New York, St. Petersburg, Budapest, France and Cuba. Tamara is the recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Dancers 2013.
Ober created 2 critically acclaimed multidisciplinary solo shows integrating dance, theater, and film.
“Pipa” toured across the US, Canada, and to Budapest, receiving Montreal Fringe’s ‘first-runner-up Best English Language Production’ Centaur Award (’09), City Pages Best Artist (’09), a Sage Award for Outstanding Performer (’10), Metro Magazine’s ‘Keeper Award’ (’11). It was produced by Seattle Performance Festival (’10), and Red Eye Theater (’10).
Her second solo show, “Sin Eater,” toured to Canada and MN, received 3 Sage Award Nominations for Performance, Performer, and Design (’12), and was produced by Red Eye Theater (’13).
Supported by the MacPhail Center for Music Artist Grant (’12), the Spotlight Series showcase, and Live Music for Dance MN grant from the American Composer’s Forum (’13), Ober, composer/musician Julie Johnson, and New York filmmaker D.J. Mendel created, “Standing on the Hollow”, which was presented at the MN Fringe Festival (’13). Tamara also performed a multimedia solo co-created with D.J. Mendel at the Soap Factory’s IMPETUS Festival (’13). Mendel choreographed her McKnight Fellowship for Dancers solo at the Northrop Auditorium (’14).
Ober received an MRAC Next Step Grant (’15) for a dance/film trio, “Of Something Human”, which was presented in the MN Fringe Festival, and Dream Acres Farm (’16). This work received a nomination for “Best Ensemble” Sage Award 2016, and been invited to be presented at festivals in the spring of 2017.
Tamara was a commissioned choreographer for a recipient of the McKnight Fellowship Dancer Award (’15), which premiered at the Cowles Center for Dance in September, 2016.
Tamara has consulted in the development of programs for the renovation of the Northrop Auditorium, ICLA’s new masters program in Austria, and a multidisciplinary program at the Perpich Center for Arts Education in connection with the Walker Art Center’s Out There Series. She’s performed lecture/demonstrations, speeches, and workshops for various local and national educational institutions and consulted for movement in plays and theater works.
