Joy Prendergast

Biography

Joy Prendergast is a performer, dance educator, and choreographer with a special interest in embodied and somatic movement practices. She attended the University of Utah as a Ballet Major, and in 2007, Joy relocated to San Francisco to continue her training at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan. Joy has had the privilege of studying and performing works by Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Robert Moses, and Christian Burns. In 2009, she joined Alex Ketley's company The Foundry. She has worked and performed for local Bay Area companies and choreographers such as Alyce Finwall Dance Theater, Project Thrust, Katie Faulkner, Amelia Rudolph, Robert Moses, Eric Kupers and Dandelion Dance Theater, and Woodminster Theater. In 2010, Joy became a founding member of Malinda LaVelle's Project Thrust. In 2011, she began creating her own choreography through the Garage Residency Program (RAW) and The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Joy's choreography has been performed at Z Space Theater, The Garage, SFCD,  presented in the Annual San Francisco Summer Dance Series, San Francisco Dance Tiny Film Festival, Performa (Tel Aviv), Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Machol Shalem, and HaMiffal Artist House (Jerusalem). She has taught at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, City Ballet School and other local San Francisco schools and academies. In 2014, Joy moved to Israel where she served as faculty at Bikuray Hi’aitim, and taught at The Maslool (professional training program), Shira Ganor Dance School, and The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. In 2018, Joy completed her Bachelor Degree in Dance, with an emphasis in choreography, from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. In recent years, she has relocated to her home state of Colorado, and currently teaches dance at Colorado State University and within the Colorado community.