she/they
Arts Division
Continuing Lecturer
Faculty
Theater Arts
Theater Arts A Main Stage
C107
Thursday 1:15-2:30, and by appointment
Theater Arts Center
Cid Pearlman is a choreographer working in the field of visual art and contemporary performance. For many years Pearlman presented her work primarily in theaters, including ODC Theater, Joyce SoHo, Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Estonia), the Getty Center, Stockholm City Hall, Theatre Artaud and the Museum of Contemporary Art/San Diego. Her recent projects are more likely to take place outside, or in galleries and public art spaces, as a way to directly address issues of access, community, audience experience.
Pearlman received her MFA in Dance from UCLA, holds second degree blackbelt in Aikido, and currently teaches at UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College.
For over three decades Pearlman’s choreography has worked to subtly disrupt traditional notions of desire, gender and friendship. Inspired by the resilience, fragility, and resourcefulness of the human body, Pearlman makes dances about how we negotiate being together in a complex world. Among other honors she is the recipient of the 2021 Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship, a Fulbright Award from the US Department of State, and has been twice awarded a Djerassi Resident Artist Fellowship.
Pearlman is committed to working with contemporary composers, and past performances have featured collaborations with Joan Jeanrenaud, Jonathan Segel, Albert Mathias, Erling Wold, Haroon Tahir, Kaarel Kõivupuu and Johannes Ahun. In addition to creating dances for her company, Pearlman has choreographed for film, opera and theater.
Dance
Performance Studies
Dance Dramaturgy
Improvisation
Dance & Gender
Site Specific Performance
Dance Theory & History
Pearlman's choreography has received support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Eesti Kultuurkapital, CA$H, the Rainin Opportunity Fund at ODC Theater, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the San Francisco Art Commission, the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the American Composers Forum, the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County, Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava, Hiiumaa Dance Festival, Koidu Maja, and the Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship at the Community Foundation Santa Cruz.
2025
June 4-27, JJJJJerome at Juneteenth, London Nelson Community Center, Santa Cruz
2024
September 25-November 3, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
ROYGBIV Exhibition, Blue 24, single channel video installation
2023
September 18-25, Viimsi Artium, Estonia
(home)Body — an immersive dance/poetry/video/installation. European Premiere
three channel video installation
2022
January 21-March 20, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship Exhibition
(home)Body — an immersive dance/poetry/video/installation
three channel video installation
2020
November 24-28, Lisbon
InShadow–Lisbon Screendance Festival
Screening of "Moving Through Loneliness" (10 minute edit)
October 30-November 2, Kosovo
The Goddess on the Throne Film Festival
Screening of "Moving Through Loneliness" (10 minute edit)
October 14, Providence, Rhode Island
Motion State Dance Film Series
Screening of "Moving Through Loneliness" (10 minute edit)
September 10 - October 10, Mexico City
5th Mexico City Videodance Festival
Screening of "Moving Through Loneliness" (10 minute edit)
April 4, Barnard College, New York City
Moving Bodies - Moving Image Festival
Screening of "Moving Through Loneliness" (10 minute edit)
2019
April 5, 2019 - January 12, 2020, The Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz
Moving Through Loneliness: Stories of Seniors and Isolation
three channel video installation
To be added
