Meshi Chavez

Meshi Chavez is a dance maker, movement facilitator, and choreographer whose work spans over two decades. A third-generation American of Mexican and Spanish descent, Meshi’s artistic practice is deeply shaped by a diverse blend of cultural perspectives, which inform his approach to dance as a powerful medium for exploring the interconnectedness of all life. Holding an MFA from the University of the Arts, Meshi served as Artist In Residence at Middlebury College from 2021 to 2023, where he taught full-time and developed new works. His career has taken him across the globe, teaching, presenting, and performing nationally and internationally. As a co-founder of Momentum Conscious Movement, Meshi has been creating in-person and online adult movement education programs for over 20 years. Meshi’s practice is rooted in Butoh, a Japanese dance form that emerged in response to the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He has studied Butoh for two decades under the guidance of Denise Fujiwara and Natsu Nakajima, and is one of the few teachers of this work in North America. His approach to movement is one of relationality, fostering community and deepening engagement with the world through the cultivation of attention and curiosity. In collaboration with author and theologian Matthew Fox, Meshi teaches Movement as Meditation, recently offering an online course through The Shift Network. His choreography has been presented at venues such as The Joan Mitchell Foundation in New Orleans, and his teaching has influenced students at Schumacher College and Middlebury College, where he choreographed Dance Company Middlebury 2019-2020. Meshi’s work confronts colonialism, white supremacy, and the patriarchal designs inherited through Western dance methodologies, using dance as a medium to move alongside the unknown and embrace the power of creative expression.

https://meshichavez.com