Pat Hall is an internationally acclaimed dancer/choreographer and teacher who has traveled to perform and teach on four continents. She is a recipient of an Artists Fellowship in choreography from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Exchange Arts and Artists in Progress Award in Arts Education.
As a choreographer, her style is most influenced by African, Caribbean, and contemporary American dance. Ms. Hall’s interest in ceremonial and ritual practices of indigenous peoples, most influences her choreographic work, and led her on research expeditions to Haiti; Benin and Nigeria in West Africa; Martinique and Jamaica.
In working with Charles and Ella Moore’s, Charles Moore Dance Theater, Charles Moore suggested she attend an audition for a Haitian dance company. That Haitian dance company was none other than Jean-Leòn Destiné. She began studying with Destinè at the New Dance Group Studios and became a principal dancer in his company, Destiné Afro-Haitian Dance Company . During this period, Pat began studying with Madame Lavinia Williams, a former Katherine Dunham principal dancer, who became a mentor and furthered her interests and studies of the beauty and richness of Haitian culture and dance. It is with Mr. Destiné’s company that she met the late great master drummers, Alphonse Cimber, Louis Celestin and Frisner Augustin. They saw in her a kindred spirit and connection to the rhythms and the dances and took her under their wings. She also studied and performed with Haitian dancers/choreographers, Serge St. Juste and Arnold Elie and with Frisner’s Augustin’s group, La Troupe Makandal.
Pat has appeared at such places as the Joyce Theater, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Dance Theater Workshop, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Jacob's Pillow, as well as numerous theaters around the world. Her reputation has won her invitations to participate in many festivals, including, Spoleto, Next Wave Festival, Colorado Dance Festival, and the Willisau Jazz Festival in Switzerland. She was also an Artist-in-Residence at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and Visiting Artist at the University of Singapore. Pat choreographed for and toured extensively as a guest artist with Urban Bush Women. She has also performed in Peru, Hungary, Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, England, and Senegal. Pat is a recipient of the Ethnic Dance Award from Dance Giant Steps, Inc., Attitude Magazine. Her work is noted in the books, Gestures of Genius by Rachel Vigier and The Healing Drum by Yaya Diallo and Mitchell Hall. Sought after as a teacher and lecturer, Pat has been an Artist-in-Residence at Cornell University and was a teaching artist for Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in the Education and Humanities Department, as well as a consultant for BAM’s DanceAfrica/Restoration project. She was the artistic director and one of the co-founders of a new center in Brooklyn, Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance, Pat was instrumental in the design, implementation, and development of the Center’s space, cultural programming, teaching staff and curriculum offerings. In 2012, she received the BAX Arts and Artists in Progress Award in Arts Education. The award honors artists, arts managers and arts educators, “who have revealed and transformed our creative world. By instigating and enduring change they have deepened the definition of their field and paved the way for others.” In 2015, she was one of the honorees for Barclays Center’s first Black History Month Calendar for impacting the lives of Brooklynites. In 2014, Pat received a certificate of appreciation from Peniel Guerrier & Kriye Bode for Outstanding and Dedicated Service to the Haitian Culture.
Pat developed a dance curriculum for students at the Bronx Jeffrey M. Rapport School for Career development for students with special needs and taught there for nine years. She currently works with other diverse populations in rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and with people who have Parkinson’s Disease through the Mark Morris Dance for PD program.
Pat Hall is an internationally acclaimed dancer/choreographer and teacher who has traveled to perform and teach on four continents. She is a recipient of an Artists Fellowship in choreography from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Exchange Arts and Artists in Progress Award in Arts Education.
As a choreographer, her style is most influenced by African, Caribbean, and contemporary American dance. Ms. Hall’s interest in ceremonial and ritual practices of indigenous peoples, most influences her choreographic work, and led her on research expeditions to Haiti; Benin and Nigeria in West Africa; Martinique and Jamaica.
In working with Charles and Ella Moore’s, Charles Moore Dance Theater, Charles Moore suggested she attend an audition for a Haitian dance company. That Haitian dance company was none other than Jean-Leòn Destiné. She began studying with Destinè at the New Dance Group Studios and became a principal dancer in his company, Destiné Afro-Haitian Dance Company . During this period, Pat began studying with Madame Lavinia Williams, a former Katherine Dunham principal dancer, who became a mentor and furthered her interests and studies of the beauty and richness of Haitian culture and dance. It is with Mr. Destiné’s company that she met the late great master drummers, Alphonse Cimber, Louis Celestin and Frisner Augustin. They saw in her a kindred spirit and connection to the rhythms and the dances and took her under their wings. She also studied and performed with Haitian dancers/choreographers, Serge St. Juste and Arnold Elie and with Frisner’s Augustin’s group, La Troupe Makandal.
Pat has appeared at such places as the Joyce Theater, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Dance Theater Workshop, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Jacob's Pillow, as well as numerous theaters around the world. Her reputation has won her invitations to participate in many festivals, including, Spoleto, Next Wave Festival, Colorado Dance Festival, and the Willisau Jazz Festival in Switzerland. She was also an Artist-in-Residence at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and Visiting Artist at the University of Singapore. Pat choreographed for and toured extensively as a guest artist with Urban Bush Women. She has also performed in Peru, Hungary, Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, England, and Senegal. Pat is a recipient of the Ethnic Dance Award from Dance Giant Steps, Inc., Attitude Magazine. Her work is noted in the books, Gestures of Genius by Rachel Vigier and The Healing Drum by Yaya Diallo and Mitchell Hall. Sought after as a teacher and lecturer, Pat has been an Artist-in-Residence at Cornell University and was a teaching artist for Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in the Education and Humanities Department, as well as a consultant for BAM’s DanceAfrica/Restoration project. She was the artistic director and one of the co-founders of a new center in Brooklyn, Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance, Pat was instrumental in the design, implementation, and development of the Center’s space, cultural programming, teaching staff and curriculum offerings. In 2012, she received the BAX Arts and Artists in Progress Award in Arts Education. The award honors artists, arts managers and arts educators, “who have revealed and transformed our creative world. By instigating and enduring change they have deepened the definition of their field and paved the way for others.” In 2015, she was one of the honorees for Barclays Center’s first Black History Month Calendar for impacting the lives of Brooklynites. In 2014, Pat received a certificate of appreciation from Peniel Guerrier & Kriye Bode for Outstanding and Dedicated Service to the Haitian Culture.
Pat developed a dance curriculum for students at the Bronx Jeffrey M. Rapport School for Career development for students with special needs and taught there for nine years. She currently works with other diverse populations in rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and with people who have Parkinson’s Disease through the Mark Morris Dance for PD program.
