Maria Bauman

Maria Bauman is a choreographer, multidisciplinary artist, and community organizer from Jacksonville, FL. She has been honored with two Bessie Awards (New York Dance and Performance Award named after Bessie Schomburg) for performance and for best production with an ensemble. Bauman has performed with renowned companies and artists including Urban Bush Women, Bill T. Jones and Saul Williams, Donna Uchizono, Skeleton Architecture, Merián Soto, Makini Poe and Jermone "Donte" Beacham among others. Bauman’s history with Urban Bush Women includes work as a dancer, director of education and community engagement, and associate artistic director.

Bauman founded MBDance in 2009. Her work brings movement into conversation with visual art, text, and song, centering stories and bodies of the Global Majority. She most recently premiered a new piece including film, text and dance, SLEEP UNDER YOUR BED IF YOU HAVE TO, at Triskelion Arts.

Bauman is currently 2024-26 Hearst Artist in Residence at Hunter College and she just finished her tenure as 2024-25 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artist-in-Residence. Other honors include the inaugural Jacki Apple Performance Art Grant through Franklin Furnace in 2024, a three-year unrestricted Mertz-Gilmore/NYFA Dancer Award, being the BAAD! Queer Art Exchange Artist and two Maggie Allessee National Choreographic Center residencies in addition to other national grants and residencies. A sought-after teacher and mentor, Bauman is grateful for regular opportunities to share her work with institutions such as Purchase Conservatory of Dance, The Ailey School, American Dance Festival, Bearnstow, the Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute and NYU Tisch.