Bio
Sydney Donovan (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based performer, choreographer, educator, and mystic whose work bridges contemporary performance, ritual, and embodied healing. She received her BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in 2019. Following graduation, Donovan continued her relationship with UArts as rehearsal director for Bobbi Jene Smith, Annie Rigney, and Paul Matteson. She later returned as a guest choreographer, premiering her work Thy Spirit like Thy Flesh(2023).
As a freelance performer, Donovan is a consistent dancer with Opera Philadelphia. Recently, performing the role of the Coyote in The Listeners (2024), choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, self-choreographed marble sculpture in Il Viaggio a Reims (2025), and goddess in Semele (2019) choreographed by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano. Her additional performance credits include Matteson’s How Many Times (2020); Lilach Orenstein’s She Will Come on Her Own (2021), featured in Dance Magazine; Zoe Scofield’s Princess Grace Award–winning work The Other Shore (2021), as well as Scofield’s most recent work, Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil (2025) and EITCHTERLING’s recent collaboration with Anthony Roth Costanzo (2025).
Donovan has participated in the Fringe Festival for most of her career. In Philadelphia, performing David Gorden’s The Philadelphia Matter (2020), Hillary Pearson’s HAIR (2022) and Susan Marshall’s Rhythm Bath (2023). In Scotland, she performed Wally Carbonell’s Fruit of Her Lips (2024) and Britt Fishel’s False Tongues (2025) at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In addition to her performance career, Donovan’s choreographic work explores multiplicity, ritual, and transformation. In 2022, she was an Artist in Residence at MOtiVE Brooklyn, where she developed and performed her solo The Many in One are Mingled, guided by dramaturgical exchange with Laura Witsken. In 2024, she choreographed the evening-length trio TRINE, which premiered at The Decon PHL and launched her dance company, OmenThrice. From 2025-2026 the company held artistic residence at Philly PACK, developing and premiering in march Jack|Jill & the Hill (2026).
Donovan’s interdisciplinary practice extends into film and creative direction. In 2020 she appeared in Boaz Yakin’s movie Aviva choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith and from 2019–2022, she served as Movement Director for the creative film agency Wear Your Feelings ; as well as collaborated with Brandon Graf on the durational film The Poets Divination (2021). Since 2024, she has been a collaborator with BF & Artist.
An active educator, Donovan is a professor, guest choreographer, rehearsal director, and Assistant Ensemble Director at Drexel University. In 2025, she restaged and reworked Thy Flesh like Thy Spirit on the Drexel Dance Ensemble. In 2026, she premiered Portal to Self on the university’s Fresh Dance Ensemble. With a passion for mentorship she has taught with The University of Pennsylvania, Philly Dance Share, ANB in Bok, and Ballet X.
Since receiving her Reiki Practitioner Certification in 2020, Donovan has integrated energy work into her movement research, pedagogy, and choreographic process, fusing healing practices with performance as a holistic artistic methodology.
Artistic Statement
I am a vehicle for movement, conjurer of experience and conduit of poetry. Whether I am creating or performing, I embrace the influences of past lives, the many personas inside. My body is deeply aware of who it was, who it is and what it is becoming. The shifts my body makes between lives is where my movement becomes apparent. The dark, whimsical tone of my work is attributed to my interest in the relationship between the conscious and subconscious mind. I focus on clear intention and precision in order to energetically charge my ideas into reality. The essence of my work is questioning the existence of the soul and life beyond our logical comprehension. I answer macro questions by morphing them into micro gestures, guttural spasms from the body. The artistic tool of magical realism and the way it thins the veil between the intangible and physical reality can be felt in both the product of my work and its process. Through spiritual practices and durational improvisation, I strive to channel the wisdom of many lifetimes. My play with seduction allows me the freedom to dance in the juxtaposition of light and dark imagery. Utilizing curvaceous caressing, sliding, and flirtatious movements, as well as smacking, dropping, falling, and vigorous aggression, my hope is for the viewer to be captivated by the dynamic shifts in tone and texture. My work is ritualistically embedded with hidden codes, adding to the mystery and lore I seek. I honor my everyday worship of movement as a ritual of craft, whether it be teaching dance, choreographing dance or dancing myself, it is my moral code. This is what feeds my soul. This is how I exist. Letting my imagination run so far that dance itself is materialized in the chase.
