(They/Them)
Taja Will is a non-binary, chronically ill, queer, Latinx (Chilean) adoptee. They are a performer, choreographer, somatic therapist, consultant, and Healing Justice practitioner based in Mni Sota Makoce, on the ancestral lands of the Dakota and Anishinaabe. Taja’s approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text and vocals in contemporary performance. Their aesthetic is one of spontaneity, bold choice making, sonic and kinetic partnership, and the ability to move in relationship to risk and intimacy. Will’s artistic work explores visceral connections to current socio-cultural realities through a blend of ritual, dense multi-layered worldbuilding, and everyday magic.

Taja initiates solo projects and teaching ventures and is a recent recipient of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, in the dance field, awarded in 2021. Their work has been presented throughout the Twin Cities and across the United States. Including local performances at the Walker Art Center Choreographer’s Evening, the Red Eye Theater’s New Works 4 Weeks, the Radical Recess series, Right Here Showcase, and the Candy Box Dance Festival. They were the recipient of a 2018-’19 McKnight Choreography Fellowship, administered by the Cowles Center and funded by The McKnight Foundation. Will has recently received support from the National Association of Latinx Arts & Culture, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.

TAJA WILL ENSEMBLE - a contemporary dance collective In 2015 Will instigated the Taja Will Ensemble, a project-based, contemporary performance-making collective of artists. The culture of this ensemble exists as a collective of artists working with modular hierarchies, collaborative authorship, and cultural equity practices in the artist workplace.

TWE enthusiastically adopted the We Have Voice code of conduct in 2018, and even through shifting collaborators and new projects, we find a foundation in space and abundance listening for each other's access needs; physical, emotional, and spiritual. TWE has produced works such as Gospels of Oblivion: To the End, Blood Language the performance and digital archive, and dance film LÍNEAS de SANGRE. Amongst these performance we've had several iterations, excerpted performance in collaboration with touring ventures and partnerships with The National Center of Choreography Akron, New Movement Collaborative (Boston), the Lion's Jaw Festival (Boston), The Walker Art Center, Candy Box Dance Festival, the Cowles Center, the McKnight Foundation and more. TWE is currently working on a new performance, Dearest Liberator, DISASTER! DISASTER! DISASTER! with ongoing primary collaborators Marisol Herling and Marggie Ogas. In 2021 TWE contracted over 15 independent artists, majority QT + BIPOC for our project LÍNEAS de SANGRE and aims to continue to work in community centering QT + BIPOC, and diaspora artist voices.