Hana van der Kolk was Los Angeles-based (2005-2010) and New York-based (2001-2005) and currently works in the U.S. and Europe. Her choreographic projects combine elements of conceptual practice with the techniques of postmodern theater and choreography and take place in a wide range of sites, including the stage, studios and galleries, in writing, on film, and in outdoor, public spaces. Hana prioritizes devising methods for cultivating spontaneity and chance-occurrence within the predetermined aspects of her work. These techniques along with the highly collaborative nature of her projects serve her larger aims of questioning authorship, upsetting disciplinary boundaries, examining the role/definition of audience, and overturning the fixed nature of a given dance.

Hana is highly influenced by legendary post-modern choreographer Deborah Hay who imagines the body to be “not just the site where movement and shape are produced, but a threshold where energies shift, multiply, and become visible.” She learned and adapted Hay’s dances from 2000-2006. These adaptations as well as Hana’s own work have been presented throughout New York, New England, Europe, and Southern California.

Hana has collaborated with Layard Thompson, Chris Kuhl, Cassia Streb, Michael Parker, Mike Vargas, Eben Goff, Emily Mast, Adam Overton, Debra Bluth, Carolina San Juan, and Sara Juli, and with Robby Herbst on a reinterpretation of Alan Kaprow’s Household, the film of which was presented by MOCA/Outpost for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, with My Barbarian on projects for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s BCAM and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, with Phil Lord on a movement interpretation of the reproductive process of mushrooms for  a Machine Project event at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles,  and with Jesse Aron Green on Ärztliche Zimmergymnastik, a video installation shown at the New Wight Gallery in Los Angeles, The Tate Modern, London, and in the 2010 Whitney Biennial.

Hana has taught nationally and internationally in many schools, centers, public parks, and private backyards and homes. As a dancer/actor/singer/body she has performed in the work of Emily Mast, Rebecca Pappas, Adam Overton, Dan Froot/Dan Hurlin, My Barbarian, Cid Pearlman, Taisha Paggett, Jennifer Monson, Debra Bluth, Bread and Puppet Theater, and Marjorie Morgan. Hana is a recipient of grants from the UC Institute for Research in the Arts and The Puffin Foundation and holds an MFA in choreography from UCLA.