ABOUT
Lynn Tofil (she/her) is a dance artist, Pilates instructor, writer, and producer. She values art with an allegiance to truth, and has dedicated herself to the perpetual cycle of unknowing and discovery as an artist. Through the body and through words, she conquers fears, deepens compassion, critically analyzes, and celebrates the human existence.
With her home roots in Southeast Michigan, Lynn received her degree in Dance from Wayne State University in 2014. Post graduation, she integrated into the Seattle dance scene through performance, choreography, and writing for local dance publication, SeattleDances. She has performed in over a dozen professional works, produced her own work and workshops, and written over 20 articles covering the dance scene in Seattle. She's worked with artists such as Rainbow Fletcher, Dylan Ward, Wade Madsen, and Pat Graney. She was a 2018 Artist Trust GAP Grant recipient for her work Things That Need To Be Done (2019), and both receiving funding and producing the work were her proudest moments as an artist so far.
Lynn is a fully certified Pilates instructor, and has a wide range of teaching experience in both Seattle and Michigan. She credits Pilates for her ability to remain dancing well past her college years, both for how it keeps her body strong, and how teaching allows her to support herself while still pursuing making art.
Another methodology Lynn finds fascinating is Countertechnique, and has been practicing it since 2017. In 2019, Lynn co-produced a Countertechnique workshop, lead by teacher Charles Slender-White, at Velocity Dance Center.
Now located in Michigan as a freelance artist and instructor, Lynn is always learning what it means to operate and express within a local community as well as in the dance world at large. She continues to teach Pilates both virtually and in person. Her future ambitions include pursuing higher education in dance, continuing education in Pilates, writing more, choreographing more, and producing more.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The creative process is where I find myself home. It's where I am most known, to myself and to others. It is my gateway to authenticity without fear. The challenge of artistic vulnerability is the challenge I choose to endure for the rest of my life. In dancing and dance making, I find vigor, curiosity, play, how I am exactly like everyone else, and how I am vastly different. I value the polarities and friction that is inevitable in seeking truth. I am interested in creating worlds where safety and exploration coexist, worlds where justice is at the forefront. Some themes that are present in my work are the discomfort of stillness, how repetition evolves movement, and the duality of story and abstraction.