Renata Sheppard

Choreographing Perception Through Movement,

Film, and Kinetic Drawing

Renata Sheppard is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans choreography, film, large-scale kinetic drawing, and wearable sculpture. Working at the intersection of movement and visual art, she investigates the body as a site of perception, transformation, and embodied knowledge. Rooted in somatic practice, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary research, her work challenges conventional ideas of performance by inviting audiences beyond passive observation into experiences of presence, participation, and heightened awareness.

Her career has taken her across the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, with performances, exhibitions, and films presented at internationally recognized festivals, museums, and cultural institutions. Notable works include Perfect Broken, an evening-length collaboration with Balletto Teatro di Torino presented in Italy and New York, and the award-winning dance film Wayob, which received Best Performance at the Experimental Film & Music Video Festival. Her film Some Stories Are True That Never Happened was selected for leading international dance film festivals, while her recent large-scale kinetic drawings continue her exploration of movement by translating gesture into striking visual compositions.

Alongside her studio practice, Sheppard is the founder and Artistic Director of Films that Move, an international artist residency and film initiative dedicated to fostering collaboration between movement artists and filmmakers. She has held leadership roles as Creative Director of Balletto Teatro di Torino and Project Lead for COORPI in Italy, and served as Assistant Professor at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Her work as an educator has brought her to universities and festivals around the world, where she has lectured on dance, technology, film, and embodied practice.

A Fulbright Scholar to Italy and Luce Scholar to Taiwan, Sheppard has received numerous honors recognizing both her artistic innovation and creative leadership. Throughout her career, she has remained committed to expanding the possibilities of contemporary art, creating works that bridge performance and visual expression while exploring how movement shapes the ways we perceive, connect, and experience the world.