Eva Stone is a teaching artist, choreographer, and founder/producer of CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work, an annual contemporary dance festival. She received her BFA in Performance & Choreography from Arizona State University, and later earned an MA in Choreography & Choreological Studies from Trinity Laban in the UK. She’s created work for Spectrum Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet/Seattle Art Museum’s Sculptured Dance, Seattle International Dance Festival, Bellingham Repertory Dance, and collaboratively with Seattle Dance Project for Project Orpheus, among others. Eva’s work has been presented in New York, Los Angeles, London, Geneva, Montreal, and St. Petersburg.

In September 2018 Eva launched a nationally recognized choreography program, “New Voices: Choreography and Process for Young Women in Dance,” at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. New Voices students will present their work at NEXT STEP: OUTSIDE/IN on June 14; tickets go on sale April 1.

Most recently, Eva has been commissioned to create a main stage work for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2019/20 season. She is currently based in Seattle.

What is your greatest extravagance?

This will sound odd…but just lying in bed. Reading, watching Netflix, listening to music…simply NOT MOVING. I am constantly on the go (working no less than six days a week) and I find that when I am home, I never sit still. And if I am driving in my car (which I do way too much of), I’m thinking of movement material. So just to lay around in bed is seriously one of the most decadent things I do. I have to fight hard against the urges to get up and do something, and I don’t always win.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Creative intelligence. I love listening to (and learning from) women who think outside the expected framework and that can articulate how they see the world. There are so many great women who speak/create their point of view with such incredible insight and sensitivity: Hannah Gadsby, Crystal Pite, Pina Bausch, Maya Angelou, Virginia Woolf, Shawn Colvin, just for starters…

What is your current state of mind?

I am currently in a deep creative state as I prepare for my commissioned work for the PNB 2019/20 season. I’m constantly on high ‘artistic sensitivity’ alert. I have ideas for the piece I am creating (in collaboration with my lighting designer and costume designer, two women I deeply respect), but I am allowing the piece to come into focus as I move through my daily life. I’m listening to music, listening to podcasts, paying close attention to conversations with friends, and looking forward to a summer trip to Paris to bring even more visions forward. It’s a thrilling place to be!

Which living person do you most admire?

My daughter, Emma. This girl is a rock star and she amazes me every day with her wit, intelligence and her ability to cope when things get tough. She has had some disappointments in her life and I have watched her handle them with grace and strength. I have learned so much from her and I expect I will always continue to do so. She is warm, confident, personable, thoughtful, generous, supportive (she always makes me a cup of tea, whether I ask for one or not) and always looks you in the eyes and gives a firm hand shake. She is one of my biggest fans and I definitely am hers, as well.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

The who? Without a doubt, my husband Richard. We have been married for 26 years and there is no way I would be where I am without his incredible love and support. I could tell you the story of how we met, but it would take me an hour, so we will have to do that over coffee or a glass of wine some time. It’s a beautiful tale of the true power of love.

The what? Easy…dance. All things dance. The making, the teaching, the mentoring, the watching, the curating, the deconstructing, the discussions, the opinions, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I LOVE it all…with every bit of my heart.

Questions excerpted from The Proust Questionnaire.

Featured photo: The Stone Dance Collective performing in Semi-permanent at CHOP SHOP 2019. Choreography by Eva Stone. Photo © Rex Tranter.

Eva Stone headshot © Lindsay Thomas.