ZOE RAPPAPORT
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR | CHOREOGRAPHER | CREATIVE PRODUCER
A highly sought-after creative visionary, Zoe Rappaport has been working as a Movement Director/Choreographer, Creative Producer and Interdisciplinary Movement Artist for the last 20 years. Based in Los Angeles, New York & Mexico City, Zoe works in many worlds — performing and creating original work for stage & film while working commercially with some of the top names across many creative fields throughout the industry. Her versatile background in dance/choreography, visual arts, makeup and music has led her to seamlessly move from editorial, fashion and tv/film to music videos, live performance & site-specific immersive work.
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As a Movement Director/Choreographer, she has worked with global brands & artists including Estée Lauder, FLAUNT, LOVE Magazine, Schön Magazine,Vidal Sassoon, Coca Cola, Grammy-winning artists and pop culture icons. From movement directing Alexis Ren to The Fat Jewish to Danielle Lauder (Estée's great-granddaughter), Zoe's expressive movement style transcends genre, style & era —equipping her with the skills necessary to uncover the authentic, intrinsic movement within a diverse array of talent. ​​​​​
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Since 2010, Zoe has performed and/or shown her multidisciplinary work at venues such as The Museum of Contemporary Art LA, World of Dance NY, Webster Hall, Dance New Amsterdam, LaMama Experimental Theatre, The Bootleg Theater and The Hatch Shell. Her dance film work has been featured in Dance Magazine as well as screened internationally at film festivals in Los Angeles, New York and Istanbul. Mentored by acclaimed artists by the time she was 18 years old, Zoe has performed the works of world-renowned choreographers Adrienne Hawkins (Impulse Dance), Simone Forti, Jimmy Locust (Michael & Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul), Sarah Elgart/Arrogant Elbow, Billy Siegenfeld (Jump Rhythm Jazz Project), Kathryn Posin, and Mecca Vazie Andrews.​
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A collaborative interdisciplinary artist, Zoe was mentored by legendary makeup artist Linda Mason while working as a professional dancer/choreographer in New York — introducing Zoe to a whole new perspective & world in regards to the intersection of art, beauty, fashion and movement. Zoe has since contributed her artistic skills working on fashion shows for Hermés to award shows like The Latin Grammy's...from music videos for A$AP Rocky to popular television shows America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance.
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In 2014, Zoe had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on the legendary dance piece "HEARTBEAT" (toured internationally by Mikhail Baryshnikov in the '90s) — created by international sound artist Christopher Janney & choreographed by Sara Rudner. As part of a psychedelic rock concert at Gramercy Theater, Zoe had the privilege of interviewing legendary musicians Sheila E, Bill Laswell, Lynn Mabry, Trilok Gurtu, Dave Revels (The Persuasions), DJ Adam Gibbons, DJ Logik, Sara Rudner & Dancer Sunny Hitt. As a creative collaborator, Zoe has brought her unparalleled skill set to a number of innovative projects with prolific artists including mixed-media installation artist Laurie Shapiro, SYTYCYD's Comfort Fedoke, musical artist Londrelle, NYC-based performance poet Libby Mislan, Sweden-based producer Zaquan & more.
Since 2019, Zoe has served as the Creative Producer for Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival (D2D) — a dance film festival dedicated to the concept of democratizing dance so that it may be seen & experienced not just in studios and theaters, but in public space. Working in collaboration with Founder/Director Sarah Elgart, D2D has brought in some of the top industry professionals form the worlds of dance & film to judge including go-to Creative Movement Director Stephen Galloway, Mass MoCA Director Kristy Edmunds, legendary dancer Louise Lecavalier and many more.
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Raised by a late civil rights/anti-war activist and a pioneer of expressive arts therapies, Zoe grew up with the understanding that dance & the arts are deeply woven into the fabric of the fight for social justice. As a graduate of NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Zoe designed her degree in Community-Based Arts Education in order to both deepen & ground her understanding of the transformative power of the arts. A founding member of the Choreographers Guild, she is passionately committed to educating/mentoring the next generation of movement artists and has taught since she was 16 years old in a variety of settings - from after-school programs to summer camps, dance studios to prisons. She is currently on faculty at AMDA College of Performing Arts where she teaches Iconic Dance in Pop Culture, Kinetic Storytelling, Contemporary Partnering, Original Content Creationg and directs the seniors' Dance Reels. Zoe also collaborates regularly with Live Nation and House of Ninja to bring dance-centric events to venues throughout LA & beyond — in the spirit of bringing movement to more people... and elevating our field as a whole.
