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Matthew Farmer is currently the associate dean of the arts and the Dorothy Wiley DeLong Endowed Professor of the Dance at Hope College. He began working at 麻豆视频网站 in the fall of 2011 and has served as the former chair of the Department of Dance, the former founding director and co-artistic director of H2 Dance Co, and the former co-artistic director of IDT. Farmer has also served as the co-artistic director of R.G. Dance Productions, and the director of the dance program at Anderson University. He is the co-author of the book Introductory Modern Dance: A Teaching Manual, and singular author of the book Teaching Dance Improvisation: A Beginner鈥檚 Guide. He has been a presenter and contributor at the National Dance Education Organization鈥檚 annual conference, the Dance Symposium in New York City, the Youth Protection Association for Dance, and a contributing panelist at multiple national and international conferences. Matthew serves as a site visitor for the National Association of Schools of Dance and is a current peer-elected delegate for the NASD Commission on Accreditation. 

Areas of Expertise

Matthew specializes in teaching modern, contemporary, improvisation and jazz techniques. He also lectures on 20th and 21st century dance history in the United States, career preparation for dancers and leadership strategies in the performing arts. His teaching and faculty credits include Hope College, Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, Universidad Esp铆ritu Santo, University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Anderson University, Dancer鈥檚 Inc. National Conventions, Chicago National Association of Dance Maters, Southern Association of Dance Masters, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Interlochen Arts Academy, Cecchetti Council of America, Cecchetti International Classical Ballet, and a host of festivals and master classes nationally and internationally. 

His choreography spans the field of dance, and can be seen on college campuses, professional dance companies, international festivals, theaters companies, competitive dance teams and musical theater venues throughout the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, France and Ecuador.

Education

• M.F.A., dance performance and choreography, University of Michigan
• B.A., theatre with a minor in dance, Hope College, 2004

Honors, Grants and Awards

• International artist in residence and guest panelist,鈥淒ance of Today and Tomorrow,鈥� University Especiales Espirtus Santu, Guayaquil, Ecuador
• Guest faculty and choreographer, Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro International Congress 
• International artist in residence, Pantzingo International Artist Residency, Pantzingo Ecotourism Center/San Juan Nuevo, Michoacan, Mexico 
• Finalist in the Arlin G. Meyer Prize in Performing Arts sponsored by the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts

Published Work

• , Routledge, 2025
• Introductory Modern Dance: A Teaching Manual, with Jon Lehrer, Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, 2009 (a Chicago National Association of Dance Masters member-only publication)

Outside the College

During his career as a professional dancer, Farmer served as the associate director and company member of LehrerDance, and former company member of The Peter Sparling Dance Co. As a soloist and guest performer, his performance credits included The Stars of Ballet and Broadway, Dance Chicago, Chicago Dance Festival, Dance in the Desert Festival, Men Dance Michigan, Next Step Dance, Chicago Humanities Festival, The Rein Orange (Duesberg, Germany) The European Cultural Bid (Liverpool, UK), The Roof (Germany), The Summer Stage (Brugge, Belgium), and various other festivals. Farmer has also had the privilege of performing works by Avi Kaiser, Sergio Antonino, Merce Cunningham, Laura Dean, Matthew Thornton, Doug Varone and many more.