American dancer, choreographer, singer and teacher, he founded the company I.D.A. in 1983. His unique way of fabricating unidentified performance objects that navigate the borders of dance, theatre, music and performance, has become his signature. Composed using a process of stratification that he calls the dramaturgy of complex images, various ambivalent threads are offered to the audience, encouraging them to create their own associations. He teaches and practises real time composition, where dance is composed in the act. In 2008, he received the SACD Choreography prize for his work. Fascinated by the friction between high and low culture, his shows are inspired by music-hall, burlesque, musical comedy and the ambivalence of gender. He sings and dances with composer Sarah Murcia, collaborates with Portuguese choreographer Mariana Tengner Barros. In 2018 he created a solo, STAYING ALIVE, and since 2016 he has worked with Meg Stuart and Gilles Toutevoix in improvised performances and a book called ONE SHOT DIALOGUES about Real time composition, to be published in 2022.

http://www.idamarktompkins.com/?q=en/marktompkins