Samantha Chapa is a Mexican American artist based in New York City. Originally from Laredo, Texas, Samantha began a mix of concert and commercial dance training at Laredo School of Contemporary Dance. She received her BFA in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied ballet, contemporary, Cunningham, composition, improvisation, Filming the Moving Body, Live Video Performance Art, and pedagogy. Her interest in dance + technology led her to NYU Tisch Shanghai’s Interactive Media Arts program where she earned her Master of Arts, to cultivate a career in dance + technology, choreography, and multimedia storytelling.

At NYU, she had the opportunity to perform works by Rena Butler, Shamel Pitts, and Austin Coats. Her fusion contemporary style reflects her balletic collegiate training, hip hop commercial training, and her Latinx roots.

As a choreographer, she depends on neon colors, texture, and rhythm as a way to communicate narratives to performers and viewers. Her choreographic works have been performed at Mark Morris Dance Center, Symphony Space NYC, Jack Crystal Theater, as well as around Texas. During off time from school Samantha began making connections in the music industry dancing for artists Rodney Chrome and Toni Reutter, as well as choreographing for Jesse Solomon.

For her graduate thesis she conducted research in the space of Latinx futurism and created an interactive dance and technology performance on Latinx stereotypes in US media. She asked, “How can I dissect racial issues in my artwork and make it approachable as opposed to intimidating, confrontational yet gentle?”

Samantha has recently been invited as a Creative Director and Choreographer to Experimental Film Virginia where she’ll create her next dance film as an artist in residence in July 2023. She will continue to cultivate a creative career through multidisciplinary outlets to translate her artistic vision and is excited to join Gibney in 2022 as DMI Associate.