Lydia Zimmer
Founder, Choreographer and Artistic Director of ZIMMERDANS
Biography
Lydia Zimmer is a Halifax-based contemporary dance artist and the Artistic Director and founder of ZIMMERDANS. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from The Boston Conservatory (2011) and a diploma from Walnut Hill School for the Arts, where she trained in the Ballet Division.
Since returning to her home city of K'jipuktuk / Halifax, Lydia has built a substantial body of choreographic work – 14+ works created across a decade for commissioning organizations including Mocean Dance, Atlantic Ballet Theatre, Votive Dance, and Nostos Dance Collectives, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia. Landmark works include Mercurials (2022), which toured nationally via Mocean Dance to Dancing on the Edge (Vancouver), the Saint John Contemporary Dance Festival, and the Festival of New Dance (St. John's, NL); and The Devil's Intervals (2023), ZIMMERDANS' sold-out inaugural full-length production presented by Live Art Dance's Sir James Dunn Theatre.
Her residency history spans Iceland (NES Artist Residency, 2016), Bulgaria (Derida Dance Center, 2017 – selected from 111 international applicants), Canada (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2019 and 2021), and Ireland (Siolta Dance Residency, Galway, 2024). She is the recipient of the 2023 Arts Nova Scotia Emerging Artist Recognition Award.
Residencies & Awards
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Siolta Dance Residency — Galway, Ireland (2024)
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Dance Artist in Residence — Banff, AB (2021)
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Creative Gesture Collective Composition Lab — Banff, AB (2019)
NES Artist Residency — Skagaströnd, Iceland (2016)
Derida Dance Centre — Sofia, Bulgaria (2017) Selected from 111 international applicants
Choreographic Residency — Cambridge, MA (2013–2014) -
2023 Arts Nova Scotia Emerging Artist Recognition Award Presented by the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, November 2023
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Canada Council for the Arts — Project grants supporting The Devil's Intervals (2023), Embankment (2017), Bonne Nuit (2016)
Arts Nova Scotia — Multiple project grants -
Springboard Danse Montreal – Montreal, QC (2009–11)
Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet School – Winnipeg, MB (2003)
Canada's National Ballet School – Toronto, ON (2001–02)
Northwest Dance Project Launch 5 – Portland, OR (2011)
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago – Chicago, IL (2010)
The Movement Invention Project – New York, NY (2009)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre – New York, NY (2008)
Jacob's Pillow Contemporary Traditions – Becket, MA (2007)
North Carolina School of the Arts – Winston-Salem, NC (2006)
Boston Ballet – Boston, MA (2005)
Walnut Hill School of the Arts – Natick, MA (2004)