Lydia Zimmer is a Halifax-based choreographer and graduate of the Boston Conservatory (BFA 2011). Her early choreographic work began during and shortly after her professional training in the United States, where she presented the full-length work Bonne Nuit in New York in 2014 before later presenting the work in Halifax through Live Art Dance in 2016. After returning to Nova Scotia, Zimmer began developing a body of contemporary choreography through commissions, residencies, and collaborations with regional companies and presenters.
Her work has developed chronologically through a series of creations across Atlantic Canada. Early projects include Bonne Nuit (2016) presented by Live Art Dance, followed by Embankment (2017), commissioned by Votive Dance and remounted in 2021. She created Sonderlings for Nostos Collectives in 2018 and the solo Sonderling presented at the Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal in 2019. Zimmer continued to develop psychologically driven solo work with Extremophile, which premiered at the Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal in 2021 and more recently, Dance: Made in Canada. Her later works expanded into ensemble commissions, including Mercurials for Mocean Dance’s twentieth anniversary season in 2022 and Xenofauna, created for Atlantic Ballet Theatre’s ImpactFest in 2023.
In 2023 Zimmer formally launched ZIMMERDANS, presenting an excerpt of the full-length work The Devil’s Intervals at the Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal before the work premiered to sold-out audiences in Live Art Dance’s 2023/24 season in Halifax, including 13 dancers and designers from across Canada. The company now functions as a platform for Zimmer’s independent choreographic productions and interdisciplinary collaborations with professional artists.
Zimmer’s artistic practice has also been shaped by international research and professional development, including residencies in Iceland and Bulgaria and participation in creative programs at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her work has received support from both the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia, and in 2023 she received the Creative Nova Scotia Emerging Artist Recognition Award.
