Dara Capley

Choreographer

Dara Nicole Capley is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based out of Boston, Massachusetts. She is originally from Florida, where she received early training with Gloria Gaither before moving on to train under Peter Stark and Ivonne Lemus at Next Generation Ballet at the Patel Conservatory. After her training, Dara found freelance work for a year with Brandon Ballet and The Sarasota Opera before dancing in Nashville Ballet’s second company for two years. Dara joined Festival Ballet Providence in 2015, under the direction of Mihailo Djuric. During her time with Festival Ballet Providence Dara performed works by Yury Yanowsky, Mary Ellen Beaudreau, Christopher Huggins, George Balanchine, José Limón, and many others. Dara also originated soloist roles for Viktor Plotnikov, Ty Parmenter, and Katherine Bickford.

Dara choreographed her first piece Vivisection for the Rhode Island Women’s Choreography Project in the spring of 2019 and received multiple choreographic commissions as a result. In the summer of 2020, Dara was chosen as one of Sarasota Contemporary Dance’s emerging choreographers, where she created The Noonwraith, a work she rehearsed and filmed entirely over Zoom. In the spring of 2021, Festival Ballet Providence’s School commissioned a piece from Dara to be used to compete in the ensemble category in the Boston regionals of Youth America Grand Prix. The piece, entitled The Yawn placed in the top twelve ensembles, and was invited to compete at YAGP finals. Also in 2021, Dara created a world premiere for Revolve Dance Project. This new work, titled Into Reality, premiered in the summer of 2021 and was accompanied by singer-songwriter Chrissy Stewart. Dara’s most recent work f..-.r.-.o---n -.t-i..e.r.-. premiered in Atlanta, GA in March 2022. The piece explored metaphor through the use of science fiction, as well as how emotion surfaces in the human body.

Dara is fascinated by all forms of human expression and seeks to make art that explores the simultaneous majesty and mundane of being human. Dara’s choreography has been presented by Rhode Island Women’s Choreography Project, The Waterfire Arts Organization, Sarasota Contemporary Dance, AS220 Virtual Gallery, The Dance Complex, and Dance Canvas. Currently, Dara works as a freelance dancer and choreographer for projects across theNew England area.