Deborah Jinza Thayer

Deborah Jinza Thayer is an American award-winning choreographer, dancer, and artistic director of Movement Architecture, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.

Thayer has created more than fifty original works. Her conceptual pieces take over entire spaces, transforming her performances into vividly illustrated “other worlds” to create dance theater that is both smart and architecturally sound.

In recognition of her dance creativity and outstanding design, Thayer received a 2010 Sage Award.

Deborah Jinza Thayer spent her first six years in Japan, relocated to New York City, and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University (1984), trained in dance in New York City, and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from George Mason University (1997). After receiving her master's degree, Thayer relocated to Minneapolis, where she manages a one on one movement training practice that incorporates the Global Somatics and Gyrotonic Expansion System.

Thayer has received numerous awards and honors, including a Sage Award for Outstanding Design, “Ode to Dolly” (2010), a Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Initiative Grant “to create a full-length work in a modular format that can be presented in its entirety or in parts to initiate a national touring experience (2009), a Music in Motion Award (2006), and a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Choreographers (2004). She has twice been a semi-finalist for France's Recontres Choregraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (Bagnolet), and was an invited Guest Choreographer for the 15th Annual Minnesota Dance Festival (2003).

Thayer has presented her choreography and original works around the United States, most notably in Minneapolis, New York City, and the Washington, D.C. metro area. Her work is frequently featured in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, sponsored by the Minnesota Dance Alliance, and is strongly influenced by Laban Barientief Funadamentals (Karen Studd at GMW); Butoh (Maureen Fleming in NY); Vocal Dance (Patricia Bardi in Amsterdam); Global Somatics and Body-Mind Centering Approach (Suzanne River in Minneapolis); the International School of Theater Anthropology (Eugenio Barba in Copenhagen); and various movement theater techniques.

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