Bio

Parker Whitehead-Bust is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in New York City. Parker holds a BA in Dance and American Studies from Barnard College. During her time at Barnard, she performed works by Diego Tortelli, Norbert De La Cruz III, Dual Rivet, Roderick George, and Antonio Carmena and danced with the Columbia Repertory Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, and Colab Performing Arts Collective. Parker was selected to choreograph a new work for Columbia Ballet Collaborative in the spring of 2024 as a part of the Duo choreographer-composer project. She also choreographed works for CoLab Performing Arts Collective.

Parker has a strong passion for dance education and pedagogy. She has worked as a teaching artist at Brooklyn Ballet, Marquis Studios, EM Arts, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy, Park Hill Dance Academy, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, and as a teaching assistant at the Barnard College Toddler Center.

Raised in Denver, Colorado, Parker trained at Denver School of the Performing Arts and Colorado Ballet Academy. Parker's passions for dance and technical and artistic growth have led her to attend summer intensives at Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Orsolina 28, SALT Contemporary Dance, TAKE dance, b12, and Colorado Ballet.

Artist Statement

Parker believes deeply in the transformative power of dance to create connection, community, and social change. She is particularly interested in investigating how the meeting of dance and technology can enhance creativity, connection, and collaboration. Parker explored these curiosities in her senior thesis: Dancing With Technology: How Mixed-Reality Performances Build Relational Futures with Humans and Technology, for which she received distinction in both of her majors (Dance and American Studies), and the Departmental Honor Award for Dance.

Parker believes that, at its best, dance can be a liberatory practice that can lead to the creation of more aware and connected communities. Through her performance, choreographic, and educational work, she aims to use dance to create stronger and more equitable communities.