Most Accessible Contemporary Dancer

Vanessa Voskuil

After receiving her BFA in dance and BA in theater from the University of Minnesota in 2001, contemporary dancer Vanessa Voskuil proceeded to perform and choreograph all over town—and she hasn’t stopped since. She co-founded the Minnesota Dance Film Festival in 2010, which included a short film in which her choreography captures the essence of various environments: a calm grassy meadow, a ravine, city streets. It’s no surprise that the challenging yet accessible dancer was awarded a 2015 McKnight Fellowship for choreography (her second time landing this specific grant). Up next, she’s touring in Japan and China and generating a body of solo work called three/3.