Nicole Clarke-Springer

Nicole Clarke-Springer began formal training under the guidance of Claudette Soltis (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Joliet Ballet Society) and the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre under Dace Diodonis. She received her B.S. in arts administration-dance from Butler University in Indianapolis, where she was honored as Butler Ballet’s Outstanding Performer. Shortly after graduating from Butler, Clarke-Springer found her dance home within the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater family—first as an apprentice and later as a company member. She briefly left the company in 2007 to serve as adjunct professor in Western Kentucky University’s Dance Department. While there, she was asked to join the Clifton Brown Dance Company, performing on its tour to Istanbul, Turkey. The same year, Clarke-Springer returned to the Deeply family as program director of its Summer Dance Intensive. During this time, she began deepening her choreographic voice, creating and later setting works including Nine, Dounia, and Femme for the main and second companies. In 2013, Clarke-Springer joined Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott as the newest member of the Deeply Rooted Artistic Team and was named Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s Emerging Choreographer for the program “Generations.” In August 2015, she traveled with Deeply Rooted to participate in JOMBA! Dance Festival hosted by Flatfoot Dance Company, where she set her ballet Until Lambs Become Lions on the host company. She teaches and choreographs throughout the country and has been on faculty as an adjunct professor at Chicago State University and Western Kentucky University and is currently on staff at Northwestern University. Crediting Deeply Rooted’s mission, Clarke-Springer works to create an environment where artists participate in a process that is not only spiritually affirming but requires open and honest dialogue that leads to self-reflection, constructive feedback, and accountability to the work required. She was appointed Artistic Director of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in September 2019.