Darling Au'saun Aya "Shear" Squire is an American dancer and choreographer.

Early life and education

Squire was born in Naperville, Illinois and grew up between Chicago and Atlanta. She attended

North Springs Charter High School of Arts and Sciences North Springs Charter High School (formerly called North Springs High School from 1963 to 2007) is a charter high school located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States. It is the only magnet school in the Fulton County School System that offer ...

in Sandy Springs, Georgia, where she trained in ballet, modern, jazz, and African dance. She graduated from Harold Washington College with a degree in liberal studies in 2013.

Career

Squire moved back to Chicago from Atlanta in 2011 and founded Suna Dance, a collaborative artist group. As a dancer and choreographer, Squire has worked with The Fly Honeys of the Inconvenience,

BodyCartography Project BodyCartography Project is a dance performance duo composed of Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad. Their work is influenced by their studies at the Body-Mind Center, where dance is taught based on a somatic movement approach. The pair have created o ...

, Links Hall, Victoria Bradford, School of the Art Institute of Chicago,

DePaul Art Museum Depaul, de Paul or DePaul may refer to: * De Paul (surname) * De Paul College, Eluru, in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India * DePaul University, in Chicago, Illinois, United States * DePaul College Prep, in Chicago, Illinois, United States * DePaul ...

, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago,

Bubba Carr In American usage, "Bubba" is a term of endearment mainly given to boys. Being formed from the word "brother", it often indicates that someone is a "little brother". Etymology and history The linguist Ian Hancock has described similarities betw ...

, Rhonda Henriksen, Salonathon, and Open TV Beta. In 2017, Squire was a recipient of the 3Arts Make a Wave grant. In 2019, she was nominated for the 3Arts Award. In 2019, she was a recipient of the Between Gestures scholarship from the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

. Through the Goethe-Institut, she attended the

ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival is a major contemporary dance festival held in Vienna, Austria each year. It gathers thousands of professional dancers, choreographers and teachers for a five-week program of performance, research proj ...

. Squire was also a recipient of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award for research and artist development in 2019. From July 9, 2022 to July 16, 2022, Squire was a guest performing artist in residence at the Montalvo Arts Center. In 2022, Squire starred in Hauke Berheide and Amy Stebbins' experimental short film "Windy City" at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Squire, Darling African-American choreographers American women choreographers American transgender artists American LGBT dancers African-American female dancers Dancers from Illinois LGBT choreographers LGBT African Americans LGBT people from Illinois People from Naperville, Illinois Transgender dancers Transgender women entertainers Transgender women artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)