Biography
Photo by Shane Aurousseau
A photo of Christine in motion. It is in stark black and white. She is leaning back, her arms extended over the arm of a wheelchair. Another person’s arm crosses before her head. She is caucasian with choppy short hair. In this photo she is in her early 30’s. She dons a gentle smile with a soft focus in her eyes.
Photo by Jeff White:
A photo of Christine. She is fair-skinned and her skin has a pink hue. Her body is lean and she is dressed in a navy blue strapless dress. She is in her mid 20’s in this photo. Her hand is propped on a colorful wall she leans against, a half smirk on her face as she gazes directly at the camera. Her brown hair falls past her shoulders and she has a nose ring and arched eyebrows. Behind her a residential street shines green through the summer leaves.
Photo by Roberto Martinez:
Christine kneels on a wooden floor, one knee tucked under. Her elbow rests on her other knee and her head rests in her hand. Her eyes are downcast, pensive. She is thin, wearing a red dress with her long brown hair falling to her back. Her reflection shines on the polished floor and behind her a fireplace is stocked with wood, but not lit. The scene is cast with an orange tint.
Christine’s hands are clasped tight in front of her body, pulling her teal shirt into a knot. Her brows are knit and eyes downcast. She is tense and in motion. She wears a tank top and her long brown hair is in a ponytail at the base of her head. Behind her indeterminate images are out of focus against a white wall. A light shines on her far shoulder and chest, the rest of her shrouded in shadow.
Christine Hands is a teaching artist and independent scholar based in New York City. A full-time public teacher dual certified in Dance and Special Education, she also presents master classes to peoples with and without disabilities and assists with Dance for Parkinson’s classes through the Mark Morris Dance Center.
Initially from the western suburbs of Chicago, Christine received her BFA in dance with honors and her BA in English from the University of Iowa. She spent time working and teaching in London before dedicating eight years to Chicago: working as a teacher, dancer, choreographer, and producer. She earned her MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland where she was also a graduate teaching assistant. She earned her MS in Education from Hunter CUNY.
While in Iowa, Christine had the privilege of dancing for notable choreographers including David Dorfman, George de La Peña, Armando Duarte, Charlotte Adams, Vladimir Conde Reche, Rain Ross, and Suzanne Ryan. Christine was also a company member with Travelers Dance Company of Iowa City.
In 2007, Christine presented excerpts from “Tease” along with her paper “Masculine Men and the Search for Other Options: Masculinity Performance on the Western Stage” at the University of Iowa Craft Critique Culture Conference.
In Chicago, Christine freelanced for a number of companies including Matter Dance Company and Renegade Dance Architects (of Chicago). She has appeared in Dance Chicago and as a guest artist with Mordine and Company. She served as Associate Artistic Director of Core Project Chicago, producing performances in conjunction with local businesses as well as the Chicago Parks District.
At the University of Maryland Christine worked with notable choreographers including Monica Bill Barnes, Mamela Nyamza, Adriane Fang, and Orange Grove Dance Theater. While at the University of Maryland she began researching dance and disability, receiving a grant to travel to the UK for research. In the UK she connected with a number of companies working with dancers with and without disabilities including Far Flung Dance Theatre in Plymouth, AMICI Dance Theatre Company in London, Magpie Dance outside of London, and Indepen-dance in Glasgow.
Christine’s choreography has been presented at a number of local festivals in and around Chicago including Going Dutch, at Links Hall’s THAW, at Night Out in the Parks, and with Tiffany Lawson Dance, She has toured nationally to Living Arts in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has also been a frequent presenter in Elgin, Illinois where her work has been shown in Elgin Ties Dance Festival, Cracked Nuts holiday event, and "In Concert," a collaboration between musicians and dancers. Her choreography has toured to St. Louis (Missouri), Kansas City (Kansas), Boulder (Colorado), Elgin (Illinois), and Asheville (North Carolina) with Core Project Chicago's Fringe Festival production, "Anecdotal." In Baltimore her work was presented regularly through the University and also with The Collective, BIDA, and at the NextNOW Festival.
In 2013, Christine produced her first full-length dance work entitled "ICICLES" at the Chicago Fringe Festival. In 2016, Christine produced a full-length collaboration with visual artist John Mosher entitled "The Chromanauts." The collaboration was presented at Elgin's premiere art gallery, Side Street Studio Arts, and featured live dance art choreographed by Christine Hands surrounded by visual art, video, and sculpture by John Mosher. The collaboration was featured in the local paper and presented again in 2017 at Salisbury University in Maryland. In 2024, Christine was granted a week-long residency through Side Street Studio Arts’ Going Dutch Festival to create a brand new work.
In 2018 Christine presented three full-length performances at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Her MFA Thesis, “Hamlet” is a dance theater work which featured ASL interpretation, audio description, and a touch tour; multiple sensory opportunities were available to make the show more accessible. “Citizen Displaced” is a collaboration with composer Pablo Salazar and director David Flyr which featured 15 performers including 8 live musicians. “Tertiary Spaces” is an interactive performance even made in collaboration with three other choreographers.
Christine has presented her research at a number of national and local events including the ACDA Mid-Atlantic North Conference, Making Interventions Symposium at the University of Maryland, PCA/ACA in Washington D.C., The Dance Studies Association National Conference, and at Going Dutch in Elgin, IL. She has live streamed her research to an international audience. She has presented research on access and organizations at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, at Kinetics Dance Theater in Ellicott City, Maryland, and at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, Maryland. At the Clarice she created a social story, a resource for peoples with sensory processing disorders, which the organization adapted for their outreach programming. She has presented on dance education and disability in a workshop session for Baltimore County Public Schools in Owings Mills, Maryland.
In 2019, Christine moved to Brooklyn, New York where she worked as a dance teacher for three years at Success Academy’s Lafayette Middle School. In 2023 she accepted a position in the NYC Department of Education as a High School Special Education Teacher, instructing in a variety of different classroom environments while also managing a Dance Elective class. Teaching high school chemistry has been its own dance performance, and working with students with diverse needs in academic settings has expanded Christine’s understanding of the value of dance education for all.
Christine is a dedicated dance teacher, investing the majority of her energies to the education and growth of children from ages 2-infinity. She has taught as far abroad as England and has instructed all levels of dancer. She truly welcomes every curious student to investigate the art of dance.