In Conversation with Taryn Vander Hoop
Taryn Vander Hoop, a lifelong student of movement, is a dancer, choreographer, and international yoga and dance teacher known for her long unique sequences and encouraging spirit. She helps her students find joy in movement and freedom and ease in the body and mind. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.S. in Dance, English Literature, and Spanish and moved to NYC in hot pursuit of a career on the stage. Knowing her ultimate goal was to teach she made a 2-year pit-stop at NYU Tisch School of the Arts where she received an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography. At Tisch, Taryn met her partner-in-crime, Sumi Clements, and they co-founded Summation Dance, an all-female modern dance company, now based in NYC and LA. The company has performed at notable venues, such as Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), Jacob's Pillow, and Z-Space. For more on the company, check out summationdance.org Her own choreography has been shown at BAC, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, Fridman Gallery, Judson Memorial Church, Loyola Marymount University, Peridance, and commissioned by Rutgers University Summer Dance Series and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Additionally, she has been involved in projects with Gerald Casel Dance, Laura Peterson Choreography, and Sarah Holmes Danceworks, as well as performed the works of Andrea Miller/GALLIM, and Sydney Skybetter/skybetter & associates. Most recently, Taryn has been traveling the country with Summation’s latest endeavor, Highway HabitUS, a multi-phase artistic research project which studies how geography shapes ideology, both politically and culturally, and movement. Taryn received her 200-Hour yoga certification from Yoga Effects, and 300-Hour yoga certification from Laughing Lotus Yoga Center, Aerial Yoga Training from Om Factory, and is a Yoga for Cancer (ycC) certified teacher. Her recent accomplishments include leading 200-hour teaching trainings for Om Factory worldwide, teaching at the Korean National Yoga Conference, Union Square Summer Thursdays, and leading two yoga retreats to India with participants from all over the globe. Taryn also started the first Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training program at Rutgers University, which she co-teaches with Blair Ritchie. In addition, Taryn co-founded Lila Flow Yoga with Patricia Pinto where they host retreats and teacher trainings.