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

Early life and education

Squire was born in

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 United State ...

and grew up between

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. She attended North Springs Charter High School of Arts and Sciences in

Sandy Springs, Georgia Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and a suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's 7th most populous city. It is the site of several corporate headquar ...

, where she trained in ballet, modern, jazz, and African dance. She graduated from

Harold Washington College Harold Washington College is a community college, part of the City Colleges of Chicago system of the City of Chicago, in Illinois, United States. It is located in the downtown "Loop" area of the city, near the series of parks along the lakefro ...

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, Links Hall, Victoria Bradford,

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

, DePaul Art Museum, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, the

University of Illinois Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary ...

, Bubba Carr, 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, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

. Through the Goethe-Institut, she attended the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival. 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 The Montalvo Arts Center is a non-profit center for the arts in Saratoga, California, United States. Open to the public, Montalvo comprises a cultural and arts center, a park, hiking trails and the historic Villa Montalvo, an Italian Mediterran ...

. 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 choreographers American women choreographers American transgender artists American LGBTQ dancers African-American female dancers Dancers from Illinois LGBTQ choreographers African-American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from Illinois People from Naperville, Illinois Transgender dancers Transgender women entertainers Transgender women artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)