Nancy Hughes

Nancy Hughes is a choreographer, performer, educator, and community dance organizer based in Buffalo, New York. Her movement practice is rooted in modern dance, somatics, contact improvisation, and interdisciplinary performance, with work created for the stage, theater, galleries, museums, and site-specific environments. Her choreography has been presented across the United States and commissioned by organizations including the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and the University at Buffalo. She has received support from NYS DanceForce and the New York State Council on the Arts, and her work includes choreography for plays, musicals, community-based performance projects, and collaborations with artists across disciplines.

Nancy is also the founder of Center Dance in Buffalo, an initiative dedicated to strengthening the regional dance community through regular classes, workshops, and shared learning opportunities. Through Center Dance and her broader organizing work, she has helped bring together dancers and teachers from across Western New York, offering classes in modern dance, hip hop, Bhangra, salsa, contact improvisation, Bollywood, ballet, Dunham, and other movement practices. Her work reflects a deep commitment to building infrastructure for dance in Buffalo, creating spaces where artists from different backgrounds and disciplines can train, collaborate, and connect.

In 2024, Nancy co-founded TwinHead Dance with Michaela “M” Neild, furthering her commitment to contemporary dance-making and artist-led performance in Western New York. She has also coordinated the Global Underscore for eight years, co-founded the Buffalo Contact Improvisation Jam, and teaches at Lisa Taylor Academy of Ballet and Alfred University. Across her creative and organizing work, Nancy continues to champion dance as a collaborative, community-centered practice that expands how artists and audiences move, gather, and share space.