Artistic Director
Claire Roberts began dancing at the age of 6 when her childhood best friend introduced her to the art she calls her "first real love." As a young performer, Claire engaged in her studio’s recitals and local performances. She also participated in her local theater’s many musical productions from the age of 6 until she graduated high school including a musical theater youth production group called “Stars in Our Eyes Productions.”
Claire danced all the way through high school and furthered her dance education in college. She graduated from Nashville's Belmont University in 2010 with a B.A. in Religious Studies and a minor in Dance, where she studied and performed with the Belmont Dance Company under the direction of Debbie Belue. In the dance program, she studied ballet, modern, tap, jazz, dance composition, kinesiology, and dance history. While a student at Belmont, she was also selected to be the Dance Representative on the Dean's Student Advisory Board.
In 2013, Claire began training and performing with Nashville's contemporary dance company Found Movement Group under the direction of Stacie Flood-Popp. During her time with Found Movement Group, she was a principal dancer in the performance of "In This House." Her other performances with Found include 3 galas-- “Embracing Spaces”, "4 Short Stories", "RAW Artists Showcase", "Gradient", and “For Them, 4 Us, four me’s, for u.” Her most recent choreographic projects include “Raw Artists Showcase: Fixate”; "The Honey", a heels dance performed at the first Nashville Choreographer's Night; and "My Name Is...", a dance short film about missing and exploited children which was videoed in Nashville, TN.
Claire was awarded Nexstar's 2016 Choreography Award for her contemporary piece "Imaginary Friends" and also received the Choreographer of the Year award for the same dance during the 2016 Masquerade National Dance Competition. "Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride", her comedic contemporary choreographic piece, was awarded "Most Clever Piece" at the 2017 Masquerade National Dance Competition. In the summer of 2017, Claire created a dance short film “My Name Is...” using high school dancers to shed light on missing children in Tennessee.
She is signed with Nashville's Fresh Talent Group and teaches at various studios in the Nashville surrounding area where she educates her students on the discipline of movement and creative expressivity. In June 2017, Claire participated in a weeklong immersion program in Salt Lake City, Utah, studying Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals under the instruction of Janice Meaden and Coleen Culley. After her last show with Found Movement Group in May 2018, Claire decided to put her dance career on hold due to a lower back injury that would later result in a surgical procedure. In her time off, she discovered the art of weaving tapestries and started her own small business called Nashty Threads where she creates a variety of handwoven items used for interior decorations. Claire currently dances with Found Movement Group and is greatly excited to be co-directing this season’s Found Youth Movement Ensemble alongside her mentor and friend Stacie Flood-Popp.
