Kristin McArdle
BIO
Kristin McArdle is an accomplished artist whose contemporary dance performances incorporate environmental and cultural themes. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to study environmental history and Aboriginal studies in Australia, earning a masters degree from the University of Sydney. Her movement is influenced by Modern, Brazilian, Afro-Caribbean, West African, and Indigenous Australian dance forms.

In New York City, she has danced with Peter Pucci, Alan Good, Phillipa Kaye, and La Troupe Makandal. She formed Kristin McArdle Dance (KMD) in 2003. The company's mission is to reveal our interaction and connection the natural world. KMD partners with conservation organizations, museums, and local businesses to raise environmental awareness through the arts.

Recent collaborations involved the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrate Urban Birds Day NYC, where the dance Field Guide was commissioned and performed in Central Park. The Aqua Project, an evening of dance inspired by the ocean, was presented at The Joyce SoHo in 2007. For this evening, KMD also partnered with local retail store Patagonia and The Coastal Marine Resource Center of New York (CMRC), and The Blue Ocean Institute to incorporate sustainable seafood education outreach in NYC. In May 2009, KMD performed Ghostfishing for The National Marine Sanctuaries sponsored seminar: Marine Protected Areas As Muse: The Role of the Arts in Protecting Special Places, at the 2
nd International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC2) held at George Mason University. KMD performed at the 2009 BLUE Ocean Film Festival in Savannah, in recognition of Dr. Sylvia Earle's lifetime dedication to ocean exploration. In March 2010, KMD premiered Turtle Dreaming in Martinique for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network's annual meeting. In May 2011, KMD presented an excerpt of Aqua Borealis at The Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, in June at the BLUEMiND Summit held at the California Academy of Sciences, and in July 2012 at Harvard University as part of 'Living Light: The Arts and Science of Bioluminescence.' In October, Kristin recently performed Aqua Borealis as a solo at the Colorado Ocean Coalition's Making Waves in Boulder, Colorado: a weekend to raise awareness about ocean conservation in the mountain west.