Associate Professor of Dance. BFA, Butler University. MFA in Choreography, California Institute of the Arts.

André Megerdichian, CSCS, is a choreographer, performer, educator, and movement specialist whose work bridges the traditions of modern dance with contemporary interdisciplinary performance. Rooted in the deeply humanistic and highly physical lineage of modern dance, his creative practice explores the tensions, curiosities, and transformative possibilities of the human experience.

As a professional dancer, Megerdichian has performed with the Limón Dance Company (Guest Artist), Dance Kaleidoscope (where he danced for seven seasons), and artists and companies including Janis Brenner and Dancers, Mary Anthony Dance Theatre, Soundance Repertory Company, Reidel Dance Theatre, Daniel Charon, and Seán Curran.

Megerdichian is an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of South Carolina. He has also served on the faculties of the Duncan Centre Conservatory in Prague, Czech Republic, the Limón Institute in New York City, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. A sought-after guest artist, he regularly teaches master classes and workshops throughout the United States and internationally, including at the Beijing Dance Academy, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, the Institute of the Arts Barcelona, Pôle d'Enseignement Supérieur Musique/Danse de Bordeaux, France, and as a master teacher for the 3rd Annual Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition.

His choreography has been commissioned by universities, ballet companies, festivals, and arts organizations throughout the United States, including Dance Kaleidoscope, Cincinnati Ballet (CB II), South Carolina Ballet, Next Dance Company, Greenville Ballet, Anderson-Young Ballet, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Hollywood Ballet, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Daedalus Project. Internationally, he collaborated with Czech physical theatre director Petr Hudeček and performer Jennifer Deckert to create the evening-length duet Kiss Romeo Bang! Juliet, which premiered at the Alta Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic. He was also commissioned by Painted Lights Dance Project to create Moving Light, an evening-length work that premiered at the Stattkino Theatre in Salzburg, Austria.

With composer Fahad Siadat, Megerdichian co-founded The Resonance Collective, an interdisciplinary performance company creating works that explore themes of mystical transformation while integrating music, dance, poetry, and visual art. Their projects have been commissioned and presented by organizations including the New York International Fringe Festival, Xinghai Conservatory of Music Dance Ensemble, California Institute of the Arts, Third Angle Music, Monmouth University's Pollak Gallery, with performances throughout New York City, Los Angeles, and Portland. Their recent evening-length work, The Conference of the Birds, created with poet and translator Sholeh Wolpé and based on her acclaimed translation of Attar's eleventh-century Sufi masterpiece, was presented by The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, and will be performed at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, CA this January.

The Resonance Collective's work has received critical acclaim for its originality and theatrical power. OffBroadway.com praised their first evening-length production, Saharava: A Ritualized Dance-Opera, writing that "Megerdichian's precise and inventive dances evoke wonder, desire, and terror in us." Reviewing The Conference of the Birds, Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "elegantly staged and choreographed by André Megerdichian," while Jeff Slayton of the Los Angeles Dance Chronicle described it as "an extraordinary theater experience that bordered on being a spiritual journey."

Viewing the human body as a dynamic vehicle for creative expression, Megerdichian integrates artistic practice with movement science. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, a Functional Range Conditioning movement specialist (FRCms), and a certified yoga instructor.

Raised in Beirut, Lebanon; Athens, Greece; and Geneva, Switzerland, Megerdichian began dancing during his senior year at Fishburne Military School. He earned a BFA from Butler University and an MFA in Choreography from the California Institute of the Arts.