sam wentz is a dance and performance artist based in Los Angeles. Originally from North Dakota, he graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in 2006, completed his BFA in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2009, and received his MFA in Dance and Choreography as a Teaching Fellow at Bennington College in 2016.
He has performed with: Ajani Brannum, the Trisha Brown Dance Company (2009 – 2014), Wally Cardona + Jennifer Lacey, Jay Carlon, Gerald Casel, Dimitri Chamblas, the Merce Cunningham Trust, Katherine Helen Fisher, Levi Gonzalez, Jmy James Kidd, Mark Morris Dance Group, Abigail Levine, Annie B. Parson, Judith Sanchez Ruiz, Kensaku Shinohara, and Susan Sgorbati. In the Spring of 2019, he was one of 75 performers selected by the Merce Cunningham Trust to perform in “Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event”. He has worked with music artists including Chris Garneau, Helado Negro, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Rufus Wainwright.
sam regularly choreographs on students at CalArts and enjoys approaching choreography from a pedagogical perspective. His creative work outside of CalArts usually takes place in studio or gallery settings and is based in improvisational performance. His work has been presented at the Bennington Museum (VT), the Geffen Contemporary at MoCA, G-Son Studios, Human Resources, Pieter Performance Space, REDCAT, and The Tank NYC.
He has taught company class for the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s ROSAS, the Lyon Opera Ballet, and Katherine Helen Fisher/Safety Third Productions. As a teacher of Trisha Brown’s work, he assisted in the re-staging of “L’Amour au Théâtre” (2009) on the Trisha Brown Company. In the Winter of 2019, he and fellow alumni remounted Trisha Brown’s “Foray Forêt” (1990) and “Newark” (1987) on the Lyon Opera Ballet in Lyon, France.
Since 2013, he has been a returning, guest artist teacher at P.A.R.T.S. Brussels, Belgium. He has been a guest teacher at many colleges and universities including Bates College, University of Arizona - Tucson, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Washington, and Yale University. He joined the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance faculty in the Fall of 2018 as adjunct and became Regular Faculty in the Fall 2022.
