Eric Handman is choreographer and an Associate Professor at the University of Utah’s School of Dance. He holds an MFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and a BA in English from Skidmore College. He was a member of New York Theatre Ballet and then performed in various New York City–based contemporary dance companies such as Doug Varone and Dancers, Nicholas Leichter Dance and Joy Kellman and Company. He has worked with choreographers such as: Wendy Perron, David Dorfman, Lisa Race, Stephen Koester, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Koosilja Hwang and many others.

His choreography has been commissioned by various companies and Universities across the United States and is a winner of the Northwest Dance Project’s 2014 International Choreographic Competition. He is a Fulbright Specialist and a recipient of the University of Utah College of Fine Arts Faculty Excellence Award for Creative Research. His research into “choreographic thinking” has included collaborations with dancers, game designers, autism researchers and mechanical engineers. His investigations include choreography for the live stage, crafting improvisational and choreographic experiences in virtual reality, as well as the creative potential of unmanned aerial vehicles and the interplay of live dancers with drones.

Handman has served on the board of directors for the Congress on Research in Dance, the American College Dance Association and the Executive Committee of the Entrepreneurial Faculty Scholars at the University of Utah. He is currently on the board of directors for SALT Contemporary Dance and an editor for Ground Works the online research publishing platform for a2ru, the Alliance for Arts in Research Universities.