Artistic Director

Sophia Stoller

Choreographer, dance educator, and dance filmmaker — founding Artistic Director of Iris Company.

Sophia Stoller is a choreographer, dance educator, and dance filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sophia has presented choreography and screened films in festivals and venues in California, Washington, the UK, Buenos Aires, New York, Australia, Israel, and Bali. Notable venues include the Royal Opera House, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, SOMArts, REDCAT, the Fowler Museum, and Bootleg Theater.

Sophia is the founding Artistic Director of Iris Company, a diverse group of artists dedicated to creating socially relevant, thought-provoking and moving experiences through dance, immersive performance, and film. She often brings together artists of different mediums to create interdisciplinary work, believing deeply in the power of collaboration. Sophia recently directed Iris Company's The Still Point, a large-scale immersive dance-theater experience at SOMArts in San Francisco.

Sophia Stoller leading rehearsal at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House · photo: Peter Amodeo Gould

Grants, residencies & commissions

She has received numerous grants and residencies in support of her work, including the CASP Grant, PDG Space Grant, J.L. White Foundation Grant, HOTHOUSE Choreographic Residency, Cohan Collective Residency, Gabriella Foundation Teaching Artist Studio Residency, Bloo Lagoon Artist-in-Residence in Bali, and the CalArts-Earthfire Residency. Recent choreographic commissions include Whidbey Island Dance Theatre in Langley, WA and Yorke Dance Project in London, where her work toured as part of the company's 20th Anniversary Programme.

Teaching

As an educator, Sophia currently directs the upper school dance program at Crystal Springs Uplands School and teaches all levels of dance. Sophia has previously taught dance technique, composition, and film at Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, CalArts, California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley, Gabriella Charter School, The Gabriella Foundation's Everybody Dance program, YWCA Santa Monica/Westside, Scripps College (guest teacher), and CMDC. She holds an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts, a BA in World Arts and Cultures/Dance and a BA in Psychology from UCLA.

Film

She is an award-winning director of experimental dance shorts. Her films have screened in festivals across the US and internationally. Most recently, CANVAS, a film created in collaboration with Amodeo Creative and The Third Floor, won the Audience Choice Award at the 2023 Los Angeles Dance Film Festival and the 2024 Lights Dance Festival in Seattle, WA, and the Best Youth Dance Company Award at the 2024 Inspired Dance Festival in Australia. CANVAS was additionally selected for a StandardVision Award Honorable Mention and screened on a large facade outside LA Live in Downtown LA.

Sophia has been commissioned to choreograph a number of projects for the camera, including Malynda Hale's God and His Gun music video, the short narrative film You and the Moth, and Jarell Perry's music video, Relapse.

See the films
Portrait of Sophia Stoller
photo: Jane Bear