Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance

Abigail Gerdes is a Senior at Indiana University studying Contemporary Dance and beginning her Master's in Recreational Therapy. She was born and raised in Wisconsin where she began her dance education. Abigail has been trained in a variety of styles, including tap, jazz, ballet, modern, contemporary, house, Bharatanatyam, African Diasporic, and hip hop. Recently, she has made appearances in Bodies in Bold, Sounding Bodies, SLIP Showcase, Earthward, Journeys of Joy, and New Moves, where she performed in multiple choreographic works. Since being at IU, Abigail has worked alongside a number of choreographers such as Elizabeth Shea, Erik Abbott-Main, Stafford C. Berry, Cameron McKinney, Katie Mayfield, Evelyn Wang, Robert Burden, and Dr. Prathiba Natesan Batley. Sophomore year, she co-choreographed a piece, “Unbind”, in the SLIP Showcase, and the following year, choreographed a piece in the Junior Performance Project, “Lights Off”. She enjoys choreographing and teaching, and always looks forward to working with students. Abigail is a Dance for Parkinson’s instructor and is working towards obtaining her Pilates Certification. She hopes to dance with a professional repertoire company post graduation as well as finding her own tract as a Recreational Therapist who focuses on impact and benefits of movement as a therapeutic practice.