About

Donald is a multi-disciplinary artist with a passion for storytelling. Shorter’s work is autobiographical and showcases narratives that bring awareness to the varying levels of social injustice that exist in the world. Themes of race, gender, sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression are at the forefront of their work. Choreographer, dancer, writer, director, singer, actor, filmmaker, professor, and activist are labels that are interchanged on a daily basis.

“I guess my work is asking the question, “Can this body be free?”

Donald is a former principal dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (2003-2007) and went on to re stage works for the company at Barnard College, The University of Idaho, and Towson University. They have toured in Broadway shows such as: La Cage Aux Folles, A Chorus Line, and HAIRSPRAY. Donald is the creator/writer/performer of their one-woman show GENDEROSITY, which uses drag transformation as a means to deconstruct gender in order to create conversations about gender nonconformity.

Donald holds an M.F.A. in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and was the recipient of a Dean's Fellowship. Their work has premiered at the Pompidou Center, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Wild Project, MOMA PS1 AllGold Space, Center for Performance Research, Judson Memorial Church, 92nd Street Y,  and Dixon Place, The Contemporary Museum of Houston, and The Criterion Channel.