Lauren Grant, honored with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for her decades of outstanding performance with the Mark Morris Dance Group, appeared in nearly 80 of Morris’ works from 1996-2020. Some of her most well-known roles include Marie in The Hard Nut, the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, her featured role in “Eleven” from Mozart Dances, and her pairing with Morris in From Old Seville. Grant stages Morris’ dances for his company and university students, teaches on faculty at The School at the Mark Morris Dance Center, at Montclair State University, and as a guest teacher across the globe. Grant earned her M.F.A. in Dance from Montclair State University (where she was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda Honor Society) and her B.F.A. in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts. She is also a recipient of the American Association of University Women Career Development Grant, the Sono Osato Scholarship for Graduate Studies, and the Caroline Newhouse Grant—all in support of her scholarly pursuits. In addition to her experience as a performer and educator, Grant is a senior contributing writer for The Dance Enthusiast and her work has also been published in Dance Education in Practice, Ballet Review, Dance Magazine, and InfiniteBody. She joined MMDG’s Development Department in 2020.