UC Davis Alumna Lauren Godla has been chosen by Redwood Parks Conservancy, California State Parks and the National Park Service as a Redwood National and State Parks Spring 2024 Artist-in-Residence.  

A dance artist, director and educator based out of Gasquet, Calif., Godla will spend one month creating artworks surrounded and inspired by the incredible landscapes of Redwood National and State Parks. Her work aims to inspire connections, honor the body as part of our living planet, and explore our inner and outer wilderness. 

The National Park Service, California State Parks and Redwood Parks Conservancy coordinates and delivers the parks’ Artist-in-Residence program, which provides an opportunity for eligible artists to spend up to four weeks at Redwood National and State Parks to pursue their art form while surrounded by the inspiring landscape of the parks.  

In addition to being an Artist-in-Residence with the parks beginning in April, this spring Godla is working on a dance film to celebrate the Klamath River renewal process. That project is being funded through the California Creative Corps. She has also recently been sharing her love for dance and yoga with youth from the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and the Yurok Tribe. 

Later this summer, Godla will present Breathing Bridges 2.4, a site-specific production along the free-flowing waters of the Smith River — the last undammed river in the state of California. It is scheduled for Labor Day weekend. 

Godla has co-directed and performed for FloorPlay Dance Comedy; choreographed award-winning productions for Theater Bay Area; and toured and performed nationally with BANDALOOP, a vertical dance company that performs on the sides of buildings and cliffs. In 2021 she founded DiRT & Glitter, an environmental art organization that produces site-specific productions in wild places. 

She has directed multiple site-specific performances along the Wild and Scenic Smith River, turning canyon walls into stages and audience members into paddlers. Her dance film “Drop” was included in the 2021 San Francisco Exhibition Showcase “Three Turns,” projected onto the historic SFAI tower and inducted into the institution’s 150-year-old archive. The following year, her dance film “Two Suns” was selected to be a part of the San Francisco Dance Film Festival at the Brava Theatre in the Mission District.  

Godla received her bachelor’s degree in exercise biology from UC Davis in 2012. She minored in theatre and dance. 

For more information about her work or to sign-up for ticket alerts, visit laurengodla.com, or follow her on Instagram @laurengodla and @dirtandglitterco.