Margaret Ogas is a dance artist working at the confluence of movement, storytelling, and experimental performance based in Los Angeles. Her choreography explores politicized identities and the depths of human emotion through a collage of dance, text, and sound.
Ogas spent the past decade living and dancing in the Twin Cities where her work has been presented by the Walker Art Center, Red Eye Theater, Candy Box Dance Festival, Minnesota International Dance Festival, Center for Performing Arts, Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, and others. She was a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and a 2021 Naked Stages Fellow at Pillsbury House + Theatre. Her choreographic projects have received grant support from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and the Jerome Foundation.
Margaret has been a core collaborator and performer with the Taja Will Ensemble since 2018. She has performed in works by Pramila Vasudevan, Morgan Thorson, José A. Luis, Laurie Van Wieren, Chris Schlichting and others. Beyond her performance work, she is a dedicated teaching artist and freelance grant writer. Margaret is currently pursuing an MFA in Choreographic Inquiry at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
Photo by Elise Radspinner
Photo by Drew Arrieta
ARTIST STATEMENT
My works tell nonlinear narratives through the body, weaving language, movement improvisation, and playful design to foster intimate connections with audiences. In my approach to world building, I embrace a dreamlike style harkening to magical realism, blending the everyday with the surreal. As a Mexican-heritage artist, I draw from a lineage of Chicana sensibilities, incorporating satire, collage, and a spirit of “making due” known as rasquachismo. My choreographic method aligns with diasporic futurism—a lens which illuminates the stories of queer artists and artists of color through collaborative authorship and embodied kinship.
My choreography has addressed the symbolism of dreams, ancestral heartbreak, feminine rage, and the role of desire in late-stage capitalism. I am interested in approaching tangled social questions through dark comedy and personal storytelling, leading to performances that are confrontational, humorous, and unapologetically heartfelt. My work remains rooted in dance because I believe embodied experiences are a pathway to self-understanding and intimate connection with others. In a world of increasing isolation and digitization, movement expression is a distinctly visceral conduit for seeing and being seen.