MEET THE ARTIST
TORI CONE
TORI CONE (she/her) is a multicultural movement artist eager to remain ever evolving in her various roles, as a choreographer, performer, and educator. She is a San Diego native but has relocated to Long Beach since graduating with her BFA in Dance in 2023 from the California State University of Long Beach. In her years attaining her degree, Tori was fortunate to work with Rebecca Lemme, Sarah Swenson, Donna Uchizono, Keith Johnson and Shyamala Moorty in their individual creative processes. As a performer, Tori holds a strong passion in immersing herself in both commercial and concert worlds. In her professional performance career, she has performed for the Walt Disney Company, worked under HYBE America as a part of skeleton crews for Popstar Academy and KATSEYE, and has performed at EDC Las Vegas with Insomniac Entertainment. As a creator, Tori holds an interest in fusing styles together to create aesthetically compelling visuals and contortions of performers bodies. Her work has been featured at CSULB Dance Concerts, World of Dance Vancouver, and represented the Baja Region at the American Dance College Association National Conference in 2023. Tori looks towards her future with excitement as she prepares to join Cirque Du Soleil's touring show "TWAS" this upcoming fall. Cone's all around ethos as an artist is to move, create, and educate with passion and tenacity to remain on a caliber entirely her own.
Feel free to check out her Instagram for frequent updates
from me to you, my background
TORI CONE is a Native Hawaiian, Filipina, and Mexican identifying dancer who enjoys sharing her movement, as a performer, choreographer, and human. Tori began her movement journey at the age of 3 where she trained in Polynesian forms competitively with Heali'i's Polynesian Revue. In addition to learning dance forms from her culture, Tori was a member in the San Diego Civic Dance Association where she developed a deeper appreciation for her craft. She has studied a variety of techniques and worked with esteemed choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Kirby Ward, and Daniel Lewis, where she was staged into a reprise of “A Choreographic Offering” by José Limón, originally debuted in 1964. She was also a captain and coach of the Mira Mesa Dance Team, which has competed and placed at competitions such as Hip Hop International, West Coast Elite, USA Nationals, and Miss Dance Drill Team.
Cone graduated from California State University of Long Beach in May 2023 with her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Dance and her minor in Child Development and Family Studies. Her time at the university began in 2019 and within her years at Long Beach, she strengthened her pedagogical abilities and anatomical knowledge of a dancers body, as well as learning under phenomenal faculty members, including Keith Johnson, Rebecca Lemme, Danzel Thompson-Stout, Andrew Vaca, and Brenna Monroe-Cook. Tori was selected to perform in guest artist works while at Long Beach, including Sarah Swenson's "Fimmine" (2005) and Donna Uchizono's "State of Heads" (1999). Additionally, she also performed in works by CSULB faculty: "Assembly" by Rebecca Lemme and "Fight the Fear" by Shyamala Moorty, which was awarded "Best Short Experimental Dance Film" by the Marina Del Rey Film Festival in 2022. Tori has performed in student works by Azuki Umeda, AJ Sharp, Tashara Gavin-Moore, Daylen McWhorter, and Colin Harabedian as well.
In her professional career, Tori immerses herself constantly into the worlds of commercial and concert dance. Tori was recently invited to attend the Jacob's Pillow Ann and West Hicks Choreography Fellowship as a dancer for Azuki Umeda. She is featured in Jimmie Allen's music video "Be Alright" choreographed by Tessandra Chavez and was invited to STEEZY HQ by 88rising to perform for Jackson Wang. She has additionally performed at World of Dance LA, alongside headliner Danyel Moulton. Tori is a member of Vox Dance Company and in collaboration with Grammy Award Winning group Partch Ensemble performed in the REDCAT Theater at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for their works "Castor and Pollux" and "Plectra and Percussion," both originally composed by Harry Partch. Tori also represents nationally and internationally recognized teams VMo and LFG, under the direction of Danyel Moulton, Ruthie Fantaye, and Dayziah Nicols.
As well as performing, Tori is actively creating and challenging her boundaries as a choreographer. Tori holds an interest in fusing many different styles together, letting a celebration of movement exist to the viewers. In May 2022, Tori began to explore the connectivity between her first dance form, Polynesian dance, and her current form, Modern, and was able to establish a technique she calls Polynesian Fusion. Inspired by movement under the Pacific Islands, Tori began drawing from Hawaiian, Tahitian, Samoan, and Maori cultures and fused them with Eurocentric dance forms. She shared her first Polynesian Fusion work "Hapa" in 2022, which originally performed at California State University of Long Beach. From there, "Hapa" was selected to represent CSULB at the American College Dance Association Conference for the Baja Region in 2023. "Hapa" was the only student choreographed work to be selected to represent this region at the ACDA National Conference, hosted at Cal State Long Beach. Tori is eager to explore this fusion more and continue creating new phrases and works in this realm. In addition to "Hapa," Tori also shared her work at CSULB titled "Pockets," an exploration of comfort through moving with coats and coatracks. In the future, she hopes to create more and more.
Tori holds a great deal of gratitude to Andrea Feier, Rachel Mitchell, and her dance family at San Diego Civic Dance Association, where her appreciation of the arts was instilled, Edie and Kathy Healii of Heali'i's Polynesian Revue where her appreciation of her culture was instilled, and the Mira Mesa Dance Team where her appreciation of growth was instilled. Most importantly, to her parents, younger sister, and partner who have continuously supported her on her journey of turning her passion into a career.