Sophia McLaughlin is a dance artist who centers her practice on the intersection of botany and dance. By utilizing the knowledge of plants and the framework of botany to influence her choreography, her work demonstrates how dance can be a medium to dance as, with, and for plant species. Using methodologies of improvisation, observation, and randomization, her work exposes plants' inner worlds, relationships, and uniqueness. From physiology to ecology, her movement pathways are informed by plant time, interaction, and response. Creating connections to plants through listening and embodying their attributes is a vital part of her choreography. Her work allows audiences to engage in an act of noticing and listening to the space around them. She views her dance making process as one way to repair our societal disconnection from the earth.
Sophia McLaughlin holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa and a BA in Dance and Botany from Connecticut College. During her time at attended colleges, she has worked with choreographers Stephanie Miracle, Zena Bibler, Christopher-Rasheem McMillan, David Dorfman, Heidi Henderson, Lisa Race, Shawn Hove, and Ellie Goudie-Averill, and performed in the restagings of works by Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Kate Weare, and Ohad Naharin. In her choreography, she centers her practice on the intersection of botany and dance. Her work has been performed at attended colleges, Hickory Hill Park, ACDA conferences (2019 and 2024), Prompt for the Planet, REJECTS 2025, and as an artist in residence at the Sable Project and Oak Spring Garden Foundation.