Lyra Butler-Denman is an actor, dancer, choreographer, visual artist, and Alexander Technique teacher. She identifies as a white, cis, hetero woman and uses the pronouns she/her/hers. She has been preforming in Portland since 2007 and has trained and performed in the US and Europe. She holds a degree in Studio Art, currently works in alternative process and platinum photography, is an artist member and steward of FLOCK Dance Center, and is on the faculty of the Contemporary Alexander School and the Alexander Alliance International.
THEATRE/DANCE
BARDO (one woman show) Performer/Choreographer/Writer Shaking the Tree Theatre (Portland)
BARDO (excerpts) Performer/Choreographer/Writer On The Boards (Seattle)
A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois Sandy Actor’s Theatre (Sandy)
AFTER (Andrew Schneider) HYPERCUT principle Newmark Theatre (Portland)
Edge Effects (Tere Mathern) Ensemble dancer New Expressive Works (Portland)
Gather (Tere Mathern) Ensemble dancer Conduit (Portland)
iChange (Polaris Dance Theatre) Company dancer Newmark Theatre (Portland)
Hard Rain (Joey Chavez) Sasha Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Edinburgh)
FILM
BARDO Soloist Independent Sophia Emigh
COMMERCIAL
Microsoft Principle JB Brown Films Jerry Brown
First Interstate Bank Principle ALB Productions Jesse Rosten
Unreversed Principle Straub Collaborative Matt Wong and Katie Barton
TRAINING
Lewis and Clark – BA Studio Art
Cornish College of the Arts – Pursued a BFA in dance
Acting: Jeffrey Puukka, Shelly Lipkin, Norman Taylor, Emanuelle Delpech
Voice: Gwendolyn Walker, Molly Kittle
Dance: The Alvin Ailey School, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet School, Moving People, BodyVox, The Portland Ballet
Improvisation: Tere Mathern, Joey Chavez
SKILLS
Dance: Modern, Ballet, Graham Technique, Horton Technique, Jazz, African, Tap, Blues, Tango, Swing; Accents: French Languages: French Other: Choreography, improvisation, ensemble work, devised work, lighting design, electrics, deck hand.
BARDO
“…as raw as flayed skin…Bardo takes us from grief to rage to anguished acceptance.”
- Willamette Week
“brought me to tears. BARDO’s story is raw and cuts deep. For those of us who have experienced deep loss, Butler-Denman’s recount is honest, vulnerable, and true to the reality of death’s grasp on the people it leaves behind.”
- Oregon Arts Watch
Funded in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council
BARDO the film is supported by funds from the Oregon Arts Commission
Artist statement
Lyra’s performance and visual art is primarily interested in the quality of the physical experience of our lives. She explores trauma, sensuality, and the somatic translation, expression, and impact of our world on our bodies. Lyra is curious about the transition of a stimulus from external to internal, and the ways our bodies digest and transform our lives into memory, cellular and otherwise. Her work explores our ability to access, inform, choose, and perhaps change the physical imprints life leaves on us.
Lyra has studied and performed in Paris, New York, Seattle, and Santa Fe, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cornish College of the Arts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Centre du Danse du Marais, Moving People Dance Theatre, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. She is currently an artist member and on the leadership team of FLOCK Dance Center.