Maddy

Maddy Rager (they/them) is a Detroit based performer and designer. Rager received a BFA in Dance with a minor in Performing Arts Management from the University of Michigan in 2014 and graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2010. Rager is originally from Bellaire, MI.

Rager mostly makes and performs work with collaborative partner Scott Crandall as the duo Thank You So Much For Coming. Thank You So Much For Coming received a 2020 Gilda Award and 2022 Kresge Artist Fellowship in Live Arts awarded by Kresge Arts in Detroit. Rager has also presented and performed works throughout the country, and is currently touring with The Hinterlands, performing in their latest play, “Will You Miss Me?”. Maddy presented work at the Kennedy Center in collaboration with Chris Sies for the 2014 National College Dance Festival and received a Maggie Allesee New Choreography Award from the Michigan Dance Council in 2013 in collaboration with Nola Smith. Maddy was an original cast member of Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Woman in E.

Collective Sweat Detroit

Maddy Rager is a Co-Founder of Collective Sweat Detroit, an organization devoted to building fellowship in the Detroit dance community through class, residency, and conversation spaces. Formed in 2017, CSD offers affordable dance classes and programming for Detroit area dancers and movers to continue their training and build community. CSD was a recipient of a 2018 Knight Arts Challenge Grant. More info at CollectiveSweatDetroit.org

Photos: header by Erika Ruch, headshot by Bree Birr