Gary Abbott is a founder and associate artistic director of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago, Illinois, a professor of dance at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory, and a 2022 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. Abbott began his career in Atlanta, Georgia, with Barbara Sullivan’s Atlanta Dance Theatre and later attended the California Institute of the Arts. Abbott danced with Lula Washington Dance Theatre and then the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble of Denver, Colorado. He has worked with Katherine Dunham, Donald McKayle, Eleo Pomare, Donald Byrd, Talley Beaty, and others. He has taught and choreographed for Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas Black Dance Theater in Dallas, Texas; Iliev Foundation in Bar, Montenegro, and Sofia, Bulgaria; Flatfoot Dance Theater in Durban, South Africa; Tianjin Conservatory in Tianjin, China; and conducted workshops in Shenzhen, China, and many more.He strives to celebrate humanity by using dance as a tool for the exploration of the human condition.
