Ezra LeBank
Bad Goat Dance
Ezra LeBank is the Head of Movement and Professor of Theatre Arts at California State University, Long Beach. He received the 2021 Distinguished Faculty Mentoring and Advising Award, and the 2015 Research and Creative Activity Impact Accomplishment of the Year Award. Prior to CSULB he taught at The Juilliard School, The Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne, Purchase College, Smith College, The University of Montana, and Vassar College/Powerhouse Theatre.
Ezra has been invited to teach at International Contact Festival Freiburg, Convergence: CI@50, Seattle Festival for Dance Improvisation, West Coast Contact Improv Jam, Warsaw Flow: Poland Contact Festival, Israel Acrobatics Convention, MOVE Copenhagen, Australia Partner Acrobatics Convention, Tasmania Fly Away, Nordic Acro Festival, Helsinki Acro Week, Estonia Acro Festival, Philadelphia Take Flight Festival, New York Acro Festival, AcroLove Festival, Divine Play AcroYoga Festival, Association for Theatre in Higher Education National Conference, and the Association for Theatre Movement Educators Conference, among others.
Beyond Festivals and Conferences, Ezra has taught invited workshops in Contact Improvisation and Acrobatics on five continents including recently in Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Russia, Ireland, England, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Thailand, Israel, Canada, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, and across the United States.
He is the founder/director of Bossy Flyer, an acrobatic theatre company. Flight, his acrobatic adaptation of The Little Prince, played Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in 2016 where the New York Times called it "Ingenious." Flight won the Critics Choice Award at the 2017 San Diego International Fringe Festival, and was nominated for the San Diego Critics Circle Touring Shows of the Year Award. Flight was also nominated for Best Show and Best Family Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and has received numerous five star reviews, Top Picks, and Best of Fest accolades. Other shows include Extinguish, Fresh Air, Lemon Boots, Alice's Wonderland, Elements, Terms & Conditions MOVE, and most recently Three, a wordless acrobatic take on No Exit, that toured Canada in 2019 to critical acclaim.
Ezra has directed, choreographed, and coached over 100 theatre productions as the Resident Movement Director for California Repertory Theatre since 2011, as well as for TONY-winning South Coast Repertory Theatre, Montana Repertory Theatre, the Wooster Group, PUSH Physical Theatre, Paper Doll Militia, Tempos Circus, and AWOL Aerial Dance Theatre.
Ezra holds a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from the State University of New York at Purchase College, a Masters of Fine Arts in Playwriting from Smith College, and a Diploma in Commedia Dell'arte from Ars Comica in Reggio Emilia, Italy. He apprenticed under Felix Ivanov in biomechanics, stage combat, and acrobatics. His teachers in contact improvisation include Nancy Stark Smith, Ray Chung, Mike Vargas, Andrew Harwood, Ishmael Houston Jones, Shel Wagner Rasch, and Rebecca Bryant, among others.
He is recognized as a specialist in Contact Improvisation, Acrobatics, Biomechanics & Clown. His book Clowns: In Conversation is published by Routledge, UK.
He was born in the mountains in Oregon's Willamette Valley, and now resides in the Los Angeles Arts District with his chihuahua-terrier mix Midge.