Janna Meiring (she/her) is a queer movement-based performing artist and somatic educator living in Philadelphia, PA. With an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University, Janna anchors her work in contemplative practices and somatic approaches to creative thinking and the creative process. She has continued study of Body-Mind Centering® and developmental movement, Contemplative Dance Practice, the Performative Self, and many forms of compositional improvisation and other somatic practices.  

Since moving to Philadelphia in 2014, she has been an artist-in-residence at Mascher Space Cooperative and The Whole Shebang, has performed at various show-cases including ETC at the CEC, and with The Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure (IPA) at Fringe 2015. She was a writer, editor and Head of Education Committee at thINKingDANCE.net for 3 years, and has continued to teach and develop classes and workshops through various studios in the Philly community.

As a solo artist, Janna utilizes states of embodied awareness as sites for inquiry, shaping impulse and response through layers of movement, sound, text and theatrical elements. Janna was an artist-in-residence at E|MERGE, Earthdance in 2016 and then with Get What You Need (GWYN), through Bodymeld New Dance Platform in 2019-2020, amid the first lockdown of the pandemic. After the GWYN residency, she went on to become one of the consortia of artists who develop and manage the program in addition to mentoring artists through their process.

In addition, she has worked in many collaborations, including with Asimina Chremos, Miryam Coppersmith, Nicole Bindler, Vervet Dance, From the Earth Dance Project, , and the Impermanent Society of Philadelphia.

Outside of performance work, Janna continues to offer artist-mentorship both independently and through GWYN Residency. She also works as the Development and Communications Coordinator for the Body-Mind Centering Association.