Jennifer Monson (Artistic director, choreographer and performer, iLAND-interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance) uses choreographic practice as a means to discover connections between environmental, philosophical and aesthetic approaches to knowledge and understandings of our surroundings.

As Artistic Director of iLAND she creates large scale dance projects informed and inspired by phenomena of the natural and the built environment. Her project "Bird Brain" (2000-2011) includes the theatrical work "Flight of Mind" (2005) and four migratory tours: "Gray Whales" (Spring 2001); "Ospreys" (Fall 2002); "Ducks and Geese" (Spring 2004); and "Northern Wheatears" (Fall 2011). Each tour followed the migrations of animals offering performances, workshops and panel discussions on navigation, migration and conservation. In 2007 she created iMAP/Ridgewood Reservoir, a yearlong research and performance practice in an abandoned reservoir in NYC.
She is currently working on the "Mahomet Aquifer Project" in Illinois and SIP(sustained immersive process)/watershed in NYC.

In addition Monson supports and mentors collaborative opportunities for movement based artists, scientists, environmentalists and others interested in our physical relationships to space and systems as a means to engage the public in a kinetic understanding of NYC’s urban environment through the iLAB residency program of iLAND, Monson is currently on the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign in the Dance Department. She was hired through an initiative of the Environmental Council to foster sustainability across the campus and nationally.