Christian von Howard is the Artistic Director of the VON HOWARD PROJECT, a contemporary dance company in New York City. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and nurtured in the Big Ole state of Texas, Christian is an international performer, teacher and choreographer. His professional career began as a teenager at Ballet Concerto, Artistic Director; Margo Dean. He would later become a founding member and Assistant Director of JAADE Dance Theatre. Christian also worked with Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, Darryl B. Sneed, NOVA Dancing Company and many others. In the mid 90's, he danced with the Trier Ballet (Germany) and Let's Dance/Teatro de Reggio (Italy). In 1997, Christian co-founded 1*4*8 The Collective, a collaborative dance and theater company of seven artists creating work in the NYC/NJ area. From 2000-2003, he served as the Artist in Resident at Columbia College and as the Associate Director of The Power Company, South Carolina’s leading contemporary dance company under the artistic direction of Martha Brim. As a performer, Christian has worked with Doug Varone, Fernando Bujones, Douglas Becker, and has danced with many dance companies, including the Fred Benjamin Dance Company, and Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company. In 2006 Christian was awarded a Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts. In 2010, his choreographic work represented the Mid-Atlantic Region at the National Conference of ACDA at the Kennedy Center. He has set work on various university dance companies, which included University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Columbia College, Jacksonville University, and various other schools of dance across the country. His guest artist teaching highlights include, ACDA, Dance It! Festival (Bulgaria), Dance New Amsterdam, 10 Hairy Legs, Peridance, the Korean Dance Festival and many others. Christian has been a member of the dance faculties of Texas Christian University, Rutgers University, Columbia College, and the Interlochen Arts Academy. Christian is a 2013/2014 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Teaching Award from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Montclair State University and concurrently teaches at the Alvin Ailey School in NYC where he has been on faculty since 1998. Christian serves as the Northeast Regional Director of the ACDA. He holds advanced degrees in Performance and Choreography from the School of Classical and Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University and from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.