Rachel Tess (she/her) is the director of Milvus Artistic Research Center (MARC) in Knislinge. She holds a BFA from The Juilliard School (2004) and has danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and Cullberg Ballet. She earned an MA in choreography from DOCH in 2013 and has presented works in Sweden, Montréal, New York, and Costa Rica. Her project Souvenir, a mobile choreographic architecture, was exhibited at Wanås Konst in 2014. Since 2010, she has collaborated with Benoît Lachambre as a performer and co-creator.
Tess has choreographed performances for Corpus, Dansk Danseteater, Norrdans, and Skånes Dansteater. In 2019, she received the Birgit Cullberg Award for her work with MARC and the performance ‘Any number of sunsets…’.. In 2023, she was awarded Region Skåne’s Culture Prize for her innovative work researching and producing dance and choreography in the countryside.
She has worked with choreographers such as Peter Mills, Sophia Mage, Tim Matiakis, and Anna Pehrsson and was the associate curator for performance at Wanås Konst (2016–2022). She teaches over 500 school children annually in Knislinge. She also holds a ten-year working grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.