Darling "Shear" Squire

Darling (they/them) is a Chicago native, but has roots in Atlanta where Darling started dance training. Darling attended North Springs Charter School of the Performing Arts, began dancing professionally right out of high school and in that time worked with many great choreographers. The highlights were working with Bubba Carr choreographer/artistic director to Cher for 12 plus years, Rhonda Henriksen soloist with Hubbard Street and Twyla Tharp, Tracy Vogt former Philadanco dancer, Lauri Stallings Hubbard street soloist and founder/artistic director of gloATL. Darling moved back to Chicago in the summer of 2011 to start as a freelance dancer/choreographer. Darling has worked with The Fly Honeys of The Inconvenience, Links Hall, Victoria Bradford, Ayako Kato as a dancer and one of two choreographic assistants, Chances Dances, No Small Plan Productions, Slo’ Mo, the Public Hotel, Soho House Chicago, Growing Power inc., EXPO Chicago, Queen at Smart Bar, SAIC,  Depaul Museum, University of Chicago,  University of Illinois in Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Film Archive, Salonathon, and Open TV beta. In 2018 Darling was chosen as the cover model and also quoted in Micah Salkind's Oxford-published book 'Do You Remember House? Chicago's queer of color underground'. Followed by receiving the Between Gestures scholarship to Austria to attend Impulstanz in Vienna also the Chicago Dancemakers Forum fellowship and Links Hall CoMission Fellowship along with a 3Arts nomination in 2019 and 2022 and in 2020 Darling became a cohort to Hubbard Street Dance. In September of 2023, Darling choreographed and performed alongside Grammy-winning artist Corrine Bailey Rae at B.A.R(Black Artist Retreat) created by Theaster Gates at the Stoney Island Art's Bank promoting her album ‘Black Rainbows’. To close out, 2023 Darling Made history co-directing, choreographing, and performing with the Slo'mo Queer dance party and NBC Chicago live broadcast cast for NYE at the newly renovated Ramova Theater in Bridgeport. Darling's mission has been one with a strong spiritual center and allowance of universal well-being.