bio

Michael Lachman (1979-??) was born and raised in Athens, Ohio. He attended Ohio University in Athens, spent a few years as an independent rock musician in Athens, took a job at OU, and most recently is married and lives in...you guessed it, good pattern recognition. He once coined the term "neoparochialist" to describe his conscious decision to stay rooted in a single location in order to practice economic, ecological and relational sustainability, not realizing that Wes Jackson had already come up with something similar. It sounded better than "stick in the mud", and helped him shrug off the tiny condescending eye movements he imagines that people of broader horizons make when he brings up his pedigree. But his current favorite appellation to describe his condition is "homeboy".

He began taking piano lessons at age six, became obsessed with Chopin and Debussy at twelve and the Beatles and Nirvana at fifteen, and apprenticed to piano technician Chris Purdy. That same year he was given the opportunity to accompany classes on piano and percussion at a local modern dance studio, Factory Street Studio, and in the process discovered a vocation and unleashed a consuming, unstable passion for improvisation. He majored in piano performance and composition in college, studying with pianist Sylvia Reynolds Eckes, composer Mark Phillips and dance accompanying mentor (as well as fine pianist and composer) André Gribou.

Since 2005 Michael has been the main accompanist for the Ohio University School of Dance. Prior to 2005 he spent two years there as a part-time accompanist, and prior to that, four years as a student accompanist. His work with the school includes playing for modern and ballet technique classes, composing music for faculty and student concerts, serving as concert sound engineer, and teaching Music For Dance, a 2-course series designed to train dance majors in music fundamentals.

Michael has worked with many noted artists and companies in (post)modern/contemporary and world dance, including Stephanie Batten-Bland, Seán Curran, Dance Alloy, Earl Mosley, Malgorzata Nowacka, Tere O’Connor, Patrick Parsons, Kate Skarpetowska, The Cathy Sharp Ensemble, Master Song Changrong and William Lau, and Andrea Woods.