I translate for a large cross section of the foremost French contemporary dance companies, especially those active internationally, notably the companies of Josef Nadj, Claude Brumachon, Maguy Marin, Boris Charmatz, Karine Saporta, Mathilde Monnier, Daniel Dobbels (himself one of France's foremost dance writers), Georges Appaix, Hervé Robbe, Emmanuelle Hunh, etc, as well as for some of France's most important international dance festivals, the Paris region's Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val-de-Marne and Montpellier Danse, among others.

I also translate fine arts and music texts, especially concerning contemporary artistic creation, often for artists and composers specializing in new forms.

After undergraduate studies in the social sciences and the arts at the University of Oregon and at the University of California (Santa Barbara & Berkeley), I continued with graduate studies at UCLA in modern dance, music composition and performance art.

At the same time, I wrote on the arts for newspapers, notably for the Los Angeles Times. I have since also been published in Time Magazine and Newsweek. I performed and choreographed with numerous American and European modern dance companies.

I first lived in France in 1972-73. Since 1981, I have lived continuously in Europe, principally in the French-speaking regions, working as a dancer and choreographer. My company, la Compagnie David Vaughn, was funded by the French Culture Ministry until I interrupted my stage work in 2001. Our pieces were situated somewhere between dance theatre and physical theatre, to use British terminology.

I began translating my own artistic texts, performance texts as well as descriptive publicity and programming material, first into Spanish and Catalan, and then into French. Rapidly solicited to translate into English for other visual and performing artists, I have crafted these sometimes difficult texts for the last 25 years. My practical insider experience of the arts, ranging from familiarity with the arcane language of technical stagecraft to the most obscure artistic philosophies, as expressed both in French and English, allow me a perspective very few translators can match, which certainly explains why so many of France's most celebrated companies depend on me.