Tara Rynders, RN-BC, M.F.A, B.S.N., B.A., has been a registered nurse for sixteen years and received her M.F.A. in Dance in 2011 from The University of Colorado at Boulder. Rynders has a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance with a specialization in Movement and Somatic Practices. Rynders is the founder and artistic director of The Clinic, an arts and play-based company that provides workshops and performances inside the hospital setting, and research around burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Rynders is also an Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist offering group and one-on-one grief recovery workshops.
Rynders has performed with Third Rail Projects, Wild Heart Dance, and 3rd Law Dance/Theater, and her performance You & Me has toured nationally and internationally. Most recently, First, Do No Harm, an immersive theater performance, debuted inside an active hospital setting and was open to the general public.
Rynders is extremely honored to be an A Blade of Grass Fellow, an Arts in Society grantee, a 2019 Colorado Nightingale Luminary, the recipient of Rose Medical Center’s Excellence in Nursing Award in Compassionate Care, and the Hamilton Award from the National Organization of Arts in Hospitals (NOAH) in the category of Arts and Resiliency. Most recently, Rynders was awarded the 2021 Annual Mara Mogensen Flaherty Memorial Lectureship for the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Virtual Congress.
