[1][2] Born in Chicago, Mock trained with dancers Jimmy Payne and Anna Nassif, and was later influenced by Lester Horton, Katherine Dunham, and a mix of jazz traditions.
As a soloist, Mock specialized in improvisation, mixing modern dance with mime, storytelling, and voice.
[1] In 2013, Amara Tabor-Smith, a Bay-Area choreographer who studied and danced with Mock from the age of 14, created the multi-venue He Moved Swiftly But Gently Down the Not Too Crowded Street: Ed Mock and Other True Tales in a City That Once Was.
[4][5] In 2016, Lynne Redding published a book of black and white photographs taken during 1980-1984 of Mock and his dance company in the studio, in rehearsal and in performance.
In 2018, Brontez Purnell, who was introduced to Mock while dancing with Tabor-Smith, directed Unstoppable Feat, The Dances of Ed Mock, a documentary film.