Donna is a native of Phoenix, Arizona. She trained in New York City and received both a Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Utah. She danced for 12 years with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and also danced with Tandy Beal and Company for many years.  She has performed as a guest artist with Bill Evans and Robert Small and had her own company, Danceworks . She has received a National Endowment Individual Choreographer’s Fellowship and has choreographed for many dance departments, solo artists, and companies including:  Ririe-Woodbury, Repertory Dance Theatre, Utah Ballet, and Performing Dance Company.  Donna is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst and has completed graduate course work in the area of Performance Psychology. Currently, Donna teaches technique, composition, dance history, dance administration, and other graduate and undergraduate level courses. Donna recently received two University Research Fellowships to reconstruct historical choreographic works of Hanya Holm and Alwin Nikolais for students in the Department of Modern Dance.  She is a current member of the Society of Dance History Scholars, Utah Dance Education Organization, Council of Dance Administrators, and the National Association of Schools of Dance.

2005/2006 Guest Artists
Deborah Hay, (choreographic residency) Deborah Hay, acknowledged by critics as one of the most relevant representatives of post-modern dance, choreographed two pieces for the department’s Performing Dance Company concert.  Poof was set on PDC dancers and Exit on PDC with non-dancers from the community.
Ben Levy, (choreographic and teaching residency).  Artistic Director of San Francisco’s LEVYDance, Ben Levy, was named by Dance Magazine as one of the “Top 25 to Watch” in 2004.  The Senior class commisioned Ben Levy to choreograph a celebratory piece on the class of 2006 to be performed for their Senior Concert.
Mary Frances Lloyd, (choreographic residency).  Independent New York choreographer, Francie Lloyd, set Lady of the Lake, a powerful and sensual solo.  The performance included a plexiglass cube filled with 72 gallons of water, which drenched the dancer and the stage.
Andy Vaca, (choreographic and teaching residency).  Andy Vaca, who once danced for Twyla Tharp and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company taught jazz classes in the department.  PDC performed his piece Swoon, Croon and Swing, a 1940’s black-tie affair to big band and cabaret sounds.
Tandy Beal, (teaching residency).  Award-winning choreographer and performer Tandy Beal will be in residence teaching Spring Semester 2006.  Tandy, a former dancer with the Nikolais Dance Company, now performs as a solo artist and with her ensemble in major cities and at festivals on four continents (so far!).  She claims a long and successful career in dance both on the stage and in the cinema.  Tandy received the Honorary Alumnus award from the College of Fine Arts in 2001.  We are fortunate to have captured Tandy Beal as a guest artist with unique expertise for the last thirty years!

2004/2005 Guest Artists
Charlotte Boye-Christensen, (choreographic residency)Associate Artistic Director of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Charlotte set her piece, In Passing, 6 women for PDC.  Set to music by Bach, In Passing, featured post-modern movement within a classical structure.  Charlotte, a native of Denmark, is a globe-trotting freelance choreographer, teacher, and dancer.
Kathy Casey, (choreographic residency).  Montréal Danse’s Artistic Director along with dancers Rachel Harris and Frédéric Marier restaged Enter:Last on PDC.  Enter:Last, choreographed by José Navas, is a powerful evocation of death as a passage, both gentle and inexorable, serene and urgent.  This audience favorite of Montréal Danse had never been set on another company until this year on PDC.   
Patrik Widrig and Sara Pearson, (choreographic, teaching and performance residency).  After Patrik and Sara taught a master class in 2004 for the department, they wanted to come back for a longer stay.  The Senior class of 2005 felt the same way.  Patrik and Sara set a piece on the Seniors that was performed for the Senior Concert as well as PDC.  The 30-minute piece titled Hello, Goodbye, Hello was a compilation of exciting duets, trios, and quartets, with dynamic ensemble moments all woven together through text.  While here, Patrik and Sara performed a spectacular duet concert which included their works Partners Who Touch, Partners Who Don’t Touch; Dr. Pearson’s Guide to Loss and Fear; and a visually stunning excerpt of The Return of Lot’s Wife.
Zeng Huanxing, (choreographic residency).  Beijing Dance Academy professor, Zeng Huanxing, choreographed a duet, Qin Se, on PDC dancers.  Knowing little English, Zeng communicated through Xu Rui, a visiting scholar sponsored by the Asian Cultural Council who was with the department all semester.
Tandy Beal, (teaching residency).  Award-winning choreographer and performer Tandy Beal was in residence teaching Spring Semester 2005.  Tandy, a former dancer with the Nikolais Dance Company, now performs as a solo artist and with her ensemble in major cities and at festivals on four continents.  She claims a long and successful career in dance both on the stage and in the cinema.  Tandy received the Honorary Alumnus award from the College of Fine Arts in 2001.
Modern Dance majors enjoyed master classes by taught by Molissa Fenley of NYC, Carolyn Carlson of Paris, and Keith Johnson of CA.

2003/2004 Guest Artists
Hope Clark, (choreographic residency), former Elizabeth Streb/Ringside dancer.
David Dorfman, (choreographic and teaching residency), Artistic Director of David Dorfman Dance Company.
Faye Driscoll, (choreographic residency), former Doug Varone dancer. 
Stephan Koplowitz, (choreographic and teaching residency), U of U alum, Guggenheim Fellowship and the CalArts recipient.
Gesel Mason, (teaching and performance residency)
Tandy Beal, (teaching residency)

2002/2003 Guest Artists
Charlotte Boye-Christensen, (choreographic residency)
Ronald K. Brown, (choreographic residency)
Lisa Race, (choreographic residency)
Tandy Beal, (teaching and choreographic residency

2001/2002 Guest Artists
Alberto del Saz, (teaching and choreographic residency)
Roger Copeland,
Douglas Rosenberg,
Gabri Christa, (teaching and choreographic residency)
Doug Elkins, (teaching and choreographic residency)
Sara Rudner, (choreographic residency)
Tandy Beal (teaching residency)

2000/2001 Guest Artists
Douglas Rosenberg
Flying Karamazov Brothers (teaching and performance residency)
Jeff Slayton (teaching residency)
Alvin Ailey II (teaching and performance residency
Tim Miller (teaching residency)
Henry Sayre (teaching residency)
Trisha Brown Dance Company (teaching and choreographic residency)
Gail Gilbert (teaching and choreographic residency)
Tandy Beal (teaching and choreographic residency)
Susan McLain (teaching residency)
Claudia Gitelman (teaching and choreographic residency)

1999/2000 Guest Artists
Repertory Dance Theatre, reconstruction of Tamiris’
Susan McLain (teaching residency)
Douglas Rosenberg
Molissa Fenley (choreographic and performance residency).
Peter Boal (performance residency)
Risa Steinberg (teaching residency)
Laura Dean (choreographic residency)
Kyoko Ibe (design residency)
Tandy Beal (teaching and choreographic residency)
Tina Misaka

1998/99 Guest Artists
John Malashock
Scott Rink
Molissa Fenley
Steve Koester
Doug Varone
Tandy Beal

Cole serves as the Production Director and Lighting Designer for the Marriott Center for Dance. This is his fifth year at the University of Utah’s renowned Ballet and Modern Dance programs. Credits at the University of Utah include Spring and Fall productions of Utah Ballet and Performing Dance Company (PDC). Cole has served in many positions at Utah State University, and has spent eight years designing concerts and outdoor theater for the Sandy Amphitheater with artists such as Toto, Kansas, Air Supply, Taylor Swift, Josh Gracin, Miranda Lambert, Mary Wilson, The Bellamy Brothers, Rita Coolidge, Billy Dean, and Gladys Knight. In addition, Cole started his own Lighting Design and Production Company, ALR, and enjoys designing around the Rocky Mountain region. Highlights include The Comedy of Errors at the International Fringe Festival; Missa Solemnis; Rick Robinsons: Vibe Dance. Co.; The SCERA Theater; The Egyptian Theatre Co. in Park City; Center Stage; and The Hale Center Theater. Recent projects include No Fixed Points for Utah Valley University’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble; Brent Schneider’s Perspectives: Men, Motion & Media in conjunction with RDT’s LINK series; Ririe Woodbury’s Alchemy and Cabaret of Fools; The Gift; the recent production of Thoroughly Modern Millie at The Hale; and Cabaret at the Egyptian in Park City for which he won the Edwina award for best lighting design.

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Professor Bromberg, a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow, has been creating dances for companies and solo artists for over 30 years. She has received numerous awards for her work including two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards; one for outstanding achievement in choreography and a second for her work with Douglas Rosenberg on Singing Myself A Lullaby. She was also honored with a Bonnie Bird American Choreographer Award, a Pew National Dance/Media Fellowship and with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the George Soros Foundation, among others. Her choreography has been performed in the United Kingdom, China, Korea, Japan, and throughout the United States. She has created a number of works for the screen which have been broadcast by KQED TV in San Francisco, Wisconsin Public Television, and nationally on PBS Television’s Alive From Off Center. She has just completed a documentary: Molissa Fenley and Peter Boal, The Re-staging of State of Darkness. Professor Bromberg teaches composition, technology/media, theory,and mentors students in teaching and choreography.

Research Interests

Association for Dance and Performance Telematics (ADAPT)
Singing Myself a Lullaby
Dance for the Camera Victoria
Re-corporealizing the Body Via Screen Dance Essay; download: recorporealizing_the_body_via_screen_dance.pdf

Professor Fiat choreographs and teaches technique, composition, improvisation, pedagogy, and honors courses. Within the department, she serves as Associate Chair, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and is the Certification advisor for students completing a secondary teaching licensure in dance.  Ms. Fiat has choreographed internationally for the National University in Costa Rica and nationally for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, University of Utah, University of Central Oklahoma, Brigham Young University, Contemporary Danceworks, Weber State College, Utah State University, Maricopa Institute of the Arts, and in other university and community settings.  Two of her works, Inclinations and Frieze, were performed at ACDFA Gala concerts and Inclinations was performed at the National ACDFA Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  In addition to her university responsibilities, Professor Fiat has been President of the Utah Dance Education Organization, a movement specialist for the Utah Arts Council, and currently serves as Vice President for Regional Planning for the American College Dance Festival Association.  In 1999, she received The University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award and in 2005, she received the College of Fine Arts Student’s Choice Teaching Award and the College of Fine Arts Faculty Excellence Award.

Pamela Geber has performed professionally with Sara Rudner, Wendy Perron, David Gordon, Fred Darsow and in works by Stephen Koester, David Dorfman, Susan Marshall, Doug Varone, Mark Dendy, Zvi Gotheiner as well as reconstructions by Vaslav Nijinsky, Alwin Nikolais and Doris Humphrey.  Currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Dance at the University of Utah, she teaches modern and ballet technique, improvisation, composition, dance kinesiology, children’s teaching methods, advanced principles of teaching, and is co-director for the department’s Performing Dance Company.  Geber has been on faculty at University of Oregon in Eugene, Bennington College’s July program in Vermont and has taught both dance and music in several K-12 schools throughout New York City.  Geber holds an MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle with an emphasis in dance science and education, a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an emphasis in performance and choreography, and a certification in Carl Orff’s teaching pedagogy for dance and music from Bloomingdale House of Music in New York City.  Geber continues to perform duet works with partner, Eric Handman, including original and commissioned choreography. 

ED GROFF, . Professor Groff’s choreography has been presented in New York , Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Taipei, Rotterdam and other locations. He has served on the faculties of Temple University, Hampshire College, and Connecticut College. He is a Laban Movement Analyst and teaches technique, composition and seminars.

PEGGY HACKNEY, Adjunct Assistant Professor B.A. Duke University, M.F.A. Sarah Lawrence College, C.L.M.A. Dance Notation Bureau, New York. Peggy was a member of the Bill Evans Dance Company and Kinetics Dance Company. She has taught at universities throughout the USA and Europe and was on the dance faculty of the University of Washington for eleven years. Peggy is a member of the Integrated Movement Studiessm training team and is faculty in the department’s Certificate Program in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies. She is the author of the book, Making Connections: Total Body Integration through Bartenieff Fundamentals.
Integrated Movement Studies

Hailing from New York City, Eric Handman is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah’s Department of Modern Dance. He is a choreographer, performer, dance filmmaker and educator. Prior to receiving his MFA from the University in 2003, he earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Skidmore College in 1991. He spent much of the Nineties as a professional dancer in New York City as a member of such companies as Doug Varone and Dancers, Joy Kellman & Company and Nicholas Leichter Dance. He has also danced for choreographers David Dorfman, Lisa Race, Stephen Koester, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Pooh Kaye, Wendy Perron, Simone Forti, Debra Fernandez, Tim Harling & Lisa Giobbi,  Eun Me Ahn, and Koosil-ja Hwang. He teaches domestically and internationally and specializes in technique, improvisation, contact improvisation, composition, qualitative research methods, dance filmmaking, aesthetics, criticism and theory.

Professor Haskell’s professional dance experience, choreography, and teaching career has taken her to such diverse locations as Europe, Africa, Canada, Mexico, and Asia as well as all 50 states. Formerly, she was director of dance at the University of Hawaii, on the faculties of Arizona State University and the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, and chair of the Modern Dance Department at the University of Utah. Professor Haskell retained her appointment in the Department of Modern Dance while she served as the University of Utah’s Associate Vice President for the Arts, and Dean of the College of Fine Arts.

Phyllis Haskell retired from the university in June, 2005.  Phyllis has been our leader, our colleague, our advocate, and our friend for many years.  She single-handedly established our largest endowed scholarship fund.  She taught skillfully and eloquently for years.  Phyllis has advocated not only for dance but for all of the arts in the most effective way ever known in the College of Fine Arts.  She is well known internationally for her effective and inspirational work in arts administration and in the dance world, she is a diva.  Phyllis has recently received prestigious awards from the Council of Dance Administrators and the College of Fine Arts.  In October 2004, she was awarded the Alma Hawkins Dance Administration Award and in April 2005, Phyllis received the CFA Distinguished Alumnus Award.

GESEL MASON, alumni, performer, choreographer, producer/director and educator visited the department in March 2009 as part of the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni series. She was also commissioned to choreograph the "Senior Piece" in December 2008.

Gesel Mason has performed nationally and internationally with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah, Jacek Luminski of Silesian Dance Theatre, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, and Ralph Lemon. She was selected Emerging Choreographer by the Bates Dance Festival in 2000, received 2 Metro DC Dance Awards for NO BOUNDARIES and a 2007 Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. GESEL MASON PERFORMANCE PROJECTS (GMPP) creates dance theater works that "move her audience to tears and laughter" (Washington Post).
For more information please visit: Gesel Mason Performance Projects

“Gesel Mason’s one-woman show [NO BOUNDARIES] was the sort of performance that in any other realm would enshrine her among a select few standouts…an ambitious, riveting and impressively executed program.”
—Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post, October 23, 2006

SATU HUMMASTI, originally from Helsinki, Finland, is a dancer, choreographer, writer and teacher who has performed and taught throughout the United States, South America and Europe. She has performed in New York City with Fred Darsow Dance, Barbara Grubel Projects and Sari Nordman, and has worked as a freelance dancer with Stephen Koester, Mary Fitzgerald, and A. Ludwig Dance Theater.  Her work has been presented in NYC at Dance New Amsterdam, Chashama, The Construction Company, Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon, and at The John Ryan Theater at White Wave, as a part of the d.u.m.b.o. and Cool New York Dance Festivals. Her work has also been seen in Medellin, Colombia; Edinburgh, Scotland (as a part of the 2007 Fringe Festival);  San Jose, Costa Rica; Bordeaux, France; Helsinki, Finland; and in Boston, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Modern Dance Department at the University of Utah.

Professor Koester was formerly co-Artistic Director of Creach/Koester, a dance company based in New York City which toured throughout the US, Canada and Europe. With partner Terry Creach, Professor Koester received five consecutive choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, plus a choreographic fellowship from the New York State Foundation for the Arts.  Creach and Koester received the Bonnie Bird North American Choreographic Award along with extensive additional choreographic/company support.  In addition to his activities with Creach/Koester, Professor Koester has been a guest artist at numerous colleges and universities throughout the country; he continues to choreograph and teach both nationally and internationally.  His work appears in the repertories of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, Dance Forum, Taipei, among others; in 2004 he won the Repertory Dance Theatre’s Sense of Place Choreographic Competition to set a new work on the company in 2004.  In the department Professor Koester regularly choreographs, and teaches improvisation, composition, technique, and graduate seminars.  In 2002, Stephen received the College of Fine Arts Faculty Excellence Award for creative research.  Professor Koester also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Modern Dance.

Professor Lee directs the university’s acclaimed children’s creative dance program, Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Institute, and it’s performing unit, Children’s Dance Theatre . Professor Lee teaches modern dance students courses in pedagogy, and directs student internships with the institute.
Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Program

GESEL MASON, alumni, performer, choreographer, producer/director and educator visited the department in March 2009 as part of the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni series.  She was also commissioned to choreograph the “Senior Piece” in December 2008. 

Gesel Mason has performed nationally and internationally with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah, Jacek Luminski of Silesian Dance Theatre, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, and Ralph Lemon. She was selected Emerging Choreographer by the Bates Dance Festival in 2000, received 2 Metro DC Dance Awards for NO BOUNDARIES and a 2007 Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. GESEL MASON PERFORMANCE PROJECTS (GMPP) creates dance theater works that “move her audience to tears and laughter” (Washington Post).
For more information please visit: Gesel Mason Performance Projects

“Gesel Mason’s one-woman show [NO BOUNDARIES] was the sort of performance that in any other realm would enshrine her among a select few standouts…an ambitious, riveting and impressively executed program.”
—Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post, October 23, 2006

Janice was a member of the Seattle based, Kinetics Dance Company. She was Head of Modern Dance at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and is co-founder of Integrated Movement Studiessm, an internationally recognized training team of Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysts (CLMA). She is Director and faculty in the department’s Certificate Program in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies. Janice is also trained in Body-Mind Centering and integrates this body of knowledge into her Laban/Bartenieff classes.
jmeadenims.com and www.imsmovement.com

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Amy Caron, B.F.A. 200?; Multidisciplinary Artist, amycaron.com; Director, Dance Theatre Coalition (UT), dancetheatrecoalition.org

Taught a Master Class, February 2009, http://www.cedarlakedance.com/

As the supervisor of the Marriott Center for Dance’s costume facility, Professor Rasmussen designs, builds and supervises the construction of costumes for both modern dance and ballet productions. He teaches costuming for modern dance majors. He comes to the university from over twenty years as a professional textile designer, writer, actor, artist, and interior designer.

Kaye Richards is a dancer, choreographer, and educator.  She is a certified instructor in the Pilates Method and in the Martha Graham technique.  Ms. Richards has taught at the Martha Graham School and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City.  She was both dancer and tour manager for the Martha Graham Ensemble.  Ms. Richards received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa before joining the University of Utah’s Modern Dance faculty in 1998.  At the University of Utah, she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and choreographs for Performing Dance Company.  Professor Richards has taught in England, Guyana, Guatemala, Spain, Mexico, and several universities in the USA.  In March 2003, Professor Richards presented a solo concert Shifting Landscapes where she performed four solos choregraphed by internationally renowned choreographers, and presented two group works of her own choreography.  In July 2003, Richards co-founded and co-directed, with Professor Sharee Lane of the Ballet Department, Ms. Kaye’s Performing Arts Camp that introduces children to the arts in a fun and safe environment.  The annual camp attracts many children of color in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.  Professor Richards was the choreographer for the plays, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, by Ntozake Shange and Rita Dove’s Darker Face of the Earth. Richards is the recipient for the University of Utah’s 2004/2005 Public Service Professor Award where her objective is to further strengthen the relationship between the university and the community.

As a ten year member of Repertory Dance Theatre, Professor Schneider has served as dancer, rehearsal director, administrator and trustee. He has performed and choreographed in many dance styles including ethnic, ballroom, musical theatre, tap, jazz and ballet. He has been a faculty member for Weber State University, American College Dance Festivals, Regional Dance America Choreography Conferences and has taught and choreographed extensively for dance and theater companies. He recently taught a two-week intensive for the Central American and Caribbean Modern Dance Festival hosted by the Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica, and choreographed a work for the university. Professor Schneider teaches technique, composition, pedagogy, liberal education courses, folk forms, and is co-director of the department’s acclaimed Performing Dance Company, for which he also choreographs.

A composer, author and musician, Professor Scoville teaches music resources for dance, rhythmic analysis, percussion accompaniment, aesthetics, and choreography. He has toured internationally as co-artistic director of Tandy Beal & Company, and is the author of Sound Designs. Professor Scoville is a prolific composer for dance, including scores for the faculty as well as choreographers Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Laura Dean, and Sara Rudner, among others. Professor Scoville founded the percussion group Samba Gringa and is the creator of Albert’s Bicycle Music.

Professor Smith is currently artistic/executive director of Repertory Dance Theater. Upon completing her degree at the University of Utah, Professor Smith traveled to New York where she danced with the Jose Limon Dance Company. She returned to Utah in 1966 to become a charter member of Repertory Dance Theatre and was named artistic director of the company in 1983. She oversees a company of ten dancers and a distinguished repertory of classical to contemporary dance works. Professor Smith teaches repertory class and dance history. She has served on the dance panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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